No Plan For Remote Learning Option Despite Delta Variant: Mayor

NEW YORK, NY — New York City will stick with its plan to ditch remote learning options this school year even amid the spread of the delta coronavirus variant, according to Mayor Bill de Blasio.

The mayor doubled down Thursday on the plan to have New York City public school students fully in-person in the upcoming school year, which is set to begin mid-September.

The lack of a remote-learning option has led to criticism from some elected officials, who say families with immunocompromised kids or children not of vaccination age should have the choice of learning at home.

"There are kids who last saw a classroom in March of 2020 — it is not healthy in any sense for our kids to be out of the classroom," de Blasio said. "There is no question in my mind the right thing to do is get all our kids back into a classroom."

De Blasio first announced that all 1 million public school children would head back to the classroom for the 2021-22 school year in late May, garnering mixed reactions from parents. Last school year, more than 60 percent of families had opted for a fully-virtual option given coronavirus concerns.

In the months since, the spread of the more-contagious delta variant has spurred renewed coronavirus restrictions in New York City, including mask and vaccination mandates.

The delta variant accounted for 83 percent of coronavirus cases in the city as of Thursday. New York City's positivity rate stood at 3.04 percent.

The mayor and school officials have contended, though, that high vaccination rates among students and staff will allow in-person learning to run smoothly despite the increasing cases. He predicted that a "rush" of parents getting their children vaccinated before the start of school.

"We can do this safely," de Blasio said. "We did it safely even when we didn't have vaccination."

The mayor added that the Department of Education is working on guidelines for how students who test positive for coronavirus can continue to learn while they quarantine at home.

Though there is not a general remote learning plan as of now, the city is geared up should it need one down the line, he added.

"We’ve got one plan — all kids back to the classroom," de Blasio said. "[But] we know how to go remote for a snow day...We know we can move quickly if we needed to."