14 DECEMBER 17, 2020 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Nine Queens schools close due to COVID-19 cases
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
AACEVEDO@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
While some public schools reopened
on Dec. 7, nine schools
in Queens already have had to
close this week due to positive COVID-19
cases.
As of Thursday, Dec. 10, the Department
of Education’s (DOE) daily COVID
cases map, which shows all known cases
of COVID-19 at New York City’s public
schools, listed the following schools
closed due to one or more positive case
of the virus in a school building: P.S. 232
Lindenwood in Howard Beach, Parsons
Preschool in Woodhaven, P.S. 117 in
Briarwood, P.S. 101 and P.S. 144 in Forest
Hills, NYL Clearview School in Flushing,
P.S. 229 in Woodside, P.S. 70 and P.S. 17 in
Astoria.
Nine schools also closed in the Bronx,
fi ve closed in Brooklyn, four in Staten
Island and one in Manhattan.
Eleven schools have a 24-hour closure,
while seven will be closed for two weeks
as of Dec. 10. The DOE is also tracking
closed classrooms, of which there are
currently 77 citywide as of Dec. 1o.
The DOE, which is working with several
agencies to compile the data, reported
that of the 113 confi rmed COVID-19 cases
in public schools, 55 of them are from
students and 58 from staff .
Mayor Bill de Blasio closed schools before
Thanksgiving aft er the city reached
a 3 percent COVID-19 infection rate, a
threshold that was agreed upon months
ago with teachers unions — but school
closures were already taking place prior
Photo via Getty Images
to the full shutdown. School closures may
increase due to more frequent testing,
which is part of the city’s plans to keep
the school system open and safe.
“We have strict protocols in place to
keep our schools safe and we don’t hesitate
to thoroughly investigate and take
quick action if there is a positive case reported
in the building,” DOE spokesperson
Miranda Barbot told QNS. “While we
are increasing testing in schools to once
per week, we continue to emphasize our
preventative safety measures: frequent
hand-washing, social distancing and face
coverings.”
On Friday, Dec. 11, de Blasio announced
the city’s COVID-19 infection rate was
at 5.35 percent, with the number of
daily hospitalizations at 205 (or 2.48
per 100,000 people). De Blasio noted the
hospitalizations numbers have reached
their threshold of 200 hospitalizations
per day.
“We’ve been holding the line up to now,
but this is a sign that the hospitalization
issue is becoming a bigger challenge and
one that we’re going to have to confront,
all of us are going to have to be part of addressing,”
said de Blasio during his daily
press briefi ng. “Across the board, we see
that these indicators have all unfortunately
surpassed their thresholds. This
is an indicator — this is a sign, I should say,
of how deep this crisis is right now, how
much work we have to do to fi ght back
the coronavirus as we, thank God, implement
the vaccination in the program that
will change everything. This is a crucial
moment — and I’m going to say it every
chance I get: everyone has to be part of
this. Everyone needs to wear your mask,
practice social distancing. If you have
travel plans, cancel them now. Stay home
for the holidays. Stay close to the very few
loved ones who are close by.”
Mayor reveals plan to close schools’ achievement gap
BY ALEJANDRA O'CONNELLDOMENECH
Mayor Bill de Blasio last week
revealed an outline of a plan
to help New York City public
school students who have fallen behind
in classes during the pandemic
get up to speed next year.
The “2021 Student Achievement
Plan” requires that the city fi rst fi nd
out how much ground students have
lost during a school year plagued with
disruptions.
“We are going to have a very robust
process where we are bringing educators
to the table and look through and
get their thoughts on what is successful
for them,” Chancellor Carranza
told reporters. “The goal here is to get
something that is robust of an assessment
that is also adaptable so that we
can get a true gauge of where students
are in their learning and then obviously
have conversations with our
parents and parent groups as well.”
The bulk of the plan depends
heavily on building on digital tools like
the Department of Education’s recently
launched ‘Parent University’ created to
help parents struggle to help their child
navigate remote learning with classes
of their own.
Carranza added that the plan’s foundation
also includes creating a second
one-stop digital learning hub, increasing
access to a digital curriculum, deepening
professional development and launching
a one-stop digital learning hub.
De Blasio pledged to fi ll in more details
on what the plan will look like as well
as more information cost and a rough
timeline for the new approach in
upcoming weeks.
De Blasio used a fictional student
named Robbie as an example of the challenges
facing children during a school
year amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Robbie, a third-grade student, had his
school year cut short aft er the coronavirus
hit New York City in February
and is forced to take classes remotely.
He starts to fall behind and begins to
struggle to grasp some concepts in class
all while possibly witnessing loved ones
get sick or die aft er being infected with
COVID-19.
Here is the six-point plan:
1. Getting a baseline of what ground
we lost
2. Increasing high-quality digital
curriculum available for every single
school
3. Launching a one-stop digital
learning hub
4. Deepening professional
development
5. Expanding “Parent University”
6. Confronting the trauma and
mental health crisis faced by our
students
Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Offi ce
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