Tri-State Area Schools Forced To Go All Remote After Students And Staff Test Positive For COVID-19
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — A day after classes resumed for tens of thousands of New York City students, there are plenty of problems to address.
Among them, new COVID infections that have already closed a school in the Bronx.
Officials say at least two positive cases were reported in just one week at I.S. 131 in Soundview.
As CBS2’s John Dias reports, that’s just the latest school problem for the city.
Parents are hoping day two of the new normal won’t be as bad as the first.
“There were a lot of tears,” one woman said.
From sign on to shut down, there were glitches. Some parents reported trouble getting Google accounts to work because links unexpectedly expired.
“You can’t possible work, tend to both children, their assignments, their separate teachers, the links, the codes, their separate devices,” said another woman.
“My day was pretty much being a first grade co-teacher for my little guy,” Julia O’Brien added.
Teachers vented on Twitter about the technical issues, too. One asked, “Why am I teaching remotely in a school building with terrible wi-fi when I could be doing this at home safely away from catching COVID-19?” Another demanded the Department of Education upgrade the system.
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Monday was also the first day of in-person classes for the youngest learners — 3-k, pre-k and students with special needs. It’s part of the city’s latest phased-in reopening plan that will include elementary school next week and middle and high school Oct. 1.
After dismissal, staff took to the streets of Downtown Brooklyn to demand fully remote learning over fears of COVID infection rates in their neighborhoods, along with how hard it is to get tested.
“My fear is I’m going to make my students sick. I’m going to go home and make my daughter sick, and she’s going to go to school and make her teacher sick,” said Sarah Yorra, who teaches at Franklin Delano Roosevelt HIgh School.
Meanwhile in Mahwah, New Jersey, parents got a letter saying the high school has been placed into a fully remote learning model after a staff member tested positive for COVID-19. A similar note went out about Ramapo Ridge Middle School.
In Middletown, New Jersey, there are concerns that youth sports may be the source of spreading the virus after 13 hockey players who practice at the Ice World Middletown Sports Complex were recently infected.
“Thirteen is a lot at one location. They’re all in that 16 to 19-year-old hockey age group,” Middletown Township Administrator Tony Mercantante said. “We had them close the facility for a couple days to do some cleaning.”
Back in the Bronx, all staff at I.S. 131 will work from home except for those being brought in for a deep cleaning.
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September 22, 2020 at 05:00PM
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