New York City’s schools will delay in-person classes until Sept. 21, averting the threat of a teacher strike — and putting the nation’s …
New York City’s schools will delay in-person classes until Sept.21, averting the threat of a teacher strike — and putting the nation’s largest school system on track to be the only major urban district to start the fall term with kids in classrooms. About 37% of New York’s 1.1 million public schoolchildren have elected to learn at home full-time, according to the city’s Department of Education. That means the majority will have a mix of at-home and in-person learning. Among the 20 largest districts in the country, just New York and Hawaii — a statewide system with schools spread across all the islands— are starting the year with buildings open to students in any capacity. All but 11 of the 50 largest districts are starting the year with 100% remote instruction, according to Education Week magazine. Mayor Bill de Blasio had staked a political claim to making New York different, after the city was pummeled by COVID-19 in spring. More than 23,000 New Yorkers have died of the virus, including 130 active and retired members of the teachers union. But the mayor’s office and teachers union leaders could not agree on precautions for reopening classrooms, which left hundreds of thousands of parents and school staff in the dark about how and when school would start this fall. Pushing back the start of school will give teachers more time to plan and prepare classrooms, said de Blasio, who announced the deal Tuesday. The teachers union plans to spend that time determining whether buildings are safe, union leaders said. Buildings that don’t pass won’t reopen. The powerful United Federation of Teachers union had balked at de Blasio’s efforts because of pandemic safety protocols. Among their concerns: the lack of testing for teachers, the lack of protective gear and the condition of school buildings in New York that lack good ventilation.
