NEW YORK - Remote learning isn't going well for Aaron Morris. That’s because for months he hasn't been able to get strong enough cellular service to get online in the homeless shelter where he lives.

"I can't participate in class if I have no internet connection and I can't get online. It stops my learning. It's stopped my learning, period,” Aaron said.

What You Need To Know

  • Scores of children living in shelters have struggled to get online for remote learning due to poor cellular service on devices issued by the city

  • Now, Mayor de Blasio says the city will install wireless internet in every shelter housing children

  • But the city won't be able to reach all shelters until this summer — after a full year of school will have gone by

The city has sent more than 15,000 iPads to students like Aaron, who live in shelters. Because shelters don't have wifi, the iPads are supposed to access the internet through cellular data service. The problem, advocates say, is that cell service in many shelters is so poor, the students cannot get online.

"It makes me upset that I can't go to school and get the proper education that I want,” Aaron said.

On Monday, nearly eight months after remote learning started, the mayor promised to install wireless internet in every shelter housing children. But the job won't be done before this school year has ended.

"We are going to rewire all of the shelters that have kids in them, period. We'll have a timeline. I'm going to let our Law Department and our Social Services Department speak to that. And they will do that soon,” he said.

In a letter to the Legal Aid Society, his administration said it aims to have 27 priority shelter sites connected by this winter, but that all shelters would not be online until this summer.

"The idea that a good number of kids are going to lose a full school year because of shoddy internet access is unacceptable,” said Susan Horwitz, supervising attorney of the Education Law Project at Legal Aid.

It's not acceptable to Aaron's dad, either.

"You got to stop making promises and really keep them, really follow through with it. Whatever you're going to do, you've got to do it immediately. We need the help, kids need the help,” he said.

In the meantime, de Blasio says the city will work with families on other fixes, like changing the cellular providers tied to their iPads. The Morris family has tried that.

"I have a Verizon tablet. It's doing the same thing as my old T-mobile tablet. It's going off and on with the wifi,” he said.

The mayor asked families without service to call 311, and promised the city would respond in a day or two to get them connected. But Legal Aid says the problem is so widespread, that approach is unlikely to help.

"There just aren’t enough days in the week to be able to timely respond within 24 hours and, ultimately, it’s just putting a bandaid on the problem,” Horwitz said.