New York City high schools are set to re-open for in-person learning Monday, for the first time since November.
About half of the city’s 488 high schools will be offering in-person learning five days a week to all or a majority of their students, the city’s new school’s chancellor Meisha Ross Porter said in a Twitter update.
“And we will continue to ramp that up the same way we did with the elementary and middle schools,” Ross Porter said.
About 55,000 high school students who have opted for in-person classes, in addition to 17,000 staff members, are expected to return, according to FOX5NY.
The reopening will be coupled with weekly in-person testing of students, teachers and staff, mandatory social distancing and mask-wearing, 30-day supplies of PPE and nightly deep cleaning, the chancellor said.
“With a 0.57 positivity rate, our schools are the safest place to be, and we are ready to re-open schools for our high schoolers,” she said.
All of the city’s public schools switched to remote learning in November, amid a city-wide COVID-19 spike.
Elementary schools reopened in late December, and middle schools did so last month.
The city is also planning to resume all school sports in April while sticking to stringent safety protocols, ABC 7 reported. Indoor activities will be held outside with no crowds or audiences.
The CDC issued updated guidelines Friday that recommend reducing school social distancing from 6 feet to 3 feet.
It is unclear if the city Department of Education will implement the guidance this year or if it will have any material effect on classroom time in the near term.
