A better answer to coronavirus schooling

To reopen New York City’s public schools while maintaining social distancing, their cafeterias, gyms and offices will be converted to classroom space — but it won’t be nearly enough to accommodate the vast majority of families like mine who need in-person classes more than a couple of days a week. Mayor de Blasio said that each school would have a maximum capacity determined by taking over “every conceivable space in that school.”

But what about school?

Last weekend, the city started closing down sections of dozens of busy streets for several blocks in all five boroughs so that restaurants could set up more tables outside. If the city can do this for dining, surely it can do the same for learning. Schoolyards and athletic fields, of which there are hundreds, could be repurposed as well.

It’s really not that complicated. Put up tents — the big ones used for weddings, with sides that roll down for bad weather — add desks, chairs and a whiteboard, and boom: you just outside that made a classroom. The bonus is that air circulation would be much better than indoor classrooms, a major concern for teachers and parents alike.

For schools with already adjacent outdoor space, and there are many, a big part of the solution is already on their doorsteps. And just think of how much street space there is on one block with no parked cars: It’s thousands of square feet. The classrooms could be separated with simple dividers.

In parks and elsewhere, we had field hospitals when we thought we needed them to treat a coronavirus surge. Why not field schools?

There are, of course, many challenges to making this a reality, but it is certainly possible. Noisy? Probably — but not as noisy as my apartment with multiple Zoom calls happening at once. Would kids need portable toilets? Likely. Cold outside? There could be heat lamps — and possibly jackets. Even if this only works for the fall and spring, that’s six months more than not having it at all. (If you can believe it, it was less than four months ago that schools first shut their doors.)

Closing streets is actually the easy part, if City Hall has the will to do it. Individual schools should already have the authority to use their own outdoor spaces as they see fit. The biggest challenge would likely be staffing, because every additional classroom needs an additional teacher. And there will already be a shortage of in-person teachers, as many will receive medical exemptions so they can work remotely. That’s why certification requirements should be relaxed and hiring expedited for the duration of the current emergency, allowing people like teaching assistants to lead classes on their own.

It’s no insult to teachers to say that the city’s “distance learning” program has been a poor substitute for in-person classes, especially for younger children like mine who are just learning to read and write, and who need constant management, while their parents are often trying to get their own work done. For disadvantaged kids without reliable internet connections and with crowded, small apartments, it’s a fantasy to think that they can get anything close to as much learning accomplished at home. It will be far worse when the teachers aren’t even available at the other end of the screen because they’re busy teaching the half (or third) of the class that’s in actual school that day.

New York has more than 1 million public school students. When they can’t go to school, it upends the lives of more than a quarter of the city’s population. Using schoolyards and playing fields would be a good first step. But extraordinary measures are needed for the extraordinary challenge we’re facing.

The street closures for outdoor dining are for weekends only. These classroom tents would be up until they’re no longer needed. Until that day comes, what’s more important — space for cars or space for kids?

Bell is a public school parent.