“When does change come to a society?” New York governor Andrew Cuomo asked at his May 5 COVID-19 press briefing. “It’s hard to change the status quo,” he continued, but there are “moments in history where people say ‘Okay, I’m ready for change.’”

According to Cuomo, the empty classrooms, disrupted students and teachers, and severe budget shortfalls created by the pandemic present one of these “moments in history” for the future of education. For him, this is a time when technology can be used to transform the current antiquated system: “The old model of everybody goes and sits in a classroom, and the teacher is in front . . . and you do that all across the city, all across the state, all these buildings, all these physical classrooms — why, with all the technology [we] have?”

Cuomo is right that New York schools, and schools across the country, are confronting a historic moment. From elementary schools that will need to reckon with the collective emotional trauma the crisis has wrought on young people to colleges and universities facing catastrophic financial hardship — felt mostly by students and contingent workers — our schools need an aggressive intervention.