After the the city’s teacher union threatened legal action and a full-on strike, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Tuesday the city would delay the first day of the 2020 school year by 10 more days to allow teachers to better prepare, as the nationwide debate over in-person versus remote learning continues to play out on campuses and school districts this September.þþStudents will begin online learning on Sept. 16, with classrooms set to open for in-person learning on Sept. 21 instead of Sept. 10, the start date De Blasio originally announced.þþUnder the new plan, every school will randomly test 10 to 20% of students and teachers per month, depending on the size of the school, and always have 30 days of personal protective equipment on hand.þþUnder the new plan, every school will randomly test 10 to 20% of students and teachers per month, depending on the size of the school, and always have 30 days of personal protective equipment on hand.þþNYC Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza admitted at the press conference that the city needed “more time” to prepare, adding “this will strengthen and improve and make it so we have the safest start the school year.”þþUFT President Michael Mulgrew, who was also at the press conference, said ÿWe now can say that New York City Public School system has the most aggressive policies and greatest safeguards of any school system in the United States of America.ÿþþCity Hall and the teachers and principals unions had been at odds over exactly when and how schools should reopen since de Blasio announced the plan to allow part-time in-person learning when school opened in September. Last month the UFT called for a delay in the start of the school year, and demanded that every student and teacher get tested for the coronavirus before the school year began. In mid August the UFT released a three page checklist of safety measures they said each school should be able to have in place before reopening. The list included masks for teachers and students, N-95 masks for nurses, thorough check-up of school ventilation systems, and increased testing. Mulgrew said the union was prepared to go to court, or encourage sick-outs or strikes, despite New York state’s Taylor Law, which prohibits union workers from striking. At the time Mulgrew said “It is our judgment at this point that, if you open schools Sept. 10, it will be one of the biggest debacles in history.” Last week the city deployed over 100 “ventilation teams” to check ventilation and exhaust systems in each of the city’s 1,600 schools ahead of the proposed Sept. 10 opening date. De Blasio has also said that schools can hold classes outside where the virus is less likely to be transmitted, in local parks or in streets that have been closed down with proper city permits. New York City’s case positivity rate is .9%, the state’s case positivity rate is .68%, and has been under 1% for 25 straight days.
Source: Forbes
