Schools Chancellor Meisha Porter greets a P.S. 064 Robert Simon student
as children returned to school in April. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly
COURIER LIFE, SEPTEMBER 3-9, 2021 19
BY ALEJANDRA
O’CONNELL-DOMENECH
New York City offi cials released
a school health and
safety guidebook Thursday,
Aug. 26, less than three weeks
before public school students
are set to return to classrooms.
The 13-page long document
available on the Department
of Education’s website does
not answer every question
teachers and parents have
about this year’s full return to
classrooms a year and a half
into the COVID-19 pandemic
and will serve as more of a
“baseline” for teachers and
school administrators to work
from, according to Mayor Bill
de Blasio.
Questions as to how the
DOE will instruct quarantining
students, for example,
still remain unanswered with
Mayor Bill de Blasio assuring
New York City school communities
that offi cials would release
further guidance later
this month and early September
as negotiations with
unions like the United Federation
of Teachers, wind down.
“There’s a lot of material in
here and there’s a lot of references
to other more detailed
material online,” said de Blasio
about the guidebook, six
pages of which contain fall
health and safety protocols.
“We are going to be adding updates
in the coming weeks.”
In keeping with Mayor de
Blasio’s message, the guidebook
encourages all New York
City public school students
12 years of age and older to
get vaccinated and notes that
in order for students to play
high-risk sports like football
and basketball they must get
at least the fi rst dose of the
vaccine by the start of competitive
play.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration
granted full approval
of the Pfi zer-BioNTech
COVID vaccine for people 16
years old and older replacing
its previous emergency use
authorization. There is still
an emergency use authorization
in place on the Pfi zer-BioNTech
vaccine for children
between the ages of 12 and 15.
About 60 percent of New
York City’s children ages 12
to 17—or 310,183 vaccine-eligible
kids—have received at
least one dose of the COVID
vaccine, according to the
New York City Department of
Health and Mental Hygiene.
City offi cials report that
about 70 percent of all public
school teachers have received
at least one shot of a COVID-19
vaccine. That number will increase
due to the full vaccine
mandate Mayor de Blasio has
issued to all DOE employees.
Employees have until Sept. 27
to get at least one dose of a vaccine
by Sept. 27., and upload
proof of vaccination into the
newly launched vaccination
portal.
Health
NYC releases vague school
health and safety guidebook
for fall school reopening