Here’s How Patch Readers Plan To Juggle Work, Remote Learning

NEW YORK CITY — Nearly 40 percent of Patch readers who responded to a survey about their childcare plans for remote learning had the same three word response: I don’t know.

The results come from a non-scientific poll Patch conducted to gauge how New York City parents plan to juggle work and remote learning.

The city’s Department of Education last reported that 366,553 students will be fully remote for the coming school year. That tally — which is now 37 percent of the city’s total public student body — has only ticked up as parents and educators raised concerns about plans to return to classrooms.

Mayor Bill de Blasio ultimately agreed to push the in-person start date back to Sept. 21. But even under a blended learning model, the city’s more than 1 million students will spend multiple days a week at home for remote learning.

It’s a potential childcare headache for parents, so Patch asked readers how they planned to navigate the school year.

The answers varied wildly.

Of the 121 respondents, 38 percent of them said they planned to return to their workplace when school starts. The exact same number of people — 46 — said they didn’t plan to return to their office or place of work.

Roughly 26 percent of parents who planned to return to work responded “I don’t know” to a question of how they’ll handle childcare. That was the largest share of responses, followed by 19 percent who said their kids are old enough to take care of themselves.

The remaining responses about childcare were:

• 16.5 percent “Other”
• 11.6 percent “Rely on family members”
• 6.6 percent “Hire childcare myself”
• 1.7 percent “Apply for childcare provided by the city”

Those parents who responded “other” elaborated on their plans. Here is an assortment of their responses:

• “Tag-team working and homeschooling with my spouse“
• “Multitasking. I work at home”
• “As a parent it is my responsibility to find childcare for my child. I would never rely on the government for that. School is not day care”

For parents not returning to a workplace, roughly half of them said they can work from home when asked they will do. About 12 percent — or 15 parents — responded “I don’t know.”

Ten parents responded “other.” Here are some of their responses:

• “I am attempting the impossible but do not see an alternative”
• “I will work from home when possible and visit clients in their homes as needed. My kids will mostly be home alone while I am working outside the home”
• “I work with Lyft and Uber so I am able to work during after school hours when the kids' mother will be able to take over”

Many of the 17 parents who applied to the city’s daycare program gave mostly negative responses to how they would rate it. “Poor,” “weak” and “awful” were some of the responses.

Readers who filled out Patch's survey were also asked to share their further thoughts on childcare. Here's an unedited sampling of their responses:

• This is unfair .
• PARENTS CANNOT WORK AND PROVIDE CHILDCARE SIMULTANEOUSLY, PERIOD. IT IS NOT A MORAL FAILING TO NEED SCHOOL FOR THE CHILDCARE.
• Teacher for 30 years. Doe couldn't stop pink eye. Now you expect me to believe that they can stop Covid-19 with a nurse and a thermometer? This is not well thought out!!!!
• I will stay home while my wife returns to work
• How do parents like myself, having 3 children in K through 5, navigate 3 classes at home at the same time, while leaving my job because they cannot do this on their own. Choosing between working to pay bills and our children education should not be happening.
• This is a nightmare. Even the 8:30am-2:00pm school day hours they're offering don't allow for a parent to work that day. I hired chilcare, and it is going to cost me around $14,000 this year for my child to have a sub-par, virtual public education. This will be irreparably financially damaging for my family. Also, I work for DOE, and the department has been so disrespectful through this whole thing with no regard for any of us- not our time, not our contracts, not our ability to plan, not our health. It is really disgusting.
• Both my wife and I are New York City teachers and we're concerned for the safety of our three kids, the safety of our family members who are being tasked to watch over them for us, and of course we're worried about our own health. Godspeed I guess.
• I think it's very likely there will be another spike in Covid-19 infection rates after school starts. We need a vaccine before kids can go back to school.
• I am very scared that my child go to school and bring the virus at home.
• I feel the obligation to go back to work but I need to work it out with my boss to bring my daughter to the office
• School should not be open yet. Too soon. It will probably close within 2 weeks and all the prep will be for naught
• Schools should remain closed until it is safe for children and school staff t o return. This city is disgusting in the way they treat school staff. Schools are not ready.
• The transmission rate is so low, I feel like we can live with it provided we're cautious. This plan goes beyond cautious so now we're going to use money we shouldn't for private education
• It is not really possible to work full time even from home when taking care of children. This is especially difficult because synchronous remote learning requires constant supervision and the schools refuse to offer asynchronous options that could work around parents work schedule. For example, for out family we could do schooling 7-10 then kids could have some free time so parents can work andxwe can so some schooling again 5-8