Public school students ranging in additional 51,000 have made the choice to return to school in the former of some in-person learning. Mayor Bill de Blasio made this announcement on Monday.
Public School Students Want to Learn in Person
For families of 3K, elementary school, Friday was the last day. In fact, District 75 programs have opted back into in-person learning. November was the last time families could make that decision. At this time, there are currently 315,000 students that are learning in the school building at least during some part of the week. Moreover, there are 645,000 children who are, in fact, still learning remotely.
The Numeric Breakdown of Students
Those students that have opted in do include 26,500 that is 3K through 5th grade, 10,000 are in middle school, 13,000 are in high school. Then, there are 1,500 that are in D75 programs.
City Schools are the “Safest Place”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, De Blasio declared that the “safest place” has been the city’s schools. Moreover, returning students can, in fact, head back to classrooms starting on April 26th. He encouraging, and, has said: “We’ll welcome back all our kids”
Public School Students: Buildings Have Reopened and There are Low Transmission Rates
Since October, when the buildings reopened for the year, students in 3K, elementary, and D75 schools have been in classes. Moreover, transmission rates have been low. In February and March respectively, middle and high schools only reopened. There are studies that have suggested that COVID-19 transmissions and cases did begin to increase when children began to hit puberty, around 10-12 years old.
Accommodating Additional Students
“We have two weeks to get everything ready,” de Blasio said. He explained that wherever possible students would continue to be distanced by six feet. Moreover, it’s been discussed some classrooms might use the new CDC guidelines of 3′ for distancing. In fact, both de Blasio and the Schools’ Chancellor Meisha Porter were confident that schools would be able to accommodate the additional students.
