Just over two weeks after the nation’s largest school district shut down due to rising coronavirus cases, New York City’s elementary schools will begin to reopen.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) announced in a series of tweets on Sunday that he would reopen the city’s elementary schools in December.
“Reopening our @NYCSchools buildings is paramount to recovering from #COVID19,” he wrote, adding, “Today we can announce that we plan to reopen buildings for: 3-K, Pre-K, grades K-5 on Monday, December 7.”
Reopening our @NYCSchools buildings is paramount to recovering from #COVID19. Today we can announce that we plan to reopen buildings for:
— Mayor Eric Adams (@NYCMayor) November 29, 2020
• 3-K, Pre-K and grades K-5 on Monday, December 7
• District 75 schools at all grade levels on Thursday, December 10
Additionally, de Blasio said that District 75 schools “at all grade levels” will reopen on December 10. District 75 schools are for students with disabilities who require additional support.
He also explained that the only students who can return to in-person learning are those who have filled out a coronavirus testing consent form.
Finally, as we reopen, wherever possible we will move to 5 day a week in-person learning. We want our kids in the classroom for as much time as possible. Our families do, too. We’ll work to make it happen.
— Mayor Eric Adams (@NYCMayor) November 29, 2020
The mayor also said the city plans to phase out a blended learning format “wherever possible.”
“Finally, as we reopen, wherever possible we will move to 5 day a week in-person learning. We want our kids in the classroom for as much time as possible. Our families do, too. We’ll work to make it happen.”
The city closed its schools less than two weeks ago after the test positivity rate hit the 3% threshold that led to the entire school system shutting down.
However, de Blasio said on Sunday that the city would be getting rid of that threshold.
New York City’s school district has over 1,800 school buildings and roughly 1.1. million students.
The decision to reopen schools comes amid a nationwide surge in coronavirus cases. On Saturday, the U.S. reported 151,247 new cases of the virus.
As cases rose, school districts around the country began to close in an attempt to help slow the spread of the virus.
However, Dr. Robert Redfield, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said in a press conference on November 19 that schools can continue in-person learning “safely and they can do it responsibly.”
He added that studies have founds that schools have not been a major vector for spreading the virus, “The infections that we’ve identified in schools when they’ve been evaluated were not acquired in schools.”
Additionally, he strongly urged school districts not to close.
The Washington Post reported in late-September that there had been some transmission of the virus on college campuses. Still, in elementary schools, there had not been as much transmission as was feared there would be over the summer.