Assemblymember Jaime Williams (D-Canarsie, Georgetown, Mill Basin, Marine Park, Gerritsen Beach) and State Sen. Roxanne J. Persaud (D-Canarsie, East New York, Brownsville, Mill Basin, Sheepshead Bay, Bergen Beach, Marine Park, Flatlands, Ocean Hill, Starrett City) yesterday hosted city officials and superintendents in a virtual town hall to discuss the challenges faced by the city and parents as schools are set to reopen on September 10.
As announced earlier this summer, schools will utilize a blended learning approach to ensure proper social distancing measures. This means that students will be divided into two to three groups that alternate between attending school in-person or online, based on a model chosen by their school.
According to NYC Department of Education Deputy Chancellor Adrienne Austin, as of August 13, approximately half of all schools have opted for model 1 as described by the Department of Education (DOE), offering two groups of students five days of in-person instruction every two weeks; and roughly 25% have opted for model 2, offering three groups of students 5 days of in-person instruction every three weeks.
Special education students and pre-K students, for whom remote learning may be particularly challenging, will be offered more in-person instructions than other students. For pre-K students, many schools are planning on having four days of in-person instruction per week.
Parents who wish to switch their child from blended learning to fully remote learning can opt to do so at any time. However, the switch from remote learning to blended learning can only be done at the start of every quarter.
To ensure proper sanitation, hydrostatic electric cleaners will be used to disinfect schools on a daily basis. The DOE has ordered 4.4 million units of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to be delivered to schools. Nurses will also be on-site in every school building.
In the event of COVID infections in the school, Austin says that the city will follow a very conservative approach.
If one student or teacher in a classroom tests positive for COVID, the entire classroom will move to remote learning and must quarantine at home for 14 days, she says. If more than one student within a 7-day period tests positive in the same school building, the school must close and NYC Test & Trace will conduct an investigation and determine when the school can reopen.
“We’re following our health experts. That is what they say is safe to do, and that is where we stand”, says Austin. “We are aware of our size and our dense population and we want to protect the safety of all of our students.”
Earlier this month, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that schools will close and return to fully remote sessions if infection rates in the city rise above 3%.
To ensure the best possible education for their students through these times, education officials urge parents to maintain close communication with teachers, schools and the DOE.
Austin encourages parents to supplement education at home through reading or virtual field trips that can be accessed through the DOE website, and reach out to teachers if help is needed with any material being taught in school.
In addition, parents need to make sure they communicate all concerns and feedback to schools and the DOE, according to Senator John C. Liu (D- Flushing, College Point, Whitestone, Bayside, Douglaston-Little Neck), Chairman of the New York City Education Committee.
“Some parents are not filling out the surveys or sending in their feedback, so there has been some criticism of, for example, the mayor,” he says. “Based on the number of parents that have said they want remote-only learning, he’s gone ahead and made certain policies. So we really want to make sure that parents are really making their voices heard.”
One survey that parents can participate in is the Learning Bridges survey, the responses of which will be used by the City to plan daycare programs for 3-K through 8th-grade students for days that they are not in school.
Other ways in which parents can make their voices heard is through PTA meetings, or reaching out directly to principals, superintendents, and the DOE via email.
Liu also calls on the DOE to finalize and release all plans for the coming school year as early as possible, so that parents may plan accordingly.
