The New York Times
New York was the first major school district to reopen. Here’s what happened.
NEW YORK – To Julie Zuckerman, principal of a Manhattan elementary school, last summer seemed like an endless day filled with fear and confusion about New York’s plan to resume face-to-face education. But in the months since the classrooms opened in September, something has changed. Teachers at Public School 513 in Washington Heights seem more comfortable, and some say they would like to be in their classrooms even when the building closes because of coronavirus cases. Parents also seem more confident: about half the students are in the building most days, compared to less than a third in September. Zuckerman expects even more children to return this spring. Subscribe to the New York Times newsletter The Morning “People have made up; they are not in crisis in the same way, ”she said. “I feel that there is a huge difference night and day between what happened last spring and what happened this year.” New York’s effort to become the first major school district in the country to reopen classrooms last fall was a risky and high-risk experience. He has had his fair share of communication failures, logistical stumbling and interruptions – especially when classrooms and school buildings are often closed because of virus cases. But in interviews, parents, teachers, directors and union leaders also provided grounds for optimism in the middle of the school year. Coronavirus transmission at school has been very low and there is also a broad consensus that children have benefited from being in classrooms. “Having children here is much better for them, for everyone,” said Zuckerman. The strength of the plan will be tested again in the coming weeks, as some 62,000 high school students are expected to return to classrooms for the first time since November. New York also offers the clearest forecast in the United States than other major city districts – especially Chicago, where more schools will open next month – can wait as they approach the reopening of classrooms after almost a year of remote learning. Despite pressure from President Joe Biden to reopen more schools this spring, some districts – including Los Angeles, the nation’s second largest system – still have no plan to reopen this entire school year. On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said schools should open as soon as possible, especially for young children. The CDC found that teachers’ vaccines are not a precondition for reopening, a finding that has been supported by the New York security registry so far. The guidance came as teacher unions across the country continued to postpone plans to reopen. Districts that reopen to students in the coming weeks and months are likely to find that it is just a first step. New Yorkers have struggled to cope with the frequent disruptions in learning – and on parents’ schedules – caused when cases of viruses are detected among students or staff members and entire classrooms and school buildings are forced to receive totally remote instruction. The city requires schools to close for up to 10 days if two unrelated positive cases are confirmed in a building. Individual classrooms close when one or more positive cases are detected. The number of closed classrooms and schools has increased considerably in the past few weeks, as test positivity rates across the city have remained high and weekly school tests have increased. Between January 4 and February 10, 580 of 1,052 open school buildings closed for up to two weeks. Less than 400 school buildings have had no closings of any kind in the new year. Zuckerman said his school, for example, was only opened about 10 face-to-face days in 2021. The rule was developed at a time when it was unclear whether Mayor Bill de Blasio had political support to reopen schools, and when it had been too long. less evidence that schools could reopen safely. The protocol was part of a package of security measures, agreed with union leaders over the summer, that allowed New York City to open its schools in the first place. De Blasio said earlier this month that he would reassess the two-case rule, although city officials say it is highly unlikely that security measures will change before primary schools reopen. For parents of elementary school children, the reopening experience generated a roller coaster of emotions: despair at the limits of remote learning; joy in seeing your children back in class; and frustration with the chaos caused by the closings. Last month, for example, Hien Sosa finally received the news that his son could soon return full time to his first grade class in East Elmhurst, Queens. “I was like, wow, I feel like I just won the lottery,” recalled Sosa, a hospital nurse. She and her husband, a police officer, could not stay at home on the days when their son was learning at a distance. Sosa’s mother, who helps care for the children, speaks limited English and has trouble supervising her grandson’s classes. Sosa said she felt “ready to give up”. But his relief from the new schedule was short-lived. A few days after his son started attending school five days a week, Sosa learned that the school would close for ten days because two people in the building tested positive. He came back a few days ago and comes home happy at the end of the day. “I know he has a real apprenticeship, just a normal school day as he always has,” said Sosa. But she said she felt she had time to borrow until the school closed again. With the increase in the number of closures, some parents asked the city to change the rule. But the city’s influential teachers’ union protested vigorously against any change, saying schools are safe in part because of the conservative closure limit. But the union, the United Federation of Teachers, may face increasing pressure to accept changes to the rule as more teachers are vaccinated. The union has directly arranged for about 15,500 educators to be vaccinated, according to a union spokesman, while many other teachers have been vaccinated through regular channels. Even before vaccines arrived in New York, schools in the city did not report high transmission; the average test positivity rate in municipal schools was 0.55% between October and last Thursday. The average of seven days in the city is hovering around 8%. Statistics are partly explained by weekly random tests of asymptomatic students and staff, which results in lower rates than city-wide tests of people who show symptoms or think they have been exposed to the virus. But school statistics also reinforce the view, widely held by health experts, that classrooms can be relatively safe if educators apply safety measures such as wearing masks and social distance, which are required in municipal schools. After de Blasio closed the entire system in mid-November due to the increase in virus cases, he reopened classrooms only for children with complex disabilities and elementary students in December. He recently announced that high schools would reopen on February 25. City officials say most high schools will be able to accommodate many students five days a week. About 500 of the 878 primary schools and schools for children with disabilities that are already open serve the majority of students full time. It is unclear whether the city’s high schools will reopen this school year. As soon as elementary and high schools are opened, up to 250,000 of the city’s approximately 1 million students will be able to return to classrooms. Still, the vast majority of families in the city – about 70% – decided to keep their children learning at home for the rest of the school year. White students, who constitute a minority in the general system, are overrepresented in open classrooms. Chloe Davis, a teacher in the Parkchester section of the Bronx, said her elementary school has been closed several times since Thanksgiving. This led some families to switch to remote learning to regain consistency. “We couldn’t find any rhythm,” she said. Davis’ school shares a building with two others, and if two students are positive at any of the three schools, the entire building will be closed. The flow of closings is especially frustrating for working parents like Elisa Muñiz, a pediatrician and single mother of a second grader in Washington Heights. Muñiz said his son, who receives special education services, has been in his classroom for less than 30 days since September. “I can’t say how many times the school has closed; it’s a ton, ”she said. “This does not just interfere with domestic life. I am someone who has a responsibility to be personally at work. It requires much more flexibility than we are sometimes able to have. ”Muñiz saw his son, an only child, thrive on the days he was in the classroom with friends. But he is easily distracted and restless when he returns to online learning. She would like to be able to ask the mayor, “How are we going to help children who are not making progress?” New York teachers say they are working harder than ever at any point in their careers to resolve this issue. Tiffany Koo, who teaches at an elementary school in the East Village, decided last year to take sole responsibility for a group of students who learn online and another in person, due to a shortage of staff at her school. She broadcasts her classes live daily from her classroom so that all students can follow them and spends evenings and weekends working on lesson plans. “I never regret it, but at times it has been incredibly chaotic and difficult,” she said of her agenda. “I am taking it day after day.” Some days, Koo isn’t sure if the re-opening rewards are worth it. Even so, she understands why so many parents and students want classrooms to be fully open as quickly as possible. She just asks New Yorkers to be patient. “We would all like it to be different,” she said. “We are going to be kind to each other. We are all trying to do the best we can. ”This article was originally published in The New York Times. © 2021 The New York Times Company