It is necessary close the schools of New York to face a second wave of the coronavirus? As the positive test rate in schools is miniscule and gyms, bars and restaurants remain open, the decision infuriates thousands of parents who demand their reopening immediate.
The biggest american city, which hosts 1.1 million students in its 1,800 public schools, was one of the few in the country that reopened schools in September.
But now it has taken the opposite path to those where educational institutions remain open but bars, gyms and restaurants have closed.
Many parents are not happy, although the mayor Bill de Blasio Remember that this was what was agreed with the powerful teachers union if the positive test threshold exceeded 3% for seven days in this city, which registers more than 24,000 deaths from covid-19 since March.
The mayor’s decision is ridiculous. It’s like children are the last priority in town. They need to reopen the schools now. Not in a week, not in two. Now! “Yelena, a 40-year-old mother of three in Manhattan’s Upper East Side public schools, told AFP.
Essential schools?
Yelena and tens of parents went to the New York City Hall to bring to the mayor a petition with more than 13,000 signatures that urges to declare schools as an essential service and keep them open.
Parents point out that schools are safe and that the positive test rate in establishments is much lower than the city average: 0.23%. They also claim that the measure punishes the most disadvantaged children – such as the 60,000 who do not have a computer – and working mothers.
We are going to lose an entire generation with online classes, “said Megan Cossey, mother of an 11-year-old boy and one of the organizers of the protest.
New York schools closed on March 16, when the city became the national epicenter of the pandemic, until the end of the school year in June.
Union negotiations
But after the boreal summer, in September, New York was the only major city in the country to reopen schools, albeit a month late in installing security measures negotiated with the teachers’ union.
One of the conditions negotiated with the union is that schools would close if the threshold of positive tests exceeded 3%, a low percentage, since in other areas of the country it was set at up to 10%.
There were then parents who even signed a petition to keep schools closed, and many students opted for 100% remote classes. Only 300,000 students accepted the hybrid model.
Michael Mulgrow, the president of the United Federation of Teachers, defended the closure of schools, underscoring that public health experts urge caution ahead of Thanksgiving holidays next week.
The positive test rate of New York is still low compared with most other states in the country, but has risen in relation to the boreal summer, when it oscillated around 1%.
Jessica Justman, a professor of epidemiology at the Columbia University School of Public Health, said the move to close schools is correct, and that it should be followed by a ban on eating inside bars and restaurants, which reports to Governor Andrew Cuomo.
To stay ahead of the curve, in my opinion it is reasonable to impose these restrictions, “he said.
But for some parents like Laura Espinosa, a 38-year-old Ecuadorian, remote classes represent a nightmare.
Their children, six year old twins, suffer from autism spectrum disorder, are hyperactive, and Espinosa can’t get them to sit in his small apartment. With the school closed, the children do not attend any classes and prevent their eldest daughter from concentrating on her classes online.
At home, the mental health of our children and of us is getting worse every day. We feel helpless and anxious. My children need in-person instruction; the children need to go back to school, “said this woman who lives in Brooklyn and participated in the parents’ protest outside City Hall.
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