Vision of Sept.
Qns. school has virus-era demo
City officials got a glimpse Wednesday of one Queens school’s preparations to reopen in-person classes this fall — just as opposition from powerful unions to the city’s reopening plan was mounting.
At Village Academy in Far Rockaway, classroom desks were marked with multicolored placards for rotating shifts of students, chairs were spaced out with help from Hula-Hoops and the central air conditioning unit was getting an upgrade — all part of the effort to prepare schools to bring back students for in-person learning in under a month’s time.
“I’m really encouraged by what I see here at Village Academy,” said Mayor de Blasio at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon. “It’s going to take creativity and flexibility of course. But what I heard loud and clear in this leader’s voice was, ‘We’re going to make it work for the kids.’ ”
But behind the scenes, pushback to the city’s plan was mounting. The Council of School Supervisors and Administrators, which represents school principals, on Wednesday urged officials to delay the reopening of school. United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew released a statement later Wednesday echoing that sentiment.
De Blasio batted back the criticism, arguing he’s been in touch with union officials “literally every day” about the reopening plans.
“We have a whole month,” he said. “I hear their concerns, but this ballgame is far from over.”
Asked about the option of delaying the start of in-person classes, he added: “My sense is, if you want to take away another month of a kid’s education, you can do that. But that’s not where I start.”
Doris Lee, the principal of Village Academy, said she believes her school can safely reopen by September.
“I feel like my children need me, and if there’s a possibility to open safely, I want to take advantage of that possibility,” she said. “So far we have a great plan. I’m nervous and excited to see our kids.”
During a tour, Lee gave city officials a window into what a school day may look like under social distancing guidelines.
The school’s bright blue hallways were divided down the middle by a thick yellow line and marked with circles on each side of the line telling kids which direction to walk, so they avoid bumping and close physical contact.
One classroom set up with 20 desks will host just 10 kids at a time, and each group will get a different set of desks, Lee said.
“The irony is for years and years, everyone wanted smaller class sizes, this is not the way we wanted to do it, but it’s striking how different it will be,” de Blasio remarked at the setup.
Many city principals are still trying to make complex scheduling arrangements without final numbers of kids who will be attending class in person.
Roughly 26% of city students have opted for remote learning so far — but that number could fluctuate, as families can select remote learning at any time before and during the school year. Lee said about 29% of her kids chose remote learning, with the highest proportion of virtual learners coming from the incoming sixthgraders, who have never attended the school in person.
Classrooms will be cleaned each night with an electrostatic cleaner that sprays disinfectant in a fine mist.
A custodian engineer told city officials he could disinfect each of the school’s 20 classrooms in just one to two minutes.
Windows in the school building crack only several inches at the top and there’s been no central air conditioning for at least 12 years. Lee said the building is slated to get A/C before the start of the school year.
A Daily News analysis of 1,500 school building reports found roughly 650 buildings with at least one deficiency in their exhaust fans, which push out stale air to make room for fresh air.