NYC children return to public schools 18-months after COVID-19 outbreak

Mayor Bill de Blasio and Schools Chancellor Porter welcome students back for the first day of school at P.S. 25 in the Bronx. Monday, September 13, 2021. Photo by Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office.

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By David Greene 

Bronx Voice

September 14, 2021

Many of New York City's 1.1 million school children who were sent home last March after the COVID-19 outbreak, returned to the classrooms as the city opened public schools for in-person learning on Monday, September 14.

Shortly after joining Department of Education Chancellor Alicia Ross Porter at P.S. 25 on East 149 Street in the Bronx, Mayor Bill de Blasio held a press briefing at City Hall.

Photo by Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office

De Blasio said, "This is the day New York City's comeback's in full force." He continued, "This morning I saw it with my own eyes at P.S. 25 in the Bronx."

When asked by a reporter about parents who are holding out before sending their children back to school, de Blasio responded, "For folks who are concerned, I understand the fear that we all feel for our kids. If the fear is about adults in the household, then we have an easy solution, get everyone vaccinated."

Photo by Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office

De Blasio continued, "When our entire healthcare leadership here in the city, even our education leadership, when the head of the American Association of Pediatrics, everyone saying, 'get your kids back to school,' that's the best way to help your children."

De Blasio added, "We have the most advanced safety measures in the entire country, we proved it all last year."

An unidentified father waits with his son during the first day of classes at P.S. / M.S. 498 in Morris Park on Monday, September 13, 2021.--Photo by David Greene

When asked by WCBS-TV's Marcia Kramer if children get sick, would he consider a remote learning option, the mayor replied, "When there's any kind of exposure in a school, if someone's vaccinated, even if they were in a room with someone who ends up having COVID, if your vaccinated and not symptomatic, whether adult or a student, you're staying in school."

De Blasio added, "We do not expect anywhere near the kinds of closures or classroom disruptions that we saw last year, but if a child has to go home, alternative learning opportunities will be provided for them for those very few days that they're not in school."

Parents wait with their children outside of P.S. /M.S. 498 in Morris Park after and absence of 18 months due to the coronavirus when children headed back to class on Monday, September 13, 2021.

--Photo by David Greene

Meanwhile, as children were being discharged after the first day of school, one educator who declined to be identified, stated outside of P.S. 280 in Norwood, "It was great, man. I'm just happy to be back with the kids."

The educator continued, "It's just awful the remote teaching is just not the same as having kids here. We love the kids and the kids are happy to be back."

After picking up her two kids from P.S. 280, Norwood resident Beatrice Cortez called the first day of school "unorganized," with miscommunication on where children enter and exit the school.

Parents and students talk with an unidentified school official outside of P.S. 280 on Steuben Avenue in Norwood after the first full day of in-person learning on Monday, September 13, 2021.--Photo by David Greene

Cortez claimed, "All the parents, there was no social distancing, that was the first main thing."

"The kids liked it," Cortez concluded, "because it's a new beginning again. They like the new teacher and new classroom and new friends back again to see their teachers, because some of them came back and some of them are new."