Back to class
Another 51,000 students will return to city school buildings on April 26, Mayor de Blasio announced Monday.
The students — ranging from preschool to high school — opted to switch from remote learning to in-person classes over the past three weeks. Officials had previously committed to allowing only younger students back into school buildings, but now say new opt-ins of all ages can be brought in by late April.
The new signups will bring the total number of students attending classes in school buildings to about 360,000, Education Department officials estimate. That represents less than 40% of the city’s approximately 960,000 public school students, with the rest still learning online from home.
De Blasio said at a news conference Monday that he thinks the relatively small number of new families signing up for in-person classes has less to do with their worries about safety in city schools than with the logistical disruption of switching schedules so late into the school year.
“My view is a lot of parents were really focused on the schedule question, they had gotten into a schedule that worked for them in remote,” he said. “I think there’s a growing understanding that’s been going on for months that schools are very very safe. I don’t think that’s the problem here. I think it’s what works with people’s lives.”
A recent study led by city officials found little evidence of COVID-19 transmission in city schools, with the majority of the small amount of spread starting with adults. But officials acknowledged later in the news conference that many families remain fearful of the virus.
“We are still in the middle of a very difficult fight against this epidemic, and there are many people that still remain quite concerned,” said Jay Varma, de Blasio’s chief health adviser. “So I do think the single most important thing we can do to build confidence is to control the epidemic.”
Officials say they’re confident they will be able to bring back all the new students without changing the schedules of kids currently taking in-person classes or forcing teachers who are out on medical accommodation until the end of the school year to return early.
The influx of students returning to school buildings comes on the heels of changing federal and state guidance that suggests kids can safely stay 3 feet rather than 6 feet apart in classrooms, as long as schools enforce mask wearing and other safety precautions.
City officials say they will allow elementary and preschools to adopt the 3-foot spacing rule later this month, but middle and high schools will stick with 6 feet of distance for now. Officials say some elementary schools may be able to stick with the 6-foot rule if they don’t need to increase student capacity.
About 26,500 of the students set to return this month are preschool and elementary students, while 10,000 are middle-schoolers, and 13,000 are in high school.
An additonal 1,500 attend District 75 schools for students with complex special needs.
The announcement comes after city officials changed a controversial rule that closed schools for up to 10 days when two or more unrelated COVID-19 cases in two or more classrooms cropped up in the same week.
The new policy sets a higher threshold for schools to close, and officials hope that will reduce disruptions to class schedules.