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Entire NYC School System Could Shut Down If COVID-19 Outbreaks Become “Uncontrolled,” “Recurrent” In Some Schools
By
Sophia Chang
Published Aug 7, 2020
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By
Sophia Chang
Published Aug 7, 2020
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Even if New York City’s positivity rates for coronavirus remain below the 3% threshold set by Mayor Bill de Blasio in his schools reopening plan, the entire school system may still be shut down if there were “recurrent, uncontrolled outbreaks of COVID-19” in one or more of the city’s public schools, according to new detailed reopening plans released by city education officials Friday evening.
The new details also say that students and staff cannot come to school for in-person learning if within the past 14 days they had traveled internationally or from a state with “widespread community transmission” as determined by New York’s travel advisories -- which, as of Friday, was the majority of the United States.
In addition, the plan asks schools to perform random temperature screening checks, and any student who registers a higher than 100.0 degree temperature during the screening check will be prohibited from entering the building. The plan does allow for circumstances involving young students who arrived at school by bus to enter the building even with a fever, to be isolated and monitored until they can be sent home.
Testing is still a major component of the school reopening plan and the DOE is asking their school staffers to get tested at least seven days before the first day of school, and to get tested at least once a month afterwards.
Other details that emerged from the 109-page plan that city officials submitted to the state Department of Education Friday: students engaged in school lockdown drills this fall will have to remain still and silent in their seats instead of moving to safe corners, while young students will no longer hold hands while undergoing evacuation drills. School buses will also enforce social distancing, reducing each bus’s capacity to approximately 25 percent of its normal passenger load.
These sobering details show just how different school will look for students who come back this fall to the country’s largest school district and the only major American city school system to attempt in-person learning amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Governor Andrew Cuomo on Friday said he authorized all school districts in the state to reopen this fall for in-person learning, but the state’s health and education departments will still need to approve each district’s plans.
The city’s plan also now gives a timeframe for when families will learn their student schedules under blended learning, which staggers cohorts of students in part-time in-person models. Students will learn their schedules later this month after schools finalize their blended learning models, the DOE said. Students also have the option to enroll in remote learning full time but that official deadline is Friday.
Other new details released is each school’s formation of a Building Response Team that will be responsible for “managing and supporting” any COVID-19 outbreaks in a school community. The BRT will identify isolation rooms in each school building where ailing students or staff can be monitored until they go home. Students and staff are expected to perform their own daily health screenings and temperature checks before coming to school each day, and the DOE said it will provide thermometers for families who need one.
The plan also spells out a policy that “face coverings must be worn at all times except while eating or drinking.” Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza said earlier this week that students who refuse to wear a mask for personal -- rather than medical or developmental -- reasons will be sent home.
The plan also said further information is forthcoming on afterschool programs, noting “afterschool programs will require increased custodial labor and programs will incur extra extended use costs to pay for those services.” Interscholastic sports are still not permitted by the state Department of Health.
The plan also addresses the popular topic of alternative classroom spaces outside in tents or in leased facilities like unused office space: “No firm decisions” have been made on those ideas to date.
The DOE did not immediately answer follow-up questions Friday evening.
Tagged
COVID-19
schools reopening
Sophia Chang
Sophia Chang is a former WNYC and Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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