Time is running out: What we know about New York’s school reopening plan

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In just over a month, the country’s largest school system is set to revert to something like normal schooling, when full-time in-person classes begin, with no distance option.

But as the Delta variant and delayed vaccination rates have fueled an increase in coronavirus cases in New York City, some families and educators are wondering if a plan to reopen schools that seemed like a safe bet just a few weeks ago will be. threatens. For now, at least, Mayor Bill de Blasio has insisted there won’t be any major changes.

Still, his administration needs to work out key details about how often students and staff should be tested for the virus and how to approach quarantine when positive cases arise.

Here’s what we know – and what we still don’t know – about New York’s efforts to reopen its schools this fall.

De Blasio plans to fully open all 1,800 New York public schools for full-time in-person instruction five days a week.

From now on, only immunocompromised children will be able to learn remotely, under an existing city program that allows children who cannot safely go to school to receive in-person education at home. This program is generally quite small and will remain so this year, although city officials expect more students to be eligible during the pandemic than in previous years.

Although debates over school mask mandates rage in other parts of the country, New York has already announced that all students, teachers and staff will be required to wear masks during the school day, regardless of their status. vaccination status.

All teachers must be vaccinated or undergo weekly tests before the start of the school year, said de Blasio. The city may impose vaccines on teachers before the first day of school or later this fall. Over the weekend, Randi Weingarten, who heads the country’s second-largest teachers’ union, said districts should demand that teachers get vaccinated. Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Teachers ‘Federation, the New York City teachers’ union, has yet to pledge to support a term. But he has already told his members to prepare for this eventuality.

At least 60 percent of teachers have been vaccinated, according to the city, but the actual percentage is almost certainly higher, as those numbers do not reflect educators who have been vaccinated outside of New York City. Mr Mulgrew said his union estimates the actual percentage to be between 70 and 80 percent, and said there were follow-up issues in the first weeks of teachers’ eligibility last winter.

There is no vaccination requirement for eligible students. Nearly half of New York City’s children 12 and older have been vaccinated so far, but the city does not yet know how many of those children attend public schools.

Children under 12 could become eligible for vaccination later this year.

The city has upgraded and repaired ventilation systems at many of the city’s schools since last summer, and wardens have re-checked every building this summer to make sure all repairs are done before classes start. All classrooms will also have two air purifiers this year.

Parents and teachers have good reason to be skeptical of the city’s statements about reopening schools. Mr de Blasio twice delayed the start of face-to-face classes last summer, just days before classrooms opened, causing enormous confusion.

But that doesn’t mean that a major change in city strategy is likely this year.

De Blasio has staked New York’s recovery – and much of his own legacy – on the successful reopening of the nation’s largest school system. Conversations with his staff suggest the mayor is not rethinking his plan to end distance learning, despite the increase in cases of the virus. The mayor has said in press conferences that he is adamant that all students should return to classes in person.

The mayor is not under substantial political pressure to delay classes or add a full-time distance option, as parents, teachers and unions are much more supportive of reopening schools than there was in the summer last. But that could change in the coming weeks if the virus situation worsens.

President Biden has said he believes every school in America should be open for in-person classes this year, and the city has received an influx of federal dollars to keep schools safe. Around the same time last year, Mr Mulgrew questioned loudly whether schools would be safe for all classroom instruction. Now, the unions representing teachers and school directors agree with the mayor’s plan.

This is partly because reopening schools is no longer an experience. Schools in the city have experienced extremely low transmission throughout the past school year, even before teachers and students were eligible for the vaccine. The positivity rate at school was 0.03% in June.

The city is still negotiating with the unions on how it will approach random testing at school and, when positive cases arise, the quarantine of students and staff.

Last year, the city randomly tested 20 percent of students in all schools each week, and schools that had multiple cases were forced to quarantine individual classrooms or temporarily shut down completely.

This led to such frequent closings that many parents argued that schools were barely open. The mayor ultimately increased the number of positive cases that would trigger a shutdown, but some parents are hoping that vaccinated students and teachers won’t have to self-quarantine this year. Mr Mulgrew, on the other hand, said he wanted the same testing and quarantine rules in place as last school year.

Whatever the mayor’s decision, the announcement will almost certainly anger at least some teachers and parents.

Even if the city removes a digital threshold to close schools or exempts those vaccinated, the Education Department will still need to find a way for quarantined students to learn online until they can return to schools. in person.

Quarantined students are likely to learn online for a few days with teachers at their own schools, but educators have said they urgently need more details in order to plan for the fall.

The vast majority of schools in the city will be able to accommodate all students while maintaining three feet of distance.

But there are some schools – around 60 according to city officials, but up to 200 according to UFT – that are too overcrowded to keep children and teachers within a yard. In these schools, which include many high schools, the principals will try to separate the children as much as possible as far as possible. But there will be less than three feet of distance in at least some classrooms and common areas, depending on the building.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said three feet is optimal, but schools should prioritize in-person learning without it. Education officials are working on plans for some overcrowded schools to use annex space, and many schools will use gymnasiums and auditoriums as overflow classroom space. Many principals are still trying to find a way to separate children at lunchtime, when they will not be able to wear masks, by using an outdoor space or by serving lunch in classrooms.

Public health experts said they are confident that even schools that cannot maintain a distance of three feet can be safe, provided other safety protocols are followed.

“Each layer of protection makes a difference. Avoiding overcrowding, good ventilation, constant mask wear, vaccination of all eligible people, regular testing and symptom screening all contribute to Covid safety in schools, even if no protective layer is present. perfect, ”said Anna Bershteyn, Assistant Professor of Population. health at NYU’s Grossman School of Medicine.

Ms Bershteyn’s own son is currently attending summer school in New York City and she started sending him to school in double masks once the virus count started to rise.

“While there is a downside to having more children in a space, the benefit of giving all children the chance to have a full-time in-person school outweighs this downside,” a- she said, adding that her son was delighted to be back in school. .

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