All schooling in Ulster County will be conducted remotely at the start of the school year, and that poses “a tremendous hardship on working parents,” according to New Paltz deputy mayor KT Tobin, because schools have become a default child-care service. With no locus of responsibility to organize the needed help, Tobin is one of a group of community members trying to step into that gap.
Tobin said that some information gathered via social media, while not representative, suggests serious problems. One in ten of those parents report device or connection issues, and a similar number are concerned about children being left home alone. Fully a third reported financial hardship, and Tobin stressed those most likely to be dire straits are less likely to have chosen to respond to questions posted online.
As a former school-board member, Tobin appreciates that real-time instruction, which some parents are begging for, is completely unworkable in other households. Town youth director Jim Tinger and supervisor Neil Bettez are looking at ways to aid in the various problems caused by remote education.
Tobin has sent word to local schools superintendent Angela Urbina-Medina of a new “K-12 working parents remote learning working group” formed to collect information about local resources for parents and ever-changing state regulations and to work with school district and county officials on these issues. The email included a request to be on the agenda for the September 2 school board meeting, and a link to a resource page.
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