Dear John,
Twenty percent of NYC school buildings are closed every day due to an arbitrary rule that requires full buildings to shut down whenever two unconnected cases are identified, even without any evidence of spread within the school.
Our schools aren't really "open" if they close constantly.
Yesterday, I pressed new Schools Chancellor Meisha Porter on this issue at the preliminary budget hearing for the Department of Education. She told me that the 2-case closure rule was being reviewed and that they’d have an update “soon.”
But it’s been six weeks since February 5, when the Mayor and DOE said they were looking at replacing the 2-case school shutdown approach, moving instead to quarantine classrooms, expand testing, and utilize contact tracing.
Yesterday 272 school buildings were closed by the 2-case rule. So it's hard to be optimistic about "soon."
Families can’t plan, teachers can’t teach, and students can’t learn with so much uncertainty.
We need a commitment to 5-day a week, in person school for all students for the fall. And an investment in the resources needed for a safe and supportive return to schools -- including more testing and tracing, more ventilation, more guidance counselors, and more support for social and emotional health.
But schools won’t really be “open” until we have reasonable, public health-informed processes for controlling spread in schools that does not result in hundreds of school buildings shutting down every day.
Brad
