NYC school year delayed until Sept. 16; in-person learning to start Sept. 21

Coronavirus quarantine checkpoints stop over 3,000, 2 S.I. summonses issued; de Blasio calls operation ‘important work’

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the new school year is delayed until Sept. 16, starting with three days of remote learning, before in-person blended learning starts Sept. 21. (Staten Island Advance/Joseph Ostapiuk)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Tuesday that the 2020-2021 school year will be delayed until Monday, Sept. 21 for remote and blended learners, with three days of an instructional orientation beginning remotely on Sept. 16.

Students were initially expected to return to school buildings for in-person blended learning on Thursday, Sept. 10, which will now be delayed to allow time for educators to get ready for the new school year.

From Sept. 16-18, there will be three days of a remote instructional orientation period for all students. It will allow students to reconnect to their school community, learn the health and safety procedures, check technical connectivity, and have wellness checks with their teachers and guidance staff.

The school year will begin on Monday, Sept. 21, for all blended learning and full-time remote learners. School buildings will open on Sept. 21 for students who chose blended learning -- allowing for limited in-person instruction in classrooms.

Teachers will be able to return to buildings on Sept. 8, with professional development and any additional training running through Sept. 15. Schools Chancellor Richard A. Carranza said teachers who usually get two days of professional development will now get nine days.

It will also allow the city Department of Education (DOE) to make sure students are ready to return to school, depending on the learning model they chose.

“Students who haven’t been inside a school building for half a calendar year will have a chance to reconnect with their school, meet their teaches and classmates and make sure they have the tools they need to be successful for this school year,” Carranza said. “There’s a lot of groundwork to lay the work for this school year.”

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The mayor explained that the delay was made following concerns from labor unions like the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) and the Council of Supervisors and Administrators (CSA) that teachers and principals did not have enough time to prepare for the health, safety and instructional challenges for the unprecedented school year.

“What we’ve agreed to is to make sure that the health measures are in place, to make sure there is time for the appropriate preparation for our educators, to make sure that we can have the smoothest beginning of the school year even under extraordinarily challenging conditions,” de Blasio said.

The city will not reopen schools if the citywide infection rate exceeds 3% under a seven-day rolling average. If new coronavirus cases surpass the 3% threshold using a seven-day rolling average, all schools in New York City will need to close.

RANDOM COVID-19 TESTING

There will also be a monthly medical monitoring program in place beginning Oct. 1, which involves mandatory monthly random testing of the coronavirus for students and staff, the mayor said.

“Every school is doing this testing monthly,” de Blasio said. “It is random. I want to be clear about that so it’s a mix of members of the school community will be tested every month. Every union is going to work out their specific approach to it.”

Dr. Jay Varma, the mayor’s senior advisor for public health, explained that diagnostic testing will be performed in the schools with results received immediately for the school to act on. The size of the sample -- - between 10% and 20% -- will depend on the population of schools, Varma said.

It will be a self-swab test, not the long Q-tip that is inserted far into the nasal cavity, de Blasio said.

Random testing will also require parental consent. If parental consent isn’t obtained for a student who has been selected randomly for testing, the student will be moved to the remote learning cohort, according to the UFT. Any staff who elect not to participate in random testing will placed on unpaid leave, the UFT stated.

Michael Mulgrew, UFT president, explained that there is still much work to be done to prepare students and staff to return to school buildings.

“We now can say New York City’s public school system has the most aggressive policies and greatest safeguards of any school system in the United States of America,” he said.

The medical monitoring program is going a step further to make sure students and staff are in a healthy environment.

“...That we’re in there as quick as possible in stopping it very quickly because that’s what we owe in each and all of our school communities,” Mulgrew said.

Mulgrew, and CSA President Mark Cannizzaro CSA president said any schools that need additional help will get the support they need.

“…With so much to care for, there’s always a need for more time in order to plan things effectively and appropriately and although the task before us remains monumental and time will not be a luxury right now, at least there is the time to start to think about things and reflect and make sure that we’re able to provide the program for our students that we need and we’re able to do it in a safe and conducive environment,” Cannizzaro said.

FINALIZING BUS CONTRACTS

When it comes to school bus transportation, de Blasio said he’s working with bus companies to get ready and make adjustments to get bus routes right. Dean Fuleihan, first deputy mayor, said the city is finalizing contracts with bus companies.

Bus routes for students with Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) are being prioritized, Carranza added.

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