NYC’s ‘Summer Rising’ summer school and camp program starts with a few snags

New York City’s public summer school and camp program kicked off Tuesday with more than 100,000 kids — and some of the same logistical snags that hampered the program last year.

Mayor Adams pledged to expand the “Summer Rising” program by 10,000 additional kids and eliminate some of the planning stumbles that frustrated school administrators in the program’s inaugural year.

But city principals union head Mark Cannizzaro said that while this year’s rollout cleared the “low bar” the city set in 2021, school administrators are still “running into many snafus that are a result of poor planning on the DOE’s part.”

Cannizzaro charged that the Department of Education waited until the last minute to iron out some key details by sending an email with critical first-day information on the Sunday of the holiday weekend.

“There was some important info in that email, and they cannot have expected people to read it” by the time kids showed up Tuesday morning, Cannizzaro said.

Former Mayor de Blasio launched the ambitious “Summer Rising” program last summer with the aid of federal stimulus money as a way to help kids catch up academically and socially from pandemic disruptions and ease the transition back to full-time, in-person learning.

Mayor Adams, who has emphasized summer youth programming as part of his efforts to reduce crime, expanded the program and hours this year.

Spots were open to kids in public, charter and private schools and were snapped up in a hurry, leaving some families locked out. The Education Department didn’t specify how many of the kids who registered actually showed up on Tuesday, but said those who haven’t shown up by the second week could be unenrolled.

But some of the same logistical challenges that plagued the first year have persisted, Cannizzaro said.

Administrators still struggled to find enough teachers and paraprofessionals to staff the programs, Cannizzaro said, leaving some children with disabilities without the aides they need to ride the bus or participate in classes, parent advocates said.

“I have students already with no paraprofessionals,” said Rima Izquierdo, a parent and advocate for children with disabilities in the Bronx.

DOE officials said more than 4,000 staffers are working across 750 schools.

“We are excited to kick off the first day of ‘Summer Rising’ and look forward to a fun, enriching summer for all enrolled students this year,” said Education Department spokeswoman Jenna Lyle. We are committed to making this year’s ‘Summer Rising’ program, the largest summer program in New York City history, successful for all participating students and staff.”

Transportation trouble is also plaguing some students, said Izquierdo and Cannizzaro.

Some families reported late or missing buses Tuesday, Izquierdo said and others are forced to leave on buses at 3 p.m. even though the program doesn’t end until 6, according to DOE guidelines.

Making matters worse, the DOE sent reports with each site’s student bus information to the principal who runs that school during the school year, not the administrator assigned to supervise the site over the summer, Cannizzaro said.

Education officials said families with school bus issues should contact their school’s transportation coordinator or the DOE’s Office of Pupil Transportation.

The city Education Department is spending $236 million in federal stimulus funding this year on “Summer Rising.”

Cannizzaro said he supports the idea of expanded summer offerings, but pointed to several structural flaws in the program’s design, including the fact that it’s split between two city agencies and doesn’t guarantee kids slots in their home schools or ones nearby.

“It’s being thought through by people who have never run schools and don’t understand the reality,” he said.