Remote learning has been a failure for low-income kids relying on faulty laptops and iPads from the city Department of Education — which offered no technical support to the struggling families, according to a lawsuit.
Five parents, who say they’re too poor to pay for high-speed Internet or quality computers for their kids, claim in the court papers their children have been academically left behind when they were forced to use the malfunctioning equipment.
And while the city DOE says all families who have requested devices for remote learning have gotten them, the parents who are suing in Manhattan Supreme Court say poor kids and those who don’t speak English are still not getting “free and reliable Internet service or reliable, working iPads and laptops.”
“Untold numbers of low-income students, and especially low-income students of color, in New York City have been deprived and continue to be deprived, of the sound basic education that is their right,” the group of anonymous parents claim in the litigation.
Some of the children whose parents are fighting in court did not receive any devices for months into remote learning, according to the court papers.
One mom of three, identified only as S.M. in court papers, said when her kids’ devices finally did show up, they couldn’t access the Internet.
Other families in the suit said they were falsely told Internet companies would connect the laptops and iPads online for free — only to be asked to pay monthly fees they couldn’t afford.
A July audit by the City Comptroller’s office found that as of March, the DOE was still reviewing 19,425 student requests for tablets, 16,000 of which dated to 2020, while 3,045 students were mistakenly sent more than one remote learning device.
Even with the city sticking to in-person learning in the 2021-2022 school year, remote classes — such as for some snow days, or Election Day — have now been baked into the academic calendar, the anonymous parents said in court papers.
“Many students continue to struggle with device and Internet issues on this day,” according to the lawsuit.
The city also has no system to repair or replace broken equipment, the parents charge.
The families behind the lawsuit still “have devices that are inadequate,” said Legal Services NYC spokesman Seth Hoy.
The five families in the lawsuit allege that their children are being academically left behind without adequate resources. Christopher Sadowski“Our clients continue to pay out of pocket for internet service they cannot afford, and their children have not received education services that compensate for their lost education during remote learning days,” he added.
The city has handed out more than 650,000 Internet enabled devices and more than 27,000 hot spots, and schools have bought more than 400,000 devices, said a DOE spokeswoman who called the city’s distribution of remote learning devices “robust.”
“There are no outstanding device requests at this time,” said spokeswoman Sarah Casasnovas, who said the DOE will review the lawsuit. “Families can continue to request one if they need.”
