4 SEPTEMBER 3, 2020 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
NYC public school opening delayed
BY ALEJANDRA O'CONNELLDOMENECH
EDITORIAL@QNS.COM
@QNS
City officials announced on Tuesday
that in-person classes will be
pushed back until Monday, Sept. 21.
The announcement comes the
morning the United Teachers Federation
was threatening to hold a
strike authorization vote if the city
did not delay the reopening of school
buildings.
The agreement, reached between
the de Blasio administration, the
Department of Education, along with
the United Federation of Teachers
and the Council of School Supervisors
and Administrators, averted a
potential job action over the safety of
public schools during the COVID-19
pandemic.
The school year had been scheduled
to start on Sept. 10. Now, teachers
will be given four preparation
days on Sept. 10, 11, 14 and 15. Teachers
will meet their students during
a remote orientation from Sept.
16-18, according to the Department
of Education. But teachers will be
required to be in school buildings
beginning Sept. 8. for blended learning
training.
“It’s not going to be easy, but I am
very proud to say that we did this at
this very moment,” said UFT President
Michael Mulgrew, who joined
Mayor de Blasio during his daily
morning press conference. ” But
now it’s up to all of us to be there to
support each other, to support our
kids and to make sure that we are
the ones keeping the largest and
best school system open, running
and safe.”
Earlier this month, the UFT
threatened to strike or go to court
if the city reopened schools without
meeting a list of union demands. The
union wanted mandatory antibody
or COVID-19 tests for all students,
teachers and staff planning to enter
school buildings to for union representatives
to allowed to inspect the
status of personal protective equipment,
cleaning supplies and ventilation
systems in schools. If schools
could not be brought up to snuff by
the city’s original first day of school,
Sept. 10, the union demanded the city
delay in-person classes.
The UFT executive board was
scheduled to vote on a strike authorization
on Monday. But de Blasio told
reporters during his daily morning
press conference that he did not
think the job action was on the table.
Tuesday morning, de Blasio told reporters
that city agreed to delay the
start of the school year after both the
UFT and the principals union, the
Council of School Supervisors and
Administrators, expressed concern
BY ALEJANDRA O'CONNELLDOMENECH
EDITORIAL@QNS.COM
@QNS
Some outdoor youth sports
leagues will be allowed to
return to the fi eld beginning
Tuesday, Sept. 15, Mayor Bill de Blasio
revealed on Friday, Aug. 28.
WNYC’s Brian Lehrer broke
the news during his weekly ‘Ask
the Mayor’ segment shortly after
pressing de Blasio on school
reopening details. Now, youth
baseball, softball, soccer, flag
football, non-contact lacrosse and
cricket teams can request permits
from the Parks Department to play
outdoors, de Blasio said.
“The folks in the sports league
that do so much for our kids they’ve
been appealing for the ability to
open up and we are going to grant
that,” de Blasio told listeners.
In order to abide by state health
guidelines, all coaches, spectators,
leagues and sideline players must
wear masks at all times. Players
are also encouraged to wear masks
while playing if possible, according
to City Hall. Players must maintain
social distance while not in active
gameplay and spectators are
limited to two per player. Those
watching games must immediately
leave the field postgame, according
roll out a “medical monitoring program”
beginning Oct. 1 which will
involve testing between 10 and 20%
of students and school staff at each
building at random every month, according
to de Blasio’s senior advisor
on public health Dr. Jay Varma. The
test will be a self-swab test which
requires a person to insert a long
q-tip into the nose instead of a thin
piece of plastic, according to de Blasio.
All COVID-19 tests will be free to
students and staff and results will be
available in 48 hours.
Parents and guardians will need
to provide consent before their
child can be tested. If a school has
not received parental consent for
a student selected for testing that
student will be moved to a remote
learning cohort, according to a statement
from the UFT. Any school staff
member that chooses to participate
in random testing will be placed on
unpaid leave.
Schools will switch to full remote
instruction if the percentage of
positive COVID-19 cases in the city
reaches 3% or higher using a 7-day
rolling average. Any zip code reporting
at least 3% positive COVID-19
cases or higher using the same rolling
average will receive additional
testing and tracing efforts like testing
vans, pop-up testing sites, doorto
door canvassing and robocalls for
at least two weeks, according to city
officials.
to the Parks Department.
Park staff will conduct spot
inspections at league practices
and games and will enforce a
“three-strikes” policy by revoking
league permits after witnessing
three health violations, de Blasio
said. Permits will be suspended
for all sports if the percentage of
positive COVID-19 tests exceeds 3
percent.
Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza and Mayor Bill de Blasio. File photo
that teachers and principals did not
have enough time to adequately prepare
schools for a safe reopening.
For weeks, Mayor de Blasio and
Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza
have ignored repeated calls to
delay the start of in-person learning
from parents and teachers claiming
that schools would be equipped
with adequate personal protective
equipment by Sept.10 and that the
city had checked all school ventilation
systems. Tuesday’s sudden shift
comes after union leaders, including
Mulgrew, came out in support of the
mayor’s call to Albany to allow him to
borrow $5 billion to cover the city’s $
6.6 billion gap in next year’s budget.
“We have a huge obligation to get
the health and safety part right
which is why we have literally set the
gold standard,” de Blasio said. ” We
have said that New York City is taking
the best practices, the strongest
methods from all around the world to
and applying them here in our public
schools.”
As part of the deal, the city will
City to issue permits to some
outdoor youth sports leagues
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