NYC NOW - September 7, 2023: Midday News

Episode Date: September 7, 2023

New York City students returned to school Thursday amid a heat wave. Meanwhile, subway and bus riders can now more easily access weekly fare discounts through OMNY. Finally, WNYC's Jessica Gould reports on the challenges the NYC Department of Education faces as thousands of migrants enroll in school.

Welcome to NYC Now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. It's Thursday, September 7th. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. New York City students have returned to class today amid a heat wave, a high of 94 degrees, real field 99 in the forecast. Teachers Union President Michael Mulgrews says some students have gone to classrooms without air conditioning. The city council has passed legislation that says every classroom and every school will be air conditioned, and it's not. Until that is done, we're not going to be happy.

Last year, the city said every classroom have been equipped with air conditioning, but Mulgrove says it's not that simple. The Education Department says it has a team ready to respond to any reports of broken air conditioners. It's easier now for subway and bus riders to get a discount on weekly fares using Omni after the MTA tweaked it last month, I believe in my seat, Stephen Nesson explains. When Omni's so-called fare capping program launched last year, Monday was considered the start of the week. Riders who tapped with the same smartphone or credit card 12 times got the rest of the rides free until Sunday. But now, Omni users can get the deal no matter what day their week starts. The change coincided with last month's fair hike.

Single rides now cost $2.90, while the Metro Cards Weekly Unlimited goes for $34. To make things equal, riders who use Omni will notice a charge of just $2.10. On the 12th time they pay in a week. After that, it's free for the rest of the seven-day period whenever it began. 91 with sunshine now. Still under a heat advisory. Sunny and 94 today, Real Field, 99. Hot again tomorrow looks like we finally get some breaks on the weekend.

It's WNYC. It is back to school today for some 9,000 kids enrolled in New York City public schools. That includes about 21,000 students believed to be migrants who have entered the school system over the last year. Here to talk about their experiences and other challenges facing the school system this year is done. WNYC education reporter Jessica Gould. Jessica, you've reported the education department is racing to enroll the students who are living in temporary housing like hotels and shelters we know. What does that process look like?

Well, it looks like a lot of families who've been lining up at local enrollment centers throughout the city. They've been filling out paperwork and trying to get processed. And then some families have just been showing up at schools trying to enroll. We've heard that there are. are 2,500 new students living in shelters who have enrolled just this summer. And most of those have been over the last week. So there's really been this rush to enroll in recent days. And at times, there haven't been enough employees to process them, especially enough staff

who speak Spanish. Also, another challenge is some schools are already at or beyond capacity. So finding spots has been hard at times. So where are these migrant students going? Where are they going? They're going all over the city. The Education Department tries to send kids to schools near shelters where they're living or to schools that have bilingual programs. When the zone schools are full and that's been happening at times, they try to find seats at other schools nearby. Now, as you know, overall enrollment in the city's public schools has gone down dramatically in recent years. So Chancellor Banks says there's room for these kids, but some schools have gotten a lot of migrant students, and then there's other schools that have gotten none. So I've heard some concerns that higher poverty schools are receiving a disproportionate number of these kids.

And in some schools, the space is running out. Parents at a Manhattan elementary school say they had to convert their music room and their science room into classrooms. and now things like physical therapy and occupational therapy, that has to happen in the hallways because they're just out of space. What are some issues their students are running into? The biggest one is just communication. The city doesn't have enough bilingual teachers. And last year, teachers who only speak English, they told me they were using their apps on

their phones to translate, to talk to students in real time. The head of the teachers union yesterday said, that there's just too much red tape to get teachers certified to be bilingual teachers. And so they want to work on that. And officials have said that's something they're trying to improve. Aren't there some silver linings here that have emerged? I hear some school communities have really come together to welcome the migrant students. Yeah, that's really true. I mean, parents, educators, kids, they've all been swinging into action, trying to support the new members of their community. There have been these countless clothing drives and food drives, backpack giveaways.

At one school last year, teachers spent weeks taking home their kids in their class, the migrant kids' laundry to do. And then they got laundry machines installed in the school. Students have helped translate for their classmates. They've brought them home for hot meals. So a lot of those really lovely things have been happening. But a lot of the parents I've talked to say the education department needs to do more. There needs to be more social workers and more space. And then in turn, the education department says there needs to be more support from the federal government. What else are you watching early this year? We're watching the possibility of a school bus strike that could affect as many as 150,000 kids. Now, they averted the strike for this week,

but there's no deal yet, and the city is putting contingency plans into place, like handing out metro cards and paying for Ubers if necessary if it comes to that. Another big story is the literacy overhaul. Mayor Adams and schools Chancellor Banks have said they want to really reform how reading is taught to make it follow the science and research of how kids actually learn to read. They say too many kids just weren't being taught the right way. So this fall, schools across the city are getting new reading curricula, and teachers are supposed to be retrained in that. We'll be watching to see whether those trainings are happening and whether they're effective.

And then I think, as you know, that it's going to be very hot today. So we want to make sure schools have air conditioning and that they're safe. And if there are any problems, we want to hear about that. So parents, students, teachers, keep me posted today. You can send me an email at J-Gould at W-N-Y-C.org. That's J-G-O-U-L-D at W-NYC.org. W-NYC's Jessica Gould, joining us on this first day of school. Thank you.

Thank you. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WNYC. Be sure to catch us every weekday, three times a day, for your top news headlines and occasional deep dives. And subscribe wherever you get your podcast. We'll be back this evening.