Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
As School Closures Loom, Parents Push City To Keep In-Person Learning Despite Virus Surge
By
Sophia Chang
Published Nov 12, 2020
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
John Minchillo/AP/Shutterstock
By
Sophia Chang
Published Nov 12, 2020
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
As the New York City's coronavirus infection rate inches closer to the 3% positivity threshold, frustrated parents are pleading with Mayor Bill de Blasio to back off using that figure as a trigger to close schools, especially in the absence of any evidence that in-person learning has contributed to the latest surge.
New York City was the first major school district in the country to reopen for in-person learning, an unprecedented experience for the city and the roughly 300,000 families who enrolled in the experiment.
“It's foolish to just be stuck with a decision that was made before we had that data,” said Mia Eisner-Grynberg, whose daughter attends blended learning at a Washington Heights elementary school.
The debate comes as some education advocates worry about the impact of the pandemic on children, and as many families have had time to settle into blended learning. A growing chorus of parents and elected officials said switching to all-remote learning now is needlessly disruptive when studies have generally shown very little transmission of COVID-19 directly tied to school environments across the world.
The city’s mandatory in-school testing has yielded a very low rate of positive cases, though dozens of school buildings are currently temporarily closed as per the Department of Education’s COVID-19 case protocols.
“I think it's important to realize that when the city set the 3% benchmark, it was before we knew what was actually going to happen inside of the New York City public schools," Eisner-Grynberg argued. "And what that data has shown us now for two months is that those fears happily were misplaced.”
Notably, several European countries, including Germany, France and Ireland, have elected to keep schools open amid renewed lockdowns.
But Mark Levine, the Manhattan City Councilmember who chairs the health committee, argued that the closure of schools is a necessary wake-up call to many New Yorkers, similar to the school shutdown order in March.
“We need a mindset shift among the public that it's time to start limiting movement around the city and staying close to home,” he said Thursday.
In July, de Blasio announced that the school system would shut down if the citywide rolling seven-day average positivity of cases went above 3%. That benchmark is far more restrictive than the one set by Governor Andrew Cuomo, who this summer set a 9% average as his threshold for school closures in the state.
The mayor reiterated his plan at a press briefing Thursday.
“It's a rule we've put out there very clearly. And if any day we see in the morning, the indicators come out and have reached that level then we will move immediately. The next day schools will be shut down,” he said, adding that he believed the city can avoid reaching that point.
As for how long schools would remain shut, de Blasio said he hoped they would reopen “as quickly as possible” without specifying a timeframe.
A petition signed by Eisner-Grynberg and 2,000 other people calls on de Blasio to prioritize keeping schools open and closing other non-essential businesses or indoor dining.
“It seems like schools are the only thing being threatened with a shutdown,” said Daniela Jampel, who organized the petition and has two children in blended learning in Washington Heights.
“I'm a woman who works and I can't do any of my work without her being in school on those days. And you should see how excited my children are to go to school every day,” she said. “My older daughter, every single day that she goes to school is the best day of her life. I mean, she just needs this.”
United Federation of Teachers union president Michael Mulgrew said the shutdown needs to happen as per the city’s agreement with the labor unions, and stay closed until rates fall at a steady rate for at least a week.
“We would need to see a downward trend for at least seven days. The last thing we would want to do is reopen for three days and have to shut down again,” Mulgrew said Thursday. “The reason we are going to have to go remote is because the community spread is growing and it’s getting to a point where we do not want the schools being a problem and possibly being the vehicle that spreads the virus from one neighborhood to another. That’s why our plan is the way it is.”
Public health experts have recently described the mayor’s 3% threshold as arbitrary given how relatively few school staff and students have tested positive.
“I can see the rationale for keeping schools open a little longer and keeping a very close eye on surveillance on schools,” said Dr. Jessica Justman, an epidemiology professor at Columbia University.
She said if the trends continue to worsen, city officials could then move to close schools.
For many families, the issue goes beyond academics. Parents who want schools to stay open also said they were worried their kids will suffer more unnecessary upheaval during an already tumultuous school year.
“I think that it's tough, because children are finally going to school, and now all of a sudden, (they may) shut down schools again,” said Angelica Salgado, PTA President at PS 143 in Corona. “I honestly don't think it's the best idea.”
The low threshold for closing the school system, after all the work to reopen schools in the first place, is also frustrating some parents, who pointed out the Department of Education also set a deadline this week for families to decide whether to opt-in for blended learning for the rest of the school year.
“I don't know how the mayor can say out of one side of his mouth that they've done such a good job and schools are so safe that they are encouraging everyone to opt in, and on the other hand, say we have to close at 3%—particularly when you have neighborhoods, many, many many neighborhoods that aren't anywhere near that 3% threshold,” said Deborah Alexander, who is the co-president of the District 30 Community Education Council in Astoria.
She added: “‘One size fits all’ never works but it is a favorite mantra of this administration. And unfortunately, thousands and thousands of citizens suffer when you try and treat everybody the same.”
With Jessica Gould and Elizabeth Kim
Tagged
COVID-19
coronavirus
schools reopening
Sophia Chang
Sophia Chang is a former WNYC and Gothamist reporter.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Police are looking for pickpockets who keep targeting this LES bar
At least two people are connected to four separate incidents at the Two Doors Down bar on the Lower East Side.
By
Brittany Kriegstein
Published Oct 15, 2026 at 2:57 p.m. ET
Citi Bike finishes expansion into 7 areas, including parts of North Bronx, Eastern Brooklyn
The bike-sharing service added 230 new docks over the last year.
By
Stephen Nessen
News
Citi Bike finishes expansion into 7 areas, including parts of North Bronx, Eastern Brooklyn
The bike-sharing service added 230 new docks over the last year.
By
Stephen Nessen
Why Mamdani’s name was mostly missing from debate for New York governor
By
Jimmy Vielkind
Manhattan DA charges woman with stealing $25K in immigration fraud scheme
By
Arya Sundaram
NYC lawmaker wants dedicated NYPD units to combat chaotic car meetups
By
Charles Lane
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .