NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced that public high schools in New York City will reopen for in-person classes on March 22.
For now, only students who signed up for in-person instruction last fall will be able to return to classrooms.
The school system's 488 high schools will open for the 55,000 students in grades 9 through 12 who have opted for in-person learning. The remainder of the 282,000 students in those grades will continue to learn remotely.
Teachers and staff will return March 18 to prepare classrooms.
New Schools Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter, who is taking over for Richard Carranza next week, joined the mayor for the announcement at his 10 a.m. briefing Monday.
The city is also restarting high school sports for all students in mid-April, with the season running into August.
"We're going to bring back all sports with strict safety protocols," de Blasio said.
Sports will be phased in and there will be a heavy emphasis on moving them outdoors.
High schools have been closed since November.
About 62,000 students in grades six through eight who chose in-person learning returned to their classrooms last month while elementary school students resumed in-person instruction in December.
The mayor has vowed to reopen schools fully come September.
"There is nothing more essential to our recovery than bringing back our public schools. This is the essence of why New York City is great, our public school families depend on them," de Blasio said. "Everything revolves around our public schools so we're moving aggressively to bring our schools back now and fully in September."
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