Back to School

The expected start of school (September 10th) has been delayed.

According to Pix11,"Teachers will begin the year with four days of preparations on Sept. 10, 11, 14, 15. Students will then start the school year with all-remote instruction on Sept. 16, 17 and 18. School buildings will reopen and blended learning will begin on Sept. 21, the mayor said."

NEST+m's exception model was accepted. If you would like to learn more about this model, you can check out our updates from Aug 3rd or go to www.nestmk12.net.

School & DOE Updates 

Dear NEST+m community,

We hope everyone is staying safe during these unprecedented times. Because it is August, and because school starts roughly a month from now, The Eagle felt that it would be beneficial to provide you all with concise updates directly from the New York City Department of Education and NEST+m. Please note that this newsletter was released on August 3, 2020, which means that plans may have changed between the time of publication and the start of school. 

This portion of the newsletter contains NEST+m’s plans and links to find more information. Going remote is not an easy or satisfying choice, but we need to look out for our community and listen to the voices of the administration, students, parents, and staff. Hopefully, the information provided gives you more clarity as to what will happen in the fall and why this choice was made.

We will go into more depth about the remote learning options, but if you would like to opt to be 100% remote, you can fill out this form or call 311.

The sections of this article are in this order:

Overview

NEST+m’s Response

100% Remote Learning

Letter to Cuomo

Overview

As many of you are aware, school will not be the same this fall as it has been in the past. Regardless of any school’s specific plans, health protocols and physical distancing will become an integral part in reopening. If you would like to learn more, you can visit the New York City Department of Education’s website. They will also be hosting information sessions on August 12 and August 27 offered in English, Spanish, Mandarin and ASL. In addition, they recently released health and safety protocols, which includes information on thresholds for opening and closing school, food service, building preparations, and other safety measures.

NEST+m’s Response

Earlier this summer, the DOE released baseline programming models that schools should adhere to, and these models assume a capacity of 33% or 50%. However, the NEST+m administration has noted that NEST+m’s capacity is 20-30%. Because of this, NEST+m has created a model to be approved by the superintendent. Please note that NEST+m has not yet applied for the exception and will likely not know if the plan is accepted until later this month. In the case that the plan is rejected, the plan will likely be as close to the current plan as possible. NEST+m’s emerging exception model is as follows:

All classroom learning will be remote and synchronous. Classes will operate on a consistent daily schedule. This will allow for discussion, group work, and other full class activities. 

Advisory and academic support will be in-person except for those who opt to be 100% remote (information on the 100% remote option is below). Students will likely travel in small pods to minimize individual exposure and make contract tracing simpler. The structure and daily capacities for in-person support will depend on the number of students who choose 100% remote learning.

PSAL sports are canceled for the time being, and clubs will operate remotely.

100% Remote Learning:

Students have the option to be 100% remote. This means that they will be in the same remote classes as their peers, but instead of having in-person advisory and academic support, they will have access to online support.

If you would like to select 100% remote learning you can fill out this form or call 311. 

Letter to Cuomo

Below is a link to a letter that was written by Bronx Science High School students and signed by student leaders from other NYC public high schools. They wrote this letter to Governor Cuomo asking for fully remote learning in NYC public high schools. We encourage you to take a look at the letter and sign the form if you agree with these students.