NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — The Department of Education's COVID-19 screening website is up and running after tech issues plagued the website early Monday morning as 1 million New York City public school students returned to the classroom for the first time in 18 months.
The city's website either failed to load, loaded partially or loaded very slowly for users.
"All DOE employees, students, families and visitors seeking to enter DOE buildings must complete a health screening before entering DOE facilities," the website says.
The screening must be completed each day of arrival, with the screener resetting midnight of each day.
Staff and students will be asked to provide the results of their screening before entering a building either on their phone or printed out.
Despite the highly contagious delta variant, New York City will limit remote learning options to situations when quarantining is necessary due to COVID exposure.
"Our kids need to be in school and it’s unbelievable that some kids haven’t seen the inside of a classroom for a year and a half," he said Thursday. "There are massive consequences to that, including health care consequences. The healthiest, best place for kids to be is in school."
Masks-use will be enforced per guidance from the state's Department of Health.
There was so much excitement at P.S. 25 it was like Times Square on New Year's Eve.
Principal Raquel Pevey hosted de Blasio and Schools Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter on the first day back for all students in over a year.
There were balloons, confetti and noisemakers as students were welcomed back.
"This is a really powerful moment. I've been talking to parents, parents are ready too, parents are ready for their kids to be back in school. A lot of relieved parents out there," de Blasio said.
The mayor promised the gold standard of safety protocols in public schools, but Porter had some homework for families.
"And everyone probably already knows what the homework is, but if you don't let's be clear get vaccinated," Porter said. "Vaccinations are our passport out of this pandemic."
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