With less than three weeks to go until 1.2 million students return from face-to-face classes, New York City education officials on Thursday unveiled a set of safety protocols for students as well as educators and school personnel.
The Our Commitment to Your Health and Safety guide will be printed and distributed to parents in the next few days. Visit schools.nyc.gov/school-year/school-year-2021-22 to download a digital version.
In some key areas, city policies are stricter than federal guidelines recommend, including quarantine and mask use.
One of the guidelines that stand out for the new 2021-2022 school year involves forty for the entire class if a single elementary school child tests positive for coronavirus.
When positive cases arise, a single case in an elementary school classroom will cause all the students in the room to self-quarantine and learn remotely, a policy that is much stricter than the guidance of the Centers for Control and Disease Prevention (CDC).
“While they are quarantining the teaching process will not stop, because our educators have more than a year of experience teaching online during the pandemic, so those in elementary schools that have to isolate themselves will receive live instruction online,” said the Chancellor of Education, Meisha Porter, explaining the new protocols at the Mayor’s daily press conference.
That would not apply to older students, since teens 12 and older have access to the vaccine. If a COVID-19 infection is confirmed in a class, those immunized will not have to comply with an isolation, indicates the guide.
Vaccinated middle and high school students who are exposed to the virus will not have to self-quarantine if they show no symptoms.
Under new rules announced Thursday, the city plans to reduce the frequency and scale of random coronavirus testing compared to last year, with 10% of unvaccinated people in schools being tested twice a year. month.
The testing and quarantine rules are key pieces of the reopening plan, as they determine how often in-person learning can be interrupted and can help slow the spread of the virus. The guidelines are clearer than last school year, when positive coronavirus cases led to thousands of classroom and building closures.
Unlike last year, when more than 60% of students chose to learn completely remotely, this September 13 the return to classes will be entirely face-to-face, despite concerns among some parents, educators and elected officials who have requested a remote option as cases of the highly contagious Delta variant increase and questions persist about its impact on children.
Officials announced Thursday that they plan to expand an existing homeschooling program for “medically fragile” students with a variety of health conditions, though it is expected to serve fewer than 5,000 students.
Health experts have generally said that vaccines and the use of masks are the two most important protections against the spread of coronavirus in schools. This year, universal use of masks will be required in school buildings, officials previously announced. And on Monday, Mayor Bill de Blasio said all Department of Education staff should be vaccinated and receive a first dose no later than September 27, two weeks after the first day of school.
Still, without vaccines currently approved for children 11 and under, and possibly months away from approval, most of the city’s students will not be vaccinated when schools reopen. At least 60% of children ages 12 to 17 have received at least one dose, authorities said earlier this week.
THIS IS WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT SECURITY PROTOCOLS:
Schools will continue to require students and staff to complete a daily health exam confirming that they have no symptoms of COVID or that they have not been in close contact with anyone who has tested positive for the virus.
Once on campus, 10% of unvaccinated people will be screened every two weeks. Fully vaccinated people do not have to participate in testing.
Parents are asked to consent to the swabs, which can be done through their NYC Schools account or by downloading a form. A city handbook outlining back-to-school policies says testing will include “people who have submitted consent.” Students without consent will not be required to be tested, authorities said.
“It is important that you give your consent for your child to participate in the testing program at school,” the city handbook states.
Last school year, officials initially required monthly testing of 20% of students and staff and then switched it to a weekly routine in December 2020 after schools closed amid a spike in COVID cases. Preschool and Kindergarten students were previously not included in the testing requirements and that will continue this fall.
For the summer programs, 10% of the students and staff at each site were screened every two weeks, with a larger portion screened when positive COVID cases appeared.
There will not be a set number of cases that will cause a school building to close this year. Entire schools will only be closed if city health officials determine there is “widespread transmission” of COVID within the building, including “multiple sources of infection.”
Entire classrooms in elementary schools will be closed if someone tests positive, and those children will be required to isolate themselves for 10 days. That policy is stricter than the CDC’s recommendation that even unvaccinated students should not have to be quarantined in all cases if they wear masks and respect physical distancing.
In middle and high school classrooms, vaccinated students will be able to return to school as long as they are symptom-free, but city officials encourage them to undergo a COVID test about 3 to 5 days after exposure to one. infected person, this “as a precaution”. The CDC goes further and says that vaccinated students should be tested after exposure.
Unvaccinated middle and high school students who are exposed to an infected person will need to self-quarantine, but can take a COVID-19 test on their fifth day of isolation. If it is negative, they can return to school after their seventh day of quarantine.
“We need to balance all the factors, but we want fewer disruptions this year, while maintaining health and safety,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said of the school-wide closures. “It will be more selective, case by case.”
- REMOTE INSTRUCTION WHEN STUDENTS ARE IN QUARANTINE
Elementary school students will receive online instruction when their classrooms are closed, according to Chancellor Meisha Porter. Entire classrooms must be closed for 10 days.
Middle and high school students who are quarantined will have “access” to remote learning, but it is not yet clear how instruction will work if classrooms are divided with some students learning remotely and others learning in person, as the Vaccinated students without any symptoms will continue to attend in person,
De Blasio said the city is still negotiating the details of how the instruction will be provided.
“We are going to be filling in some more blanks in the next few days because there are still a couple of problems to be solved,” the president said of the negotiations with the teachers’ unions. “We are still a few weeks away from the start of school.”
- VIRTUAL INSTRUCTION FOR MEDICALLY FRAGILE STUDENTS
The Department of Education handbook states that medically fragile students can receive instruction through “digital platforms,” representing a change in plans.
However, the manual does not describe how the virtual instruction will be delivered and the teachers’ union said negotiations are still ongoing.
Masks will be a universal requirement in schools, regardless of vaccination status. That includes when staff and students are outdoors, which is stricter than the CDC recommends. Federal guidelines require outdoor masks if people are not vaccinated and are in crowded settings or when they are engaged in activities that involve “sustained close contact.” Vaccinated people “may choose” to wear masks in crowded settings and if they live with someone who is immunosuppressed, according to the CDC.
The city handbook says that students can remove their masks while “maintaining physical distance from each other.” It further adds that students who are not “medically capable” of wearing the mask will receive “alternative accommodations.”
Some schools will have room for physical distancing, while those that struggle with overcrowding probably won’t.
The city guide says elementary schools will strive to keep consistent groups of students together “whenever possible.” Parents and students have been particularly concerned about lunchtime, when students are not wearing masks.
The guide says that schools will use outdoor and other spaces whenever possible, and that meals can be served in multiple locations and in multiple periods.
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