News Desk: Roughly 55,000 New York City high school students enrolled in blended learning will start returning to physical classrooms beginning March 22 with schools scheduled to reopen for about 17,000 teachers and staffers on the 18th, the Department of Education announced Monday.
All 488 high schools will reopen later this month and about half of high schools will be able to serve all or most of their returning students five days a week, a number that will “continue to increase,” according to a DOE spokesperson Danielle Filson.
Mayor Bill de Blasio ordered the closure of all 1,800 public schools last fall after all the city’s COVID-19 positivity rate based on a rolling seven-day average reached his threshold of 3%. A few weeks later, 3-k, pre-k learning centers and District 75 schools, which serve the city’s most disabled students, reopened followed by elementary schools in December since younger students struggle the most with remote learning and are less likely to spread the virus than older students.
Although Mayor de Blasio has said he planned on reopening all schools by September the status of middle and high schools remained unclear until last month with middle school students enrolled in blended learning got the go-ahead to return to in-person classes beginning Feb. 25.
Officials on Monday also announced that public school athletes enrolled in blended and remote learning will be allowed to return to practices in early April and competitions will resume in May and will follow an extended schedule throughout the summer.
In order to play, athletes will have to participate in weekly testing and wear masks and no spectators will be allowed during competitions or practices.
- Courtesy: AmNY
