NEW YORK – The website for New York City schools, where parents answer COVID screening questions for their children, apparently collapsed on Monday, amid the influx of students returning to in-person learning during the first day of class.
Widespread reports from parents, verified by multiple attempts by our sister network NBC 4 New York, indicated that the website was slow to load, crashed, or simply did not open at all.
Schools Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter told reporters gathered at a first-day-of-school event that the accident was expected to occur on the first day of the year.
More than 1 million children returned to school on Monday, in the nation’s largest experiment so far with full-time in-person pandemic learning.
One parent reported that as of 8:15 am on Monday, he had been trying for 30 minutes to load the page with no luck. In the past, he said, it took about two minutes to load and complete the form.
A statement was issued via Twitter at 8:45 am indicating that the tool was back, urging parents that if they have trouble accessing the tool online, they can use a paper form or inform school staff verbally.
The DOE Health Screening tool is back online: https://t.co/voTpC5zPC0. Our apologies for the short period it was down this morning.
If you are having issues accessing the online tool, please use a paper form or inform school staff verbally.
— NYC Public Schools (@NYCSchools) September 13, 2021
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On social media, the frustration was palpable.
