(29 Sep 2020) FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4290316
Hundreds of thousands of elementary school students are heading back to classrooms this week as New York City enters a high-stakes stage of resuming in-person learning during the coronavirus pandemic.
Twice delayed, the elementary school reopening on Tuesday came over objections from school principals who said the city's complicated, changing plans put them in a staffing bind.
Meanwhile, officials are worried about recent spurts in virus cases in some city neighborhoods after a summer of success at keeping transmission fairly stable in the city as a whole.
"This virus is still out here," Rashard Carruth said as he dropped his 8-year-old son off for his first day of school. "The best thing I can do is just tell him to protect himself. Keep his mask on."
With over 1 million public school students, New York City initially had a more ambitious timeline than many other big U.S. school systems for bringing children back to schoolhouses this fall.
Families have the option of choosing all-remote learning, and a growing number are doing so — 48% as of Friday, up from 30% six weeks earlier, according to city Education Department statistics.
Tommie Foster has three kids in school attending pre-K, third and fifth grades. She feels starting the school year on time in early September "would have been scary."
Students were originally due back Sept. 10. But the start date was pushed back, repeatedly, after the city teachers' union said it wasn't safe to open schools because of outdated ventilation systems, an insufficient number of school nurses and other issues. At one point, the United Federation of Teachers threatened to strike.
The union was still pressing for changes as recently as Friday, when the city agreed to let more teachers work from home when instructing students remotely, rather than having to come in to school to conduct online classes.
Other students are already back in the city's virus-altered version of in-person school, learning sometimes in classrooms and sometimes at home.
Pre-K and some special education students began showing up Sept. 21 as online instruction began for the rest of the student body.
Tuesday was the first day of in-person learning for students in the first through fifth grades whose families had chosen the hybrid learning plan, while high some school and middle school students are slated to be back in classrooms starting Thursday.
"I'm concerned about how his day is going to be in school," said Keymani Hilman, who has a 6-year-old son starting first grade. She had a talk with him about keeping his mask on, staying scoially distant and washing his hands.
Many other big school systems around the country began the fall term online, though some are reopening physical schools.
In Florida, students opting for in-person learning returned to schools Sept. 21 in Palm Beach County, where the nation's 10th largest school system has over 197,000 students.
For most people, the virus causes mild or moderate symptoms. But it can cause severe symptoms in and be fatal for others, especially older adults and people with existing health problems.
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