Following the threat of a teachers’ strike, and subsequent negotiations, Mayor Bill de Blasio, Schools Chancellor Richard A. Carranza, UFT President Michael Mulgrew, CSA President Mark Cannizzaro, and DC 37 Executive Director Henry A. Garrido announced on Tuesday, Sept. 1, an agreement to delay in-person learning in schools to Sept. 21.

 

Teachers will report to buildings on Sept. 8 as originally scheduled, but will have dedicated time for training, professional development, and readiness to collaborate and prepare for blended and remote learning before in-person learning begins on Sept 21. Beginning Sept. 16, teachers will begin to engage students in preparations and orientations to help them acclimate to the new school year.

 

Despite the delay, the mayor framed the agreement as a positive step. “This is a great day for every public school student in New York City,” he said. “We face a return to school unlike any in our city’s history, but New Yorkers have made it possible because of their extraordinary work fighting back COVID-19. Our agreement puts the health and safety of our 1.1 million students, teachers, and school staff above everything else. We couldn’t be more excited to get our young people back to the classrooms where they learn best.”

 

Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza also weighed in. “Reopening school during an ongoing pandemic is one of the most complex challenges any government anywhere has had to figure out in modern history, and New York City is best positioned to do so,” he said. “So many things about this year will be new, but the fundamentals remain the same: the majority of our students plan to return to buildings, students will learn best in person with a caring teacher as often as possible, and we will lead with health and safety every step of the way.”

 

UFT President Michael Mulgrew said New York City will now have the most aggressive policies and the strongest safeguards of any school system in the nation.

 

Meanwhile, some local Bronx parents gave their views on the topic, though they declined to say which schools their children attended. Nancy Melendez is from Pelham Parkway. “I believe that school’s shouldn’t open yet,” she said.

 

“It’s too soon, unless they all get tested at the school before coming to school everyday, and keeping six-feet apart. But there could be consequences and problems because some children are not going to respect the rules of keeping distance, and what if there are teachers and children walking [around] with the virus, not knowing they are infected. Opening the schools right now is too soon. We should be taking baby steps as we learn more about the virus. Remember this virus is silent, you can be a carrier without having the symptoms show [for] up for 14 days, and this could affect our children, teachers and everyone else.”

 

Jessica Lugo is a parent from Norwood. “I’m keeping him in remote learning,” she said of her son. “I don’t feel safe with my son taking the bus to school. I don’t trust the situation. The second wave can hit soon, considering ‘flu season is coming. Plus, I don’t know what safety procedures other people are taking that will be in the school. My son’s doing remote learning and school’s postponed until Sept. 22.”

 

According to City officials, beginning immediately, prioritized access to testing will be available to students, teachers, and Department of Education (DOE) school-based staff at 34 sites across the City. These sites will give priority to all DOE workers so they can quickly be tested, and provide results within 24-48 hours. Beginning Oct. 1, and recurring each month, it will be mandatory for schools to test a random 10-20 percent sample of their students participating in blended learning and on-site staff population. Families will be asked to sign a consent form at the start of the year for their child to participate at random, and be notified ahead of time if their child has been selected for the month.

 

In a typical school year, teachers return to school a few days before students to prepare for the start of the year. The City is extending that preparation time for educators to prepare their physical and virtual rooms for a new year of learning. This time will allow teachers and all school staffs to set up students for success in both full-time remote and blended models. School leaders and educators will be fully trained on health and safety protocols and have ample time to coordinate with each other to ensure they can provide educational continuity between remote and in-person days for blended learning.

 

On Sept. 8, educators return to school, and will collaborate to prepare for the school year. On Sept. 16 , schools will begin engaging students in learning and orienting them to the new school year prior to the first in-person day on Sept. 21. They will use this remote launch to engage students in health and safety procedures, and talk to students about connectivity for remote learning, wellness and social emotional health heading into an unprecedented school year, and to ensure students are ready to learn. An important focus of this orientation period will be on the social and emotional well-being of students and families and provide an opportunity for deeper understanding of the ways this unprecedented school year will work.

 

City officials said that health and safety continues to lead all reopening plans, and the City will not reopen schools if the citywide infection rate exceeds three percent. The citywide infection rate is currently 1.3 percent.

 

“A lot was on the line here to work through,” the mayor said in a press conference on Sept. 1. “I’m pleased to report that we’ve come to an agreement to move forward to address real concerns that have been raised about how to do things the right way, how to do them the safe, healthy way, how to make sure people are prepared for the school year under absolutely unprecedented conditions,” he added. “We have a huge obligation to get the health and safety part right which is why we have literally set the global gold standard.”

 

The mayor said that New York City had taken the best practices when it came to ensuring public safety amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, had gathered the strongest methods from all around the world, and had applied them all together in the City’s public schools to ensure the highest standard anywhere in the world to protect kids, families, educators and staff. He said he had reached out to all impacted parties to get their input and to allow them to make sense of blended learning, which he said posed extraordinarily complex instructional issues.

 

Council Member Fernando Cabrera praised de Blasio’s decision to delay the reopening of schools. “This is the right decision,” said Cabrera. “I’ve stood with the UFT to urge the mayor to ensure the safety of teachers, children and school staff, and working together, we have prevailed. The decision to delay schools reopening until the end of September allows teachers to plan for a new school year under conditions never experienced in the past.  I commend the great work of the UFT, the DOE, CSA and Mayor de Blasio to ensure safe and healthy conditions in our schools.  Mayor de Blasio’s office now needs to work with the UFT and parents to execute the preparation. We can get this right.”

 

Meanwhile, City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, who had been critical of the mayor’s decision to delay school closures at the beginning of the pandemic in March, provided a statement in support of the decision to delay reopening.

 

“The Mayor’s decision to delay school re-openings to Sept. 21 is a step in the right direction. Nothing is more important than safety, and I am glad we are prioritizing the health of students, teachers and school staff. Sadly, this common-sense measure should have been announced sooner to better allow school staff and families to plan properly for the academic year, something I and many of my colleagues urged the Administration to do in August,” he said.

 

“Instead, Mayor de Blasio dragged his feet while parents and educators fretted about how to make the impossible work, waiting until a week before school is scheduled to provide clarity for our school community. We live in uncertain times. Everyone is on edge. This type of indecision only fuels confusion. We know our City’s principals and teachers will work very hard to ensure schools are ready by Sept. 21, but they will need better guidance from the Department of Education to adequately prepare and best protect our students.”

 

Johnson added, “I applaud the United Federation of Teachers (UFT), the Council of School Supervisors & Administrators (CSA), parents and everyone who advocated for a delay and helped make this decision a reality. We need to come together and do what is best to keep our City’s children safe and healthy.”