NYC public schools remote learning experiencing tech issues during snow storm

NEW YORK - NYC public school students cannot access some remote learning systems Tuesday as schools closed for the winter snow storm.

Ahead of the storm, NYC public schools shifted to remote learning for the day, but are experiencing technical issues with services that require IBM authentication to login.  When teachers tried to take attendance Tuesday morning, they received an IBM alert saying that their request could not be processed.

Screenshot shows the "request cannot be processed at this time" message shown to users trying to login to some of the NYC public schools remote learning services.

Chong Bretillon, a parent in Queens, said she received repeated errors as she tried to gain entry to a Zoom room for her elementary school student, while messaging with dozens of other parents who were encountering the same problems.

"I just spent almost an hour trying to log in and log out," Bretillon said. "Everyone’s frustrated."

NYC Mayor Eric Adams defended the decision on Good Day New York Tuesday in order "to keep pace" with the 180 school days needed by law. 

Adams said, "This is the right thing to do and this is a great teaching moment for our children," noting that the days of staying home and making snowmen were over. 

In a post on X, NYC Public Schools said that students were experiencing problems with services that require IBM authentication to login. 

"Just call a Snow Day!" one X user wrote. 

Adams said earlier Tuesday that because of the remote learning system, students and teachers would be able to have a remote instructional day and at the same time keep the pace of the success they've had.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.