Leonie Haimson summarizes the pluses and minuses of reopening schools in New York City.
She points out:
Many public health experts and epidemiologists agree that NYC schools seem to be in the best position of any large district in the country to offer face-to-face learning, with an COVID positivity rate of only about one percent.
Our positivity rate is very low and the lowest we are likely to see until there is an effective vaccine, which could take a year or more to be developed and widely adopted. By borough, according to the state, the current positivity rates ranges from 1.3% in the Bronx, .9% in Staten Island and Brooklyn, .8% in Queens and .6% in Manhattan.
However, and this is a big however, schools should be reopened only if they can adopt rigorous safety and health protocols.
One of the biggest risks to safety right now is the poor ventilation in many NYC schools. Ventilation is a critical issue, as closed and stuffy rooms will intensify the risks of infection and virus spread. Many schools have lousy or broken ventilation systems, and/or classrooms with windows that don’t open or no windows at all, as I pointed out in this article. According to a principal survey we did ten years ago, 40% reported they had classrooms with no windows – and I doubt the situation has improved…
While many parents and teachers have been pushing for outdoor learning for safety reasons, the DOE has not provided them with any support to achieve this important goal. In fact, I have heard that some schools have said the DOE is discouraging them from providing outdoor recess or learning…
Another critical issue is the lack of testing with results fast enough to ensure that students and staff who are ill know to stay home and quarantine rather than infect others. Right now, many testing sites across the city take 5-15 days to deliver results, which is nearly useless. More and more, states are realizing that to safely reopen schools, they should adopt rapid antigen testing, which gives results within minutes and cost only $1-$2 each. Six governors from Maryland, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Ohio and Virginia have teamed up to buy large quantities of these quick testing kits, but not Governor Cuomo, for some reason.
Rather than join this consortium and help schools reopen safely, Gov. Cuomo has lambasted schools over the weekend for not having their own testing procedures in place, something they do not have the funds, the staffing or the expertise to do. Though he rightfully stepped in to help hospitals by purchasing PPE and helping to quickly expand testing sites when the COVID crisis first hit, he now acts that he has no responsibility to do the same to help and support schools in this difficult time.
Understandably, many parents are confused and ambivalent. Despite the Mayor’s spin that more than 700,000 students chose to engage in some form of in-person learning in the fall, it appears that fewer than half NYC parents registered any preference on the online survey, with 264,000 parents opting into remote learning and 131,000 blended learning. Many families seem to be waiting to see what the plan is for their schools, after which they can choose full-time remote learning at any time.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Today, Massachusetts’ positivity rate has dipped below 1%. Remember, though, that is an average. We know the virus disproportionately affect our Black and Brown neighborhoods, so it’s easy to see why positivity rates are likely higher in some spots.
In Boston, we are about to get our annual influx of college students from across the country and the world. It’s estimated to be some 170,000 students, fewer than usual. Many live off campus, in apartments shared with roommates. They cluster in “affordable” dense neighborhoods in old housing stock (think of our iconic triple deckers, most built in the early 1900’s). Most will take public transit, as a car in the city is both a lost cause and an expensive proposition. Many will take part-time jobs, perhaps as essential workers.
These are the same neighborhoods our students live in, with multiple family members, many of whom are “essential workers” such as home health care aides, supermarket cashiers, janitorial staff at the many teaching hospitals located in the city. They and their kids use public transit; our 7-12 graders only receive school bus transportation under narrow circumstances. Our students crisscross the city to get to their schools.
Our schools are old; the newest ones, cheaply built under desegregation orders in the 70’s, are sealed buildings. When we say “deferred maintenance” we mean deferred into infinity. 69% failed air quality ratings pre-pandemic.
There is no way to safely re-open.
Which doesn’t mean they won’t be opened.
There is no way to safely reopen. Exactly.
If someone likes his or her community’s or state’s numbers right now, that person should just wait until a few weeks after schools reopen.
We’re looking at an avoidable disaster. And here’s another thing: We could be using this time to be teaching teachers how to use online tools for remote learning–how to use the tracking and editing features in Word, for example, how to make a quiz in Zoom, how to organize sharepoint folders for assignments using Google Docs or Microsoft OneDrive, how to create and edit simple videos using an inexpensive and intuitive product like Filmora, what sources of libraries of free, online texts are available online, how to borrow books online from local libraries, and so on. Instead, we have wasted months now talking about how to “safely reopen schools,” which is like talking about how to square the circle or make a perpetual motion machines. Stupid and heedless beyond belief.
Trumpian. That’s just what Trump did. He denied and denied and denied that there was a problem. He peddled fake cures. He didn’t take the concrete steps he could have taken.
And here we are. Across the country, our leaders are taking crisis management lessons from the Idiot.
key word across the nation: Influx
Whoops: my comment on the previous post should have been on this one.
Anyway, then, I’ll take the opportunity to say, once again, WHERE are the so-called LEADERS of the state & NATIONAL teachers union(s)/association(s)? YOU are being paid by the heart & soul of the organizations–the WORKERS, the rank-&-file–to protect them & the students. WHAT are you doing to help?
Ooops. I want to apologize to the Florida Education Assn.,which is suing the State of FL, and its leader (whom I have heard speak to this issue), to the CTU (this being IL, a state in which government has been extremely responsive & responsible in stay-at-home & all safety measures, thus leading to the capability of many school districts here switching to remote learning early on, I had no doubt that Mayor Lightfoot would have kept CPS closed) to the LAUSD Union & to any other local leaders from other states who have taken appropriate actions.
https://www.statnews.com/2020/04/20/the-months-of-magical-thinking-as-the-coronavirus-swept-over-china-some-experts-were-in-denial-about-what-was-to-come/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coronavirus-droplets-spread-farther-six-feet-indoor-spaces-ventilation/
In Florida today, a Zoom class watched as a 10-year-old reacted to her mother being shot, live, during the class.
“Our positivity rate is very low and the lowest we are likely to see until
there is an effective vaccine,schools are opened back up this fall”Fixed
untilifFixed