8 SEPTEMBER 16, 2021 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
New York City public school students return to classrooms
BY ALEJANDRA O'CONNELL-DOMENECH
ADOMENECH@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@AODNEWZ
Hoards of masked public school
children returned to classrooms
on Monday, Sept. 13, for the fi rst
day of school 18 months aft er Mayor Bill
de Blasio ordered a systemwide shutdown
due to the COVID-19 pandemic,
triggering a shift to online learning.
The fi rst day of classes started off
rocky when the New York City Department
of Education’s health screening
website crashed. Under the city’s
school health and safety guidelines, all
students and school staff must fi ll out
a COVID-19 health screen before being
allowed into a school building.
But as children and families made
their way to school buildings, some
reported being unable to fi ll out the
document online sending teachers and
school aids scrambling to pass out paper
health screens.
Schools Chancellor Meisha Ross
Porter attributed the health screening
hiccup to the department’s website
becoming overloaded as roughly 1 million
students tried to log on around the
same time.
“First day of school and a million kids.
That’ll overload you,” joked Mayor de
Blasio with Porter outside of P.S. 25 in
the Bronx Monday morning, the fi rst
stop in a marathon of school visits the
chancellor has planned for the fi rst
week of classes.
Eventually, the health screening site
went back online. “Our apologies for the
short period it was down this morning,”
the DOE tweeted at 8:45 a.m. “If you are
having issues accessing the online
tool, please use a paper form or inform
school staff verbally.”
Although both officials boasted a
full return of over 1 million public
school students, the exact number
of children attending public school
classes in person will be unclear until
the DOE release enrollment numbers
later this fall. Last year, enrollment in
public schools dropped by about 4%,
or 43,000 students, according to DOE
enrollment data released in January of
this year. Department offi cials faulted
the city’s declining birthrate as well as
the pandemic for the decline.
Some have worried the yearslong
trend of declining public school enrollment
will continue into this school
year because of de Blasio’s refusal to
off er students a remote option. Aft er
suggesting in the spring the city would
offer a remote option this fall, de
Blasio surprised school communities
by announcing all students would be
required to return to school in person
with only the medically fragile allowed
to take their courses online.
The lack of a remote option has
prompted some parents to keep their
children home out of fear the city will
fail to make good on its promise to
keep all students and staff safe from
COVID-19’s delta variant this year.
A student returns to school on Sept. 13, 2021. Photo courtesy of NYC Mayoral Photography Unit
A child wears a face mask on the fi rst day of public school. Photo by Brendan McDermid/Reuters
At P.S. 121 Throop in the Bronx, elementary
school-aged kids stood three
feet apart and cheered Chancellor
Porter, fi rst lady Chirlane McCray and
Federal Secretary of Education Miguel
Cardona before the trio toured the
school’s classrooms and cafeteria.
Since de Blasio announced all students
would be returning to school
buildings, parents, teachers and school
staff have pressed for clarity on how offi
cials plan to abide by health and safety
guidelines, particularly social distancing
recommendations.
Under CDC guidance, school staff
should try to maintain at least three feet
of social distance between children and
adults whenever possible but should not
prevent a full reopening even if social
distance can not be maintained.
In August, the DOE released a short
booklet outlining school health and
safety protocol which very closely follows
recommendations issued by the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Under the guidance, all adults and
children are required to wear masks
and 10% of unvaccinated students and
staff ers will be tested every two weeks.
If a positive COVID-19 case is detected,
students will be required to quarantine
for 10 days.
Some students reported the first
day back was not as academically put
together as they would have imagined
and that students felt shy around one
another. Sebastian Trivino, 16, a junior
at Middle College High School, a public
high school located on the campus of
LaGuardia Community College, told
Schneps Media he spent the day doing
ice breaker activities.