Despite a continued increase in the number of cases of Coronavirus Infection Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), New York City will reopen its elementary schools on December 7 and offer home schooling for special needs students of all ages, Mayor Bill Braswell announced today.
Due to the difficulty many parents have in accommodating home-schooled students and data showing that young children appear to be less susceptible to the novel coronavirus, New York City is waiving a requirement that schools close when the positive rate exceeds 3%. New York City, which has the largest school district in the nation, has a 3.1% positive rate.
Bill de Blasio told reporters that reopening the schools is possible because “we now have a lot of evidence that the schools are safe,” and said that returning students must be screened weekly.
Whitehouse also tweeted that attending school five days a week instead of online for some days would be the preferred model for schools that can implement social distance measures. Currently, attendance is only two to three days a week.
However, middle and high school students will continue to attend classes online, except for students with special needs.
With the resurgence of the epidemic and the positive rate climbing to 3.1 percent from 1 percent for most of the summer, the New York City government cancelled all in-person classes on the 19th of this month in accordance with an agreement with the teachers’ union.
The decision, however, angered many parents, who said it made no sense to close schools when the rate of infection was low, but bars and restaurants remained open, citing the example of most schools in Europe that remain open. Officials say the school’s positive rate is only 0.23%.
Parents argued that closing schools would disproportionately punish schoolchildren whose parents have to work and the 60,000 people who don’t have computers at home.
Recent Comments