The Legal Aid Society and education advocates throughout the city called out aggressive tactics by NYC’s Department of Education towards the parents of children who’ve missed too many remote classes, according to the New York Daily News.

The parents say they are being unfairly targeted, citing faulty city-issued iPads and unreliable internet in city homeless shelters that force them to ration working devices between children as the reason for missed virtual classes.

Now the DOE – which has struggled to successfully implement remote learning in the age of COVID – is threatening to involve Child Services to investigate instances of digital truancy. Legal Aid attorneys say that is unfair.

“Through no fault of her own and through the city’s fault in not assuring all kids are able to connect, this parent is now facing involvement from ACS because her kids were unable to attend school,” said Susan Horwitz, the Supervising Attorney for the Education Law Project at the Legal Aid Society.