NEW YORK — School started Monday for about a million New York City public school students in the nation’s largest experiment of in-person …
NEW YORK — School started Monday for about a million New York City public school students in the nation’s largest experiment of in-person learning during the coronavirus pandemic. The first day of school coincided with several milestones in the city’s pandemic recovery that hinge on vaccine mandates. Nearly all of the city’s 300,000 employees were required to be back in their workplaces, in person, Monday as the city ended remote work. Most will either need to be vaccinated, or undergo weekly COVID-19 testing to remain in their jobs. The city was also set to start enforcing rules requiring workers and patrons to be vaccinated to go indoors at restaurants, museums, gyms and entertainment venues. The vaccination requirement has been in place for weeks, but had not previously been enforced. There will also be a vaccine mandate — with no test-out option — for teachers, though they have been given until Sept.27 to get their first shot. Unlike some school districts across the country that are still offering online instruction to families that prefer it, New York City officials provided no remote option despite the persistence of the highly transmissible delta variant of COVID-19. New York City kept schools open for most of the last school year, with some students doing a mix of remote and in-person instruction, but the majority of families chose all-remote learning. That choice won’t be available this year, Mayor Bill de Blasio has insisted. « There are kids who have not been in a classroom in a year and a half, and they deserve better, » de Blasio said Monday. « Kids need to be back in school for their mental health, their physical health, their ability to develop socially, and for so many reasons. » U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona visited a Bronx elementary school and appeared remotely at the mayor’s briefing to praise the city’s school opening plan. « They did it right, and I know this is going to be an awesome year for New York, for everyone, » Cardona said. Masks will be required for all students and staff members, as is the case in schools across New York state. Samiya Ramdial’s mask was firmly in place for the start of first grade at Public School 33 in Manhattan — and so were her spiffy black sneakers.
