NYC elementary schools return in big back-to-school test
De Blasio: 3.25 percent of COVID-19 tests in city came back positive
Elementary school students went back to classrooms across New York City on Tuesday in a high-stakes test for the nation’s biggest public school system even as the mayor warned that a recent rise in coronavirus cases was “cause for real concern.”
With children wearing masks and undergoing temperature checks at schoolhouse doors, students and parents who opted for brick-and-mortar school greeted the twice-delayed date with enthusiasm, relief and some trepidation.
Waiting for her daughter’s turn to go into a school in Manhattan’s East Village, Ashley Shelton said she hoped the start of school would be good for both of them.
Last spring ’s sudden shift to online learning was “how can I put that — OK,” Shelton said, but her daughter missed going to school. And Shelton, a single mother, lost her receptionist job amid the pandemic. Now that school is starting, she’s looking for new work.
Still, “I’m not going to say it was easy” to decide to go with in-person school, Shelton said. “Because I have my doubts, I have my worries, but God is good.”
The elementary school reopening — with middle and high schools set to follow Thursday — comes with officials concerned about recent spurts in virus cases in some neighborhoods after a summer of success at keeping transmission fairly stable in the city as a whole.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday that 3.25 percent of coronavirus tests citywide came back positive Monday, the highest proportion in months. The level had hovered around 1 percent through the summer and into last week.
“That is cause for real concern,” the Democratic mayor said, saying the city needs to “be on high alert.”
At the same time, New York City restaurants remain set to reopen their indoor dining areas Wednesday at reduced capacity, a step the state and city had held off because of concern about the virus’ potential to spread indoors.
With over 1 million public school students, New York City initially had a more ambitious timeline than many other big U.S. school systems for bringing children back to schoolhouses this fall. Families have the option of choosing all-remote learning, and a growing number are doing so — 48 percent as of Friday, up from 30 percent six weeks earlier, according to city Education Department statistics.
The rest will have a virusaltered version of in-person school, learning sometimes in classrooms and sometimes at home.