NYC Middle Schools Reopen in Person for 1st Time in Months; Older Grades Stay

Tens of thousands of New York City middle school students will return to their school buildings on Thursday for the first time since schools were shuttered citywide in mid-November when the five boroughs’ topped Mayor Bill de Blasio’s highly controversial 3 percent rolling positivity rate threshold.

Classroom doors are opening for the 62,000 students in grades 6 through 8 whose parents chose a mix of in-person and remote learning for their children. There are about 196,000 students in those grades in the city’s public schools.

High school students will continue to learn fully remotely for now. De Blasio says those grade levels bring additional complications as far as strict enforcement of coronavirus precautions, but he hopes to make an announcement soon.

For now, the mayor says he’s focused on the task at hand.

“This is really an important moment, bringing back our middle school kids, getting them in the classroom, giving them an opportunity to learn from talented, committed, passionate educators,” de Blasio said ahead of the reopening.

COVID-19 at New York City Public Schools

This map shows all known cases of COVID-19 at New York City public schools. It is updated Sunday through Friday at 5:30 PM.

     Building that has been closed
     One or more classrooms has been closed
     A member of the school community has tested positive but the school community was not exposed

He said he hopes to have an announcement on high schools in the next few weeks.

“Everything’s lining up – the situation with COVID, even though we’re very watchful, watching the data and watching the science, concerned about the variants, but, overall, we’ve certainly seen improvement,” de Blasio said. “Every day, depending on the day, you know, 25,000, 30,000, 35,000, 40,000, or more New Yorkers getting vaccinated, that number is going to jump up. That’s going to make us safer. But, most importantly, we’ve proven how to open schools properly. High school comes with some additional complications.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday released new guidance on school reopenings. It advises schools to phase-in their reopening plans in accordance with the severity of local outbreaks.

Students receiving in-person instruction in the city are required to wear face coverings at all times, maintain distance from others and submit to random COVID-19 testing. De Blasio said the city has performed 500,000 tests for the virus on students and staff members since the school year started.

The mayor said that about 30,000 city educators have been vaccinated against the virus so far. United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew, whose union represents more than 120,000 teachers, guidance counselors and other school staff members, said that’s not enough.

“Even putting the most positive spin on the city’s numbers, there are tens of thousands of staff who have not yet had access to the vaccine,” Mulgrew said in a statement.

School teachers and staff may play a “central role” in transmitting Covid-19 in schools where social distancing isn’t followed and face masks aren’t worn. Vaccinating them…