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Half Of NYC Schools Have Been Approved For Outdoor Learning This Fall So Far
By
Sophia Chang
Published Sep 5, 2020
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By
Sophia Chang
Published Sep 5, 2020
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Just about half of the city’s public schools have been approved to conduct some form of outdoor learning this fall, the city Department of Education said Friday.
The DOE’s Outdoor Learning initiative, where schools use “schoolyards, adjacent streets, or nearby park space for classes outdoors" to aid in social distancing, has received 826 proposals as of the end of August.
Of those applications, 798 were approved, and the DOE said it was working with the remaining 28 applications “who have requested either parks or street space to help find alternative space as their original proposal did not meet our safety and feasibility criteria.”
“All on-site school space applications were approved,” the DOE added.
New York City has about 1,600 public schools, and another 260 charter schools mostly located inside DOE buildings, and any school can apply for the Outdoor Learning Initiative.
New York City's first day of school is September 21st, though teachers are to report to buildings on September 8th to begin preparations and online orientation for students begins September 16th.
City officials are hoping that classes such as Physical Education, Art, Music Chorus and Drama can take place outside, and “additional academic classes can also be conducted outdoors where space permits if a school has an interest in doing so,” the DOE said.
Some of the applications asked to make use of the city’s parks -- the DOE said 224 proposals were approved to use park space, another 85 proposals were approved to use streets space, and 489 proposals to use outdoor space that already existed on campus were approved. One example of an approved use of street space was P.S. 15 in Red Hook, which held demonstrations of class instruction on a closed-off Sullivan Street Wednesday.
A request for more data on the applications -- such as breakdowns by borough and district -- was not immediately answered Friday.
The outdoor learning applications are being reviewed by a working group with members from the DOE, Department of Parks & Recreation, Department of Transportation, Department of Sanitation, Streets Activity Permit Office, FDNY, and the NYPD.
As outdoor space is prized in the country’s largest school district, the DOE said the Outdoor Learning program would focus on equity with priority given to schools in communities most affected by the pandemic and lacked their own outdoor spaces.
Those schools “were proactively contacted by the Department of Education to offer assistance with their applications,” said DOE spokesperson Katie O’Hanlon in an email statement Friday.
One school that’s still awaiting its outdoor learning approval is M.S. 88 in Park Slope, where Principal Ailene Mitchell said she’s hoping to make use of 18th Street outside the school.
While just over half of M.S. 88 students have opted for full-time remote learning, Mitchell said there will still be about 750 students coming back for blended learning in three cohorts.
“All of our protocols are perfectly in place. We have all our signage up now. We have all our temperature pieces on the wall, we’ll do this the right way,” she said.
She said the other school on the block -- New Voices School Of Academic & Creative Arts -- already received permission to use 18th Street, so she’s optimistic about approval.
Her plans would allow all MS 88 students in blended learning to use the outdoor space. “We’ll rotate, like we’ll rotate the library -- we make sure there’s a sampling of all students,” she said of her plans for outdoor learning classes.
“I just can't wait to see the kids -- inside and outside, whatever which way,” Mitchell added. “We’re going to keep them safe.”
Applications for outdoor learning are still being accepted on a rolling basis, the DOE said.
Tagged
COVID-19
coronavirus
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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