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City Forces 12,000 Students Back To Remote Learning For Failing To Submit COVID Testing Consent Forms
By
David Cruz
Published Dec 23, 2020
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By
David Cruz
Published Dec 23, 2020
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Some 12,000 public school students from first through fifth grade were forced to shift back to full remote learning after not submitting signed consent forms for the COVID-19 randomized testing program required for physically attending school.
Some 190,000 elementary and special education students returned to the classroom on December 7th, two and a half weeks after Mayor Bill de Blasio ordered them to close once the city's seven-day positive testing average for COVID-19 hit 3%. Students from 3K through kindergarten were exempt from submitting their forms after the city Health Department determined they are less likely to transmit the virus. This left just 131,000 students to submit their forms.
Of that number, 12,000 students did not submit their forms, according to the city Department of Education, forcing them back to remote learning. Less than 20% of 1 million public school students are currently learning in the classroom.
De Blasio and Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza have long warned that students who do not submit their forms won't be allowed to come back to schools. Exceptions are also made to students with disabilities uncomfortable with having tests administered at school and those with medical conditions, which include a nasal condition.
“Due to the extensive efforts of our staff, 91% of students who need a consent form have one on file," Nathaniel Styer, a spokesperson for the city Department of Education, said. "Students without consent forms, and who do not have approved exemptions, are transitioned to remote instruction."
The new testing program is supposed to select 20% of students and staffers per school for a PCR test for COVID-19, administered weekly. Random testing at schools was initially performed once a month, beginning in October, until they closed for in-person learning on November 18th, prompting de Blasio to assure a greater frequency of testing once schools reopened.
But even with consent forms submitted, not every student has been tested for COVID-19 since the program began. At P.S. 107 in Park Slope, for instance, only one of two cohorts has been tested for COVID-19. When asked about this, de Blasio was skeptical of the lack of testing, despite data from the city Department of Education's testing tracker website that shows testers repeatedly showed up on days when the same cohort was scheduled for in-person classes.
"Any school that's not going through the right cohort approach, that's something we want to fix immediately. We can fix immediately," de Blasio said at a news conference Monday. "That could be as easy as just changing the days when the testing occurs."
Some parents have outright refused to submit consent forms over concerns that their information will be placed into a database by some of the third-party testing companies hired by the city. Even though officials have repeatedly insisted that such a practice will not happen, a lawsuit is now churning through the courts.
With fewer students in the rolls for in-person learning, it now increases the chances of schools offering upwards of five days a week of in-person class time for students. Currently, there are around 250 schools in the system that provide five days a week of in-person instruction to students, with priority given to students in public housing or who are homeless. De Blasio has previously said that number will continue to grow as the year progresses, particularly with the arrival of a vaccine to New York City.
But testing capacity remains unclear, raising questions about when middle and high schools will be able to return to in-person instruction. De Blasio said he has no actual date on when they can return to schools, but hinted that middle school students will be prioritized over those in high schools.
"We're going to start looking at January as a first opportunity for middle school, but it will all depend on what's happening with the larger health care reality and what our health care leadership is saying," de Blasio said Tuesday. "So. we've got more work to do, but I am very anxious to get our middle schoolers back as you are. I can't give you a date yet. It's going to need some more time, but my goal is as soon as humanly possible."
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schools reopening
David Cruz
David is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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