32 THE QUEENS COURIER • KIDS & EDUCATION • MARCH 25, 2021 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
32 k TiHdE QsU E&EN Se CdOUuRIcERa • tMiAoRCnH 25, 2021 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
New opt-in date for NYC public school students to return to class
BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELLDOMENECH
radomenech@qns.com
@AODNewz
Th e Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention revised COVID-19 guidelines
for K-12 schools, decreasing the recommended
number of feet students should
keep from one another from six to three,
which many hope will pave the way for
more school reopenings.
As a result, Mayor Bill de Blasio
announced that the city is off ering an optin
period for blended learning for all families
which will open next week.
Th e focus at fi rst will be the city’s 3K
and pre-K students, elementary students
and those in District 75, which serves
the city’s most disabled students, with an
eventual phasing in of middle and high
school students. Students should expect
to start heading into school for in-person
classes starting in next month.
“A lot of details to work out still, I’m
going to emphasize this,” said de Blasio.
” We are going to work with educators,
work with principals, teachers, unions
and health care experts to determine the
best way to implement all of this.”
Last week, the mayor told reporters if
the health organization indeed changed
its school social distancing guidelines the
city would then off er families another
chance to enroll their children in in-person
learning. De Blasio was unable to say
how the change would impact New York
City public schools when fi rst asked about
the changes on WNYC.
“We are already in a planning process
for the possibility that we have a health
situation that allows us to do those kinds
of changes and we are preparing for that
possibility,” de Blasio said on WNYC.
“But we are not there yet for the possibility
of an opt-in … we are looking forward
to seeing this guidance today and getting
some answers directly from the CDC
directly. Th en we will have more to say.”
Th ree hours later, de Blasio along
with Schools Chancellor Meisha Porter
announced the new opt-in plan, which
provides a window next week for all students
to set a time to return to class.
But while city offi cials move forward
with bringing back more students into
physical classrooms, teachers’ unions,
including New York State United Teachers
and the United Federation of Teachers
have urged caution.
In a statement sent shortly aft er the
CDC released its updated guidance,
NYSUT president Andy Pallotta said decisions
on how to bring students back to the
classroom must be “driven by science, not
politics” adding that sudden changes to
school safety guidelines can “undermine
public trust and clarity.”
“We would like to review in greater
detail the science behind the CDC’s latest
social distancing guidance,” said Pallotta
in the statement. “Yet it is clear social distancing
isonly one element of a nuanced
and multifaced approach to COVID-19
mitigation in schools. Universal mask
wearing, cleaning, proper ventilation,
contact tracing, COVID-19 testing and
getting the vaccine to everyone who wants
one are all still important safety measures
for schools. If anything, these other
factors — especially the need for robust
COVID-19 testing in schools — become
more important as social distancing guidance
changes.”
Similarly, UFT president Michael
Mulgrew sent members an email stating
that the union would like its own medical
experts to review the CDC guideline
changes before any systemwide policies
are rolled out across public schools.
Under the new CDC guidelines, students
in the same cohort or pod are only
allowed to come within three feet of one
another. School staff would still need to
stay six feet apart and keep their distance
from other adults and students and students
must stay that same distance apart
from each other if cohorting is not possible.
In addition, students must keep six
feet apart in public spaces like gyms, hallways
and lunchrooms.
“As a public school educator, you know
that it would be extremely complicated to
implement such a plan in New York City,”
Mulgrew said in the email. “Th e DOE
would have a lot to fi gure out.”
Photo by Brendan McDermid/Reuters
Students are greeted as they return to New York City’s public schools for in-person learning.
Ulrich calls on city to keep schools open, loosen COVID-19 closure guidelines
BY BILL PARRY
bparry@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
It was back to school Monday for
more than 55,000 of the city’s public
high school students across the fi ve boroughs
as Mayor Bill de Blasio welcomed
students in grades 9 through 12 back
for the fi rst time since November, calling
it “a hopeful sign about our future”
as the city’s recovery from the COVID-
19 pandemic progresses.
But the positivity rate remains high or
is rising in parts of the southern Queens
district of Councilman Eric Ulrich, who
is calling on the city’s Department of
Education to change its protocols for
COVID-19 closures. In a recent letter
penned to new Schools Chancellor
Meisha Porter, Ulrich detailed the many
challenges parents are currently facing
as a result of school closures.
“For more than a year now, students
have had their entire academic lives
upended by the pandemic. Distance
learning simply does not provide the
same quality of education and necessary
social interactions for our students,”
Ulrich wrote. “Additionally, as parents
and guardians have been returning
to work, fi nding childcare during
the school hours has become a massive
burden — and oft entimes, a costly
one. During a time of such economic
uncertainty, we cannot aff ord to put
parents in a position where they must
choose between putting food on the
table and caring for their child during
school hours.”
High school students have been learning
remotely since Nov. 19, when de
Blasio shut down the school system due
to an alarming rise in the COVID infection
rate. Elementary schools reopened
in December, and middle schools
reopened in February.
In his letter, Ulrich notes that his
offi ce has been inundated with hundreds
of complaints from school parents.
“In recent months, schools in my district
have been opened and closed so
many times that parents have contacted
my offi ce to complain,” Ulrich wrote. “In
some cases, entire buildings were closed
on account of just two positive cases.”
Ulrich went on to explain that no
other facility or business has such a
strict standard for operating, urging
DOE to ease up on the protocols.
“While we can agree that the safety
of our children and DOE staff is the
highest of priorities, no other businesses,
offi ces or facilities have such strict
guidelines for closures,” Ulrich wrote.
“In order to begin returning to normalcy,
it is imperative we provide our children
in-person learning and reopen our
schools.”
Photo courtesy of Ulrich’s offi ce
Councilman Eric Ulrich urges the city to keep schools open and loosen the COVID closure protocols going
forward.
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