The closure of city public school buildings Thursday also marked the end of in-person classes for another population of New York City youngsters: kids being held in juvenile lockups.

But for the 141 minors jailed citywide, remote learning means a system where they cannot be seen or heard by their teachers during school hours.

They can only communicate with their instructors via text chat, according to teachers and other sources familiar with the system.

Support outside of class time is limited to virtual or phone “prescribed office hours” with teachers and guidance counselors, Department of Education representatives said without providing details. There’s also an in-person tutoring program in one facility, according to the Administration for Children’s Services.

Teachers say that students being held at the detention centers in every borough except Manhattan risk falling even further behind as the pandemic shakes public education in the city.

“I have kids, very low-level readers, writers, and their only ability to talk back to us is to type what they don’t get,” said Troy Sill, who teaches history remotely at Bronx Hope, a branch of Passages Academy, the city’s network of schools for so-called court-involved youth.

Children in the city’s most restrictive facilities, primarily at Horizon and Crossroads Juvenile Centers, attend class where they are being detained. Kids at the seven other “non-secure” centers largely attend Passages schools outside their residences.

Read the full article about kids in juvenile lockups by Eileen Grench at Chalkbeat.