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Last Chance To Opt-In To Blended Learning Begins This Week For NYC Public School Students
By
Jessica Gould
Published Nov 2, 2020
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Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office
By
Jessica Gould
Published Nov 2, 2020
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The two-week period for public school families to switch from all-remote to blended in-person learning kicked off on Monday and runs through November 15th.
“We want to make sure for those who [decide] in-person education is best and for those who have been waiting for the opportunity [...] they get all their questions answered and are able to take full advantage of it,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a news conference Monday.
This is now the only opportunity to make the change, a policy de Blasio updated last week, departing from his original plan to allow parents to opt in quarterly throughout the school year. The change outraged some parents who had been counting on the freedom to change their children's enrollment status later in the year, depending on how the COVID-19 pandemic changes in NYC. The policy shift could also cause an influx of students to pour into a classroom, presenting staffing challenges to a system already experiencing under-staffed schools.
The same day de Blasio updated New Yorkers on the opt-in policy, he announced that only a quarter of the school system’s students have attended in person “at least once” so far this fall, leading some parents to believe that the mayor was pressuring parents on the fence to select the in-person option.
Parents immediately took to Twitter to denounce the change.
But officials emphasize that there have been no major outbreaks in schools so far, indicating that social distancing, testing, and cleaning protocols may be working.
“If we continue to see higher rates of transmission in New York City, like we are right now, it is certainly possible that more members of the school community might get infected,” said senior health advisor Dr. Jay Varma on Monday. “But what we know from our studies and our evaluation right now is that those infections are not being transmitted in the school.”
As of Monday morning, de Blasio said 21 out of 1600 schools were closed for a two-week period because of positive cases, irrespective of public schools within red and orange zones. “That’s a meaningful number, I don’t wanna belittle that number, but that’s 21 out of 1600 schools,” he said. “So, by any measure, the vast, vast majority of schools are open at any given time.”
Still, many parents questioned why the city would demand a decision right as coronavirus cases are rising. They said they had hoped to monitor infection rates through the holidays, as colder temperatures force people indoors and the holidays prompt some to gather and perhaps even travel.
De Blasio said that’s why he’s encouraging people not to travel over the holidays or quarantine if they do.
That doesn't help Abby Emerson, a mother who enrolled her daughter in an all-remote 3K class in Brooklyn. She was hoping to send her back to school in-person after the holidays to mitigate risk to her immunocompromised mother.
“A big part of our decision was if we were going to see my mom at all she couldn’t be in school,” Emerson said. “We need to be able to see family through the holidays. But it feels like such a brutal consequence, that she doesn’t get to go to school until September.”
She added, “We’re just going to cross our fingers that the DOE hears that this wasn’t a great idea and they change their minds later.”
The mayor and schools chancellor have said they could envision reopening the opt-in period if a vaccine becomes widely available or the overall public health picture changes, but for now, this is the only opportunity for students to opt-in. Students can still switch to fully remote learning at any time.
Officials say the first in-person day for students choosing blended learning will be during the weeks of November 30th and December 7th.
Parents can sign up for hybrid-learning here.
Tagged
public schools
mayor bill de blasio
schools reopening
Jessica Gould
Jessica is the education reporter for WNYC and Gothamist. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Jessica reported on the shutdown and reopening of the nation’s largest school system, highlighting the unprecedented impacts on learning, health and mental health for students, staff and families. Got a tip? Email [email protected]
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