Special sites for kids of key workers

One hundred school buildings across the city will be open to the children of critical city workers while schools are shut down because of the coronavirus outbreak, officials said Tuesday.

The sites, which Mayor de Blasio first announced Sunday, will be staffed by city teachers and communitybased organizations, according to a plan the Education Department submitted to state officials Monday night.

City schools are closed until at least April 20, with online or remote learning beginning for all kids beginning Monday. The 100 “regional enrichment centers” will allow essential city workers to stay at work without worrying about child care, de Blasio said.

Health care and transit workers and first responders will be eligible to send their children to the centers, where no more than 12 children with at least one teacher will be in each room, following social-distancing guidelines.

The centers will also be open to “students in need of the most intensive support,” though officials haven’t yet specified who meets that definition. The 100 sites will be open to students of all ages, with some dedicated to early childhood education for 3- and 4-year-olds.

Infants and toddlers will be cared for at separate child care centers the city allows to stay open. Sites will stay open from 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and families will be assigned to them based on location.

The kids at the centers will participate in the same online learning plans their regular schools are implementing, but they’ll also have art, physical education and music. Each site will also include two nurses, a social worker and a guidance counselor.

The centers will be open to kids of other “essential” workers if space permits, according to the plan.