FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM MAY 28, 2020 • THE QUEENS COURIER 3
сoronavirus
New York City on its way to begin
reopening by early June: Mayor
BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELLDOMENECH
Photo via Flickr/Mayor’s de Blasio’s offi ce
DOE adjusts summer school dates
to start classes one week earlier
BY ALEJANDRA
O’CONNELL-DOMENECH
adomenech@qns.com
@AODNewz
The Department of Education
announced late Wednesday evening that
summer school classes will begin a week
earlier than previously stated.
Th ird- through eighth-grade students
and high schoolers who need to need to
attend summer classes will now sit for
online summer school starting on July 6,
DOE spokesperson Danielle Filson said
in an e-mail.
Classes were originally slated to begin
on July 13. Elementary school students
will take classes for four days a week and
fi nish up by Aug. 11. Ninth- through
12th-graders will need to attend class fi ve
days a week until Aug. 14.
“Th is will allow for continuous learning
and give students and educators a
break in August before the start of the
next school year,” said Filson. “It will
also give our families and educators time
off in August, when hopefully there is
an increased chance for potential vacations
and outdoor activities. Th ere is no
change to duration or structure for summer
learning programs.”
Filson added that the department began
notifying parents of the schedule change
late Wednesday.
“Th is will not impact our timeline for
notifi cations to families or determinations
for which students will be required or recommended
to attend summer learning,”
she wrote.
On Tuesday, Mayor Bill de Blasio and
Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza
announced that roughly 177,000 students
will need to attend summer school this
year, nearly 12 times as many students
that attended last year due to schools
transitioning to online learning given the
novel coronavirus pandemic.
“You take away months of the school
year in the much more eff ective setting of
everyone being together in a school building
where teachers can use all their skills
for maximum impact, of course, it’s going
to have an impact,” de Blasio told reporters
on Tuesday. “And it’s going to be a
negative impact.”
Although the city is anticipating a huge
increase in the number of summer school
students this year, the number of teachers
instructing these students will remain the
same as last year at 6,000.
Summer school this year will cost the
DOE about $83 million, while last year
the department spent about $200 million,
according to Filson.
adomenech@qns.com
@AODNewz
Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Th ursday
that phase one of the city’s reopening
could start sometime in the fi rst half of
June, which would allow for construction,
manufacturing, agricultural operations
and retailers to reopen with restrictions,
according to New York state guidelines.
“I’m basing that on what we know
today, I’ll put an asterisk,” Mayor de
Blasio said during his daily novel coronavirus
press conference.
De Blasio told reporters
that although his administration
would decide
later this month the
exact reopening
date, officials
were trying
to decide
on a date
b e twe e n
June 1
and June
15. That
t i m e
f r a m e
c o u l d
c h a n g e
though if the city sees and spike in new
cases, hospitalizations or admittances to
ICUs.
“Th e goal obviously is to never have to
go back to the same level of restriction
that we’ve been in and God forbid go to
even higher levels of restriction,” said de
Blasio during his daily novel coronavirus
press conference. “If
we are smart about this
we’ll have some ups and
downs. That’s normal
… but the game plan we
are trying to put together
here is where you don’t
have the big setback.”
Inside City Council’s 10-step
plan for NYC beach safety
BY ALEJANDRA
O’CONNELL-DOMENECH
adomenech@qns.com
@AODNewz
Th e New York City Council’s 10-point
plan to allow New Yorkers to enjoy
beaches this summer aims to thread
the needle between permitting fun in
the sun and guarding against a second
COVID-19 outbreak.
“Access to city beaches isn’t just a summer
fun issue. It is an equity issue and
a public health issue,” said City Council
Speaker Corey Johnson in a statement.
“All New Yorkers, not just those wealthy
enough to travel out of the city, deserve
access to the beach this summer.”
Fearing overcrowding, Mayor Bill de
Blasio banned swimming at city beaches
to prevent overcrowding during the
holiday weekend and announced that no
lifeguards would be on duty, a measure
criticized by some elected offi cials aft er
a 24-year-old man drowned off the coast
of Rockaway Beach on May 22.
“Disallowing swimming at beaches
puts New Yorkers at risk. If the city is
going to open our beaches and parks, we
need to do so in a comprehensive manner
with the necessary resources they
need to operate safely,” said Councilman
Peter Koo, chair of the City Council
Parks Committee.
Surfi ng, sunbathing and walking in
ankle-deep water are still allowed as well
as groups of up to 10 people, according
to Governor Andrew Cuomo.
To allow for swimming and increased
sunbathing space, the City Council proposed
the city use ropes or fl ags planted
in the sand to designate areas where a
person or small group can sit while keeping
socially distant and to create walking
lanes, according to the guidelines.
In the guidelines, Council members
also called for lifeguards to be stationed
at beaches, provided with personal protective
equipment like masks and gloves,
and allowed to self-isolate with pay as
needed.
In order to allow for frequent handwashing,
City Council members called
for restrooms at city beaches to remain
open like they are at city parks and for
foot-pedal-operated water or hand sanitizer
stations installed along beaches.
Th e city should also install more trash
cans along beach areas for masks, gloves
and other PPE to minimize littering.
Th e City Council plan keeps the
requirement that New Yorkers must
wear a mask if they plan to sit in the
sand, walk along the boardwalk or stick
their feet in the water. Th e obvious
exception to this rule would be if New
Yorkers want to swim.
In order to ensure that New Yorkers
remained socially distant at beaches,
Mayor de Blasio announced last week
that the city would increase the Parks
Department and NYPD presence at
beaches.
On Friday, Mayor de Blasio said 150
Parks personnel would hand out free
cloth face masks at city beaches and
enforce social distancing with NYPD
offi cers “in the background” to serve as
back up if needed.
“If there are gatherings, if people try
to go into the water, Parks is going to
take the lead but if they need support
from the NYPD they will have it,” said
de Blasio.
Council members also called on the
city to increase transportation options to
the beach like creating new bus lanes to
allow for more bus trips on high-traffi c
routes and by installing pop-up protected
bike lanes, creating bike-only streets
on routes going toward beaches and
increasing the number of bike racks at
beach entrances.
Th e City Council guidelines also
ask that the city allow restaurants near
beaches to open and to look at nonbeach
alternatives for communities far
from the water.
Photo by Todd Maisel
/WWW.QNS.COM
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