NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Students are returning to the classroom at 488 New York City high schools as Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a new opt-in window for families to sign up their kids for in-person learning.
About 55,000 high schoolers have opted in to some in-classroom learning compared to a pre-pandemic high school population of about 326,000.
Families will have another chance to opt into in-person instruction starting this Wednesday through April 7 since the city can increase school capacity given the CDC's new guidelines that allows desks to stand three feet apart, increased from six feet of separation.
"We're going to do an opt-in for all grades even though only some of them will be ready to open in the near term," de Blasio said. "We want to ask parents and kids across all grade levels if they want to come back when the opportunity arises."
The mayor said 3K, pre-K, elementary and District 75 special education schools will be ready to welcome students who opt back in by the end of April.
"We still have more work to do for middle and high school, we're still not sure about those timelines, but as I said the opt in will include middle and high school students so we know what their intentions are and then we'll be able to provide more information as we get more guidance and as we see the overall situation evolve," de Blasio said.
"We need to open the opt-in window now so that schools can start planning for the opportunity to welcome more students in," Schools Chancellor Meisha Porter said. "We want every single child who wants to attend school in person to have the opportunity to do so."
The expansion comes as health officials remain concerned about variants.
"One of the reasons we see this very high plateau or very slow decline here in New York is due to these variants," senior health adviser Dr. Jay Varma said.
He notes there's no evidence that variants are resistant to vaccines, but it's still being studied.
City public high schools have been closed since November when the city saw a surge in COVID-19 cases. They are the last to reopen, with assurances from Mayor Bill de Blasio on the city's social media platforms.
"We are ready to go. We have all the pieces we need to bring high school back and bring it back strong and, of course, to bring it back safely," de Blasio said in a video message. "Why do we know this? Because we set the gold standard for the nation and our rules became the blueprint."
Teachers have been eligible for the coronavirus vaccine since January. There will be social distancing, disinfecting and random testing as students return to school buildings.
About half of the city's public high schools will offer five-day in-person learning.
The mayor and schools chancellor greeted students and staff at the Bronx School for Law, Government, and Justice.
Teachers union president Michael Mulgrew met students and staff on W. 49th Street where there are three collocated high schools — Stephen T. Mather Building Arts & Craftsmanship High School, The Business of Sports School and The Urban Assembly Gateway School for Technology.
Mulgrew said the teachers union spent the weekend reviewing the new CDC guidelines.
"They should've been speaking to people who work and run schools when they were putting out the guidelines, the science is the science," Mulgrew said, insisting that the union is not being obstructive. "It's not ideal teaching anyone remotely. The teachers really do not enjoy it and what they would prefer is, like everybody else, let's get back to where we should be, but we are in a pandemic."
Students, meanwhile, were excited to be back with their friends.
"I'm pretty excited to be back," said Danny Gonzalez, a sophomore at the Urban Assembly Gateway School for Technology. "Remote learning was pretty difficult because you couldn't really do much, couldn't see friends or interact with anybody, so being able to come back to school and talk to everybody is like really fun."
Math teacher Kirk Snyder was hoping for consistency.
"I know very well that we could be tested and be closed tomorrow and then we're back remote and then we're back here and. I want to be here. I just want to be consistent and I want to predictably do my job and not worry about where I'm reporting, what kids can make it," Snyder said.
The COVID positivity rate in New York City schools has been very low — just 0.57%, according to the latest city data. That compares to a citywide positivity rate of around 6.8%.
Meanwhile, the city is marking another reopening as indoor fitness classes resume.
The classes will be capped at 33% capacity and masks are mandatory at all times.
Also Monday, the governor is lifting restrictions in yellow zones, where the state imposed tighter rules on restaurants and other businesses.
There were only five remaining zones, four of which were in New York City.
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