Glitches mar beginning of remote class

Remote learning was a go for city school students Monday — even if it seemed not quite ready, or set.

After three days of online orientation to learn the ropes last week, kids began remote learning full-time Monday — bringing new schedules and tech glitches for some anxious city families.

“Basically, it was a nightmare today,” said Marina Munoz, the mother of a first- and third-grader (inset, with Blaise and Paloma) at Arts & Letters, a K-8 school in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn.

TheEducation Department’s overloaded log-in portal, which students and staff need to access the agency’s Zoom account, crashed for about 10 minutes Monday morning, blocking some nervous parents and kids from signing into their first day of class.

“I had about 68 messages from my third grade WhatsApp group,” said Munoz. “All the parents were freaking out because the Zoom link wasn’t working.”

City officials said they were “back in business within minutes and we’re continuing to keep an eye on it.”

But for some families, it wasn’t a confidence-inspiring start to remote learning — which will be the primary mode of teaching for the majority of the city’s million schoolchildren on any given day — after officials promised an upgrade over the cobbled-together system from last spring.

Hundreds of thousands of families who had planned on sending kids to in-person classes this week found themselves back in remote instruction for at least another week after officials delayed the start of face-to-face instruction Thursday, citing a staffing shortage.

“There have been some glitches getting on the platform,” said Amy Tsai, the mom of five students ranging from kindergarten to high school. “They need more time to figure things out.... Everyone is just kind of exhausted.”