First day of public school for NYC kids

The academic year now officially here it is the first day of school for New York City public school students The mayor and the school's chancellor were in the Allerton section of the Bronx welcoming students earlier this morning But the year is kicking off with some challenges Morgan McKay's live on the Upper East Side with what the DOE and parents and students are facing this year Morgan Good afternoon, Chris school is back and there's two things are watching out for as a school year begins First a potential school bus strike and second the more than 21,000 migrant children who are entering the school system this year So first the good news is is that the strike is on hold at least today and tomorrow But things are up in the air come Monday. Now. This strike could affect around 80,000 students this year now negotiations with the Union for school bus drivers is going to start up again tomorrow But there is a backup plan in case of a strike Students and their families will be given free Metro cards that can use on buses or subways to get to school students with disabilities would be eligible for prepaid ride share and Transportation reimbursement for use of taxis and personal vehicles if there is a strike Parents will receive an automated call email and text The second thing we are watching out for is the influx of migrant children going to school this year The city has hired additional teachers to help migrant children transition. There are now going to be close to 4,000 teachers licensed to teach English as a new language and more than 1,700 teachers that speak both English and Spanish Chancellor David Banks says there is no problem with space since around 120,000 families disenrolled from the public school system during the pandemic If you read the papers you would think there's chaos that's happening in our schools 20,000 migrant students have come in well first of all over 18,000 already came in last year we've already they've already been assimilated into the schools and And the work that has been happening with them has been so phenomenal because of the great principals the teachers The parent coordinators and everybody that's a part of the schools Kids who came in not even speaking a word of English by the end of a year already speaking English That's this it is the story of New York City Now something else knew that they started last year and they're going to continue this year Is there going to lock the front doors of elementary schools? And that's going to be due in part to increase school security and also prevent any school shooters They're going to expand that program to middle and high schools next year city officials say they seized nearly 7,000 weapons on school grounds last year reporting live from the Upper East Side of Morgan McKay Chris back to you