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Most In-Person Classes Delayed Again As NYC Switches To Staggered Reopening Of Schools
By
Sophia Chang
Published Sep 17, 2020
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David "Dee" Delgado / Gothamist
By
Sophia Chang
Published Sep 17, 2020
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The school year slated to begin Monday will instead commence remotely, with only blended learning 3K, Pre-K and District 75 students going to school in-person, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Thursday in a sudden shift that upended the plans and schedules of educators and families across the school system.
While all students will commence remote learning Monday, blended learning students attending K-5 and K-8 schools will not set foot in school buildings until September 29th. Blended learning students attending middle and high schools, as well as students in secondary schools (schools spanning grades 6-12), and transfer schools/adult education schools, will return to buildings on October 1st.
The switch comes after weeks of mounting pressure from unions and educators who say many of the city’s 1,600 schools are in buildings that are unsafe, with antiquated ventilation systems, windowless classrooms, and disorganized distribution of personal protective equipment. They also pointed to the need for many more teachers to implement the blended learning model, since the United Federation of Teachers union required that teachers would not have to teach both in-person and remote classes simultaneously.
Listen to Sophia Chang and Jessica Gould discussing the sudden decision to delay reopening schools on WNYC:
This newest delay also comes after de Blasio had already pushed back his hope of opening the nation's biggest school district on September 10th, making New York the only major city school system to attempt in-person learning.
“We have to do it right. So the fact is that we talked about the different types of schools now, their levels of readiness and how we could work together to make adjustments that would best allow us the right kind of start,” de Blasio said.
“Opening Monday to everyone would not have been safe for our students. And this is something we've been speaking about over and over again,” said Council of School Supervisors and Administrators President Mark Cannizzaro at the press briefing.
United Federation of Teachers union president Michael Mulgrew praised the decision at the mayor's briefing, saying, "if we're going to do this we must make sure that we get this right. We want our school system up running and safe, and we want to keep it up running and safe, because that's what the families and the children of this city deserve."
The city will also hire more teachers, including graduate students and adjunct instructors from CUNY to bolster its substitute teacher ranks. De Blasio said an additional 2,000 teachers will start Monday, and another 2,500 added to help staffing gaps at 3-K, Pre-K, District 75, K-5 and K-8 schools.
“These educators will help fill key gaps for in-person learning in schools to make sure that all students have a rigorous learning experience in a safe, healthy environment,” according to a release from the mayor’s office Thursday. “The DOE is continuing to engage middle and high schools as well to establish their needs for additional staffing, and will announce additional staff capacity for those schools in the coming weeks.”
Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza said the staggered re-opening means more prep time and training for the new teachers: “Our students will have new teachers coming on board and we'll have lesson templates and plans set up to hit the ground running. We'll offer even more opportunities for professional learning to strengthen remote practices,” he said at the mayor’s press briefing. “And we're going to make sure that through all of it, our students have access to their guidance counselors and social workers. Because the learning starts for all students on Monday.”
As surprising as the announcement might have been to families, educators said they were caught off guard -- they were in the midst of holding parent conferences, orientations and meetings about reopening school Monday when the news came.
“The (additional) time is helpful but we have been working feverishly to inform our families, and I was in the middle of a parent meeting explaining in person logistics for Monday,” said Joanna Cohen, assistant principal of PS 169 in Sunset Park, in a text message to Gothamist. "Luckily a friend texted me and we ended the meeting early."
De Blasio said the staffing question was the real reason for the delay, and that he felt most of the other pressing dilemmas facing the school system have been addressed.
“I feel good about the vast majority of schools on these things -- the PPE, the cleaning, the ventilation systems. There's still specific issues that have to be addressed. But I think the thing we all came together on and said really had to be nailed was the staffing level, that this was the area where the specific number had to be agreed on together,” he said.
“Bluntly, a lot of other bureaucracy, was just putting the different key figures in one room to have one conversation and really determine what that number was,” de Blasio added.
Cohen, the Sunset Park assistant principal, was stunned to learn that these conversations were happening just four days before school was supposed to start.
“All of these issues -- staffing, technology, ventilation -- were anticipated by school-based people in July,” she said. “How are they just figuring this out now?”
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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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