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The reviews are in: remote learning is “boring.”
And it’s also “weird,” students told Mayor Bill de Blasio and Department of Education Chancellor Richard Carranza during their visit to a Bronx middle school on Thursday.
Hizzoner and his schools honcho got an earful when they visited the Leaders of Tomorrow school to mark the partial reopening of middle school buildings across the boroughs.
It was the first time thousands of city kids had entered their classrooms in months.
De Blasio and Carranza elbow bumped and greeted staffers and students during the morning before heading into the building to assess the first day back.
At his daily briefing, de Blasio said students were relieved to restore a part of their former routine.
One of the kids panned remote learning as “boring,” and another as “weird,” de Blasio said with a smile.
“What they needed was to be with their friends,” de Blasio said.
“What they needed was to be with their teachers. To get the warmth. To get the energy.”
Carranza echoed de Blasio, and noted that the current weekly coronavirus infection rate in schools was a minimal 0.58 percent.
“We can truly say the safest indoor locations in the city of New York are in the classrooms of the New York City Department of Education,” Carranza said later.
De Blasio said that 1,200 city schools were now hosting some classroom activity.
But despite Thursday’s reopening, 70 percent of city kids are still learning fully remotely.
With cases dropping and vaccinations climbing, de Blasio was asked if the city would offer parents another chance to enroll in the blended learning format.
De Blasio responded that officials are watching for a “turning point” that would trigger such a move — but that the city is not there yet.
City high schools are still shuttered and officials have not yet released a timetable for their revival.
Aside from the oddity of visiting politicians, students at Leaders of Tomorrow enjoyed a welcome return to normal, they told The Post later on Thursday.
“We did the regular work we would normally do online,” eighth grader Adam Jereh, 13, said of how he spent the day.
“It was just happier because everybody likes to be at school in person. Hopefully it will be like this for the rest of the year. We have friends and online you can’t really talk to them. In person, you can talk, make jokes.”
Seventh grader Jada Johnson, 12, agreed, saying that remote instruction was inadequate.
“It’s much better learning in person than online,” she said.
“In person you get a lot more help. Online you have to worry about a whole bunch more things. It’s better when your teachers are there and can actually help you.”
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