Summer Rising is in decline, as enrollment in K-8 summer programs plummets and taxpayers wonder where the $350 million spent on reckless COVID-era classes and camps has gone.
Teachers and school officials say only a fraction of the 110,000 students who are registered are showing up each day, even though tens of thousands of other students are on the waiting list.
According to an email shared July 18, the citywide free program hired far more teachers than were needed for the number of students who were absent. New York City Educators.
“We were forced to combine all the classes into one. [in] “Beginning Tuesday, we will begin making teacher transfers across grades K-6,” the email said. The sender is blurred in the screenshot, but sources said the email was written by an administrator. “As a result, we will be forced to lay off some teachers.”
The email, shared among educator groups, went on to say that remaining teachers would be required to teach multiple subjects and grade levels.
“Summer attendance has been low across the city, and efforts to call families have not given us the boost we need to maintain the organization of our programs, which were conducted based on registration numbers from MySchools, the city’s online registration portal,” the message added.
One middle school teacher in Queens, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that at most four of 16 students were in the Summer Rising course each day.
He said boring, lengthy exams were likely the reason students weren’t returning to school, and many schools weren’t conducting as many field trips as initially promised.
“I don’t see the desire to spend money. [Summer Rising receives] And when you see how these programs are run, you can see why some students say, ‘I’m not coming back,'” the teacher added.
He said different community organisations run recreational activities within each programme, but he doesn’t believe each CBO is “up to standard” and there is little consistency between the programmes.
Attendance is generally good for younger students, but not for older students, some of whom have to make up classes they failed, a former Summer Rising teacher said. Students who were forced to attend Summer Rising because they were behind academically had to have their classes combined with classes for students who didn’t have special needs, educators said.
The city Education Department maintained that attendance this summer was “similar” to last year, but did not provide specific figures and said no teachers would be laid off.
“Summer Rising is one of our most popular programs, providing families with rigorous academics, engaging education, daily meals, social and emotional supports and other resources,” said Jenna Lyle, a spokeswoman for the Department of Education.
“As always, we will continue to offer support to Summer Rising teams and school leaders where needed.”
Schools can enroll children from the waiting list if there are spaces available, but many parents say they haven’t heard of any new openings.
Summer Rising was launched with COVID-19 relief funds in 2021 under former Mayor de Blasio. It faced significant budget cuts as federal funding dried up, but the city announced in January that it would continue to operate with taxpayer funds after widespread outcry.
Experts noticed the warning signs before the city was forced to fund the program on its own.
“Our argument in 2021 was, ‘Don’t use non-recurring funds to stand up programs that nobody wants to end because there’s no way to fund them in the future,'” said Anna Champeny, vice president of research for the Citizens Budget Committee.
Summer Rising aimed to address learning loss during the pandemic.
“We don’t know if it was truly effective, but it did boost basic spending,” Champeny added.
