Thousands of public school students unable to attend remote classes Tuesday after citywide technical issues
Hundreds of thousands of New York City Public School students were unable to access remote learning Tuesday morning.
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Thousands of New York City Public School students, parents and teachers were unable to access the remote learning platform on Tuesday due to a citywide technical glitch.
Shortly after online classes were scheduled to start, the Department of Education tweeted they were experiencing technical issues with the system.
Nearly 900,000 students were trying to access the system at the time.
"That was one of the questions I asked the administration, 'Is everything in place? Are we ready to go?' I was told 'Yes, yes, yes,'" said Council Member and Education Committee Chair Rita Joseph, whose son was also unable to access remote class this morning.
DOE Chancellor David C. Banks apologized for the issues in a press briefing on Tuesday.
"To say that I am disappointed, frustrated and angry is an understatement," he said.
He initially pointed the finger at tech giant IBM for the issue, but when pressed, he admitted that IBM wasn’t part of a simulation conducted a few months ago to prepare for a citywide remote learning day.
In a statement, IBM said, "IBM has been working closely with New York City schools to address this situation as quickly as possible. The issues have been largely resolved, and we regret the inconvenience to students and parents across the city."
Chancellor Banks said the DOE will be doing a full analysis of what happened today to prevent similar issues in the future.
The issue has since been resolved.
Students will be going back to in-person learning on Wednesday.
