Students walked out of class across town on Tuesday to protest school conditions amid an increase in coronavirus cases.
Participants left the buildings just before noon to push for distance learning options and more stringent testing procedures with COVID-19 cases.
Sources at several schools said administrators and teachers quietly signed the exit and told students they would not be subject to unwarranted absences.
Other school leaders did not sanction the protest and told students they would be duped for participating, sources said.
Attendance was particularly high in some of the city’s most exclusive university strongholds, including Brooklyn Tech High School, Stuyvesant, and Bronx Science.
“We don’t feel safe at school,” a Brooklyn Tech junior told the Post on Tuesday. “It’s about that simple. There are so many cases going around and we believe more should be done. “
Some students returned to class after the walkout while others decided not to return.
Student leaders said they wanted more testing for staff and children and argued that remote options were appropriate with the increase in cases.
Others have expressed concern over the cramped nature and lack of social distancing.
The walkout was blessed by several factions of union teachers and activist groups who pushed for a distance option or a full but temporary transition to distance education until conditions change.
Student attendance has fallen behind in recent weeks, but soared to 75 percent on Monday.
The Education Department reported more than 11,000 new cases of COVID-19 among students in the city on Monday – the highest single-day total this year.
Deeming distance learning to be damaging to city children and working families, Mayor Eric Adams has so far rejected any call for a distance learning option.
This article was first published by the New York Post
–
–
.
