1,000 BK Parents, Teachers Call For Fall School Reopening Plan

BROOKLYN, NY — A petition calling for a five-day, in-person school reopening plan for the fall has gained more than 1,000 signatures in Brooklyn.

Nearly 1,100 teachers, parents and others as of Friday had signed onto the online petition, which includes a letter to top New York officials contending that a school reopening plan can't wait until the summer, as it did last year.

“Fall isn’t far away—it’s right around the corner,” said petition organizer Justin Krebs, who serves as District 15 Parents Council secretary and is running for City Council. “The educational response to the pandemic this past year has been extremely chaotic for students, teachers, administrators, and parents. Our kids can only thrive academically in the fall if we map out a game plan right now."

So far, Mayor Bill de Blasio has said that schools should be able to fully reopen for the 2021-22 school year assuming the city reaches its goal of 5 million coronavirus vaccinations by September, but his administration has yet to release a full plan about how they will do so.

In 2020, the 100-page plan detailing reopening with coronavirus restrictions wasn't dropped until August, sparking criticism from school officials left with just weeks to prepare. The reopening was eventually pushed back, twice, amid concerns from families and staff unions.

Public schools then shut down temporarily given a spike in coronavirus cases. High schools, the last in a phased reopening, are still learning remotely.

The Brooklyn petition calls for starting the feedback process with teachers and parents immediately, contending the extended timeline is needed for preparation and "citywide buy-in" to heading back to classrooms.

“It will be an enormous task to reopen our schools to capacity," said petition supporter and Brooklyn elementary school teacher Christina Rossi. "Re-allocating teaching staff, re-imagining classroom and common spaces, generating funds, equipping school buildings with proper safety protocols and supporting families are hugely time intensive processes. Schools leaders need answers now to make this happen."

The petition also argues that a reopening plan can be an opportunity to improve on pre-pandemic issues, such as the digital divide, staffing shortages and multilingual communication about schooling.

“As we make this plan to reopen, let's not just ask how we get back to March 13, 2020—the last day pre-shutdown," the letter writes. "The pre-pandemic school system was already a segregated and underfunded labyrinth of inequality. Let's rebuild and reopen better, adopting some of the lessons from this year around investing in smaller cohort opportunities, digital learning, and outdoor education."