Unsafe at NYC Schools--To Open or Not To Open

NYC Schools Chancellor and Mayor DeBlasio announced the plan to re-open the largest school system in the country several days ago. With all the fanfare of a Ralph Lauren showing off a new line of Polo fashion but without any of the money to produce it, Chancellor Carranza and Mayor DeBlasio walked the Covid aisle and put on full display the emperors’ new clothes.  Over a million students in 1700 overcrowded, poorly ventilated, mostly un-air-conditioned, don’t-drink-the-water schools will dutifully distance six feet from each other, wear masks, stay in pods and VOILA! You’re all dressed for school.

TGBL has commented extensively on the pandemic, kids, and schools recently. We are not going to dwell on it nor repeat what was said previously. However, school openings have become a national issue for political and health reasons as we’ve learned more about the effects on our school age population. And, after all, this is New York City. Big Apple.

Let’s give New York its due.  The City of 8 million—15 million on a normal workday—was under siege for months. Once again, a vicious enemy targeted the city and, for the second time in 20 years, Ground Zero flew its flag here,  upriver from lower Manhattan to Queens. Gov Cuomo and Mayor DeBlasio, despite the Obstructionist in Chief working against them, brought the virus under control. The siege of New York lifted, for now. Diligence among the citizenry and enforcement from the government  have performed a miracle. Only vigilant leaders and a determined people in war can stave off a threat.  All measures show Coronavirus is still contained, but the enemy is out there, lurking and regrouping.

We need to look at NYC closely as a model for other localities struggling to rein in this pandemic, and to monitor its success or failure in school openings. But more information about the virus gives us pause for such a large-scale undertaking. The UFT, the powerful teachers’ union headed by Michael Mulgrew, has not exactly been banging the pompoms for the reopening. They have legitimate fears about the firewalls put up to stop the virus in school. UFT head Mulgrew sees harsh reality over a too optimistic administration. There is a hodgepodge of rules, numerous scenarios, wildfire contagion all brewed for recipes on who gets it, where did it start, how many, what to do, when to close. NYC is a school system suffering chronic shortages of material, personnel, politics—both inhouse and public-- without an ongoing pandemic. How much all the constituent groups follow the protocols remains to be seen. How severe and what category of breach to the procedures will produce what level of viral outcome in the school and communities at large is simply unknown.

The latest information should not warm the hearts of open-the- school advocates. A camp in Georgia, with close to 600 people, had to shut down when 75% of its population tested positive days after opening.  260 children and staff contracted the virus, the largest grouping was aged 6-10, once peddled off as the immune brigade, which has been discredited by time and case number. An Indiana middle school shut down when a kid walked through the door with Coronavirus on first day. More ominous is a report in Brookings Institute website citing a study that says the previously thought a minimally affected group, kids 10-19 potentially spread the disease faster than any other age group. Worse still, the adolescence cohort seems to develop the largest virus load.

Many NYC students travel by mass transit to schools. They walk in packs to and from school since many live in the  same apartment complex. They go on the subways,  the buses.  They stop at stores for drinks and snacks. They have fights at the bus stops. They pack in on subways.  German field marshal Moltke the Elder said “No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy.” As the President goes AWOL, Covid-19 spirals out of control in some places and takes a steady toll in others,  and some politicians pressure schools to open, literally inviting the invader into your home, like Count Dracula waiting patiently for the asking.

Let’s not rule out the Cuomo-DeBlasio rivalry as a factor in how all this unfolds. Right now, the governor’s office is not thrilled with what it has seen. What City Hall calls a plan to open, Albany says is an outline. This could get more viral than the virus. That’s not a blueprint for war, it’s “Surrender at Appomattox”.

New York City  has the numbers to open. The infection rate stans at 3% citywide, well under the 5% baseline. The leash on this dog will be short. A hybrid schedule of remote and in-school learning appears to be a favored option, not only in New York City but around the country.  

TGBL would recommend that schools integrate remote learning and in-school instruction--a hybrid.    Split the schedule into blocks of Monday/Thursday and Tuesday/Friday for in school attendance. Have different groups come in at staggered intervals. Report to school the first day your scheduled for in-school instruction. Give homework in the form of projects, reports, reading journals, etc. for submitting assignments on the second day.  Soc Studies, Science, and English more easily align with this delivery system because internet sources can provide plenty of learning opportunities beyond the assigned books. The variety and scope of work should engage the students while at home. Teachers are available during the home days for remote classes, but TGBL belies this is a bit unrealistic and the efficacy unproven. Better would be one-to-one tutorials, and online conferences with each student, and specific inquiries from individual class members.  The combination of teacher—student communication online and quality of assignments are keys to maintain student interest and task completion.

Of course, it all sounds within the realm of the workable, but you know what they say about battle plans.  If a NYC opening is fraught with contagion possibilities, what will happen in districts with high infection rates and states struggling to gain control of the crisis? What if a second wave hits New York before the schools are closed? If Indiana’s and Georgia’s experiences are examples, this could be a most dangerous year.