South Slope School Falls Under COVID Investigation: DOE

SOUTH SLOPE, BROOKLYN — A South Slope school has fallen under investigation by the Department of Education for multiple coronavirus cases detected in the last week, according to the department.

P.S. K053 — which is headquartered at a Seventh Avenue campus that includes three other schools — was marked as under investigation Monday on the DOE's interactive map detailing coronavirus cases across the city. A DOE spokesperson confirmed to Patch that only P.S. K053, not the other schools at the site, is under investigation.

The investigation comes after one classroom at the school was closed down and three classrooms were partially closed, meaning only a subset of students in each of the classrooms are required to quarantine while others can keep attending school, according to the map.

Under DOE guidelines, schools are only closed if an investigation reveals that there is widespread transmission in the school.

The city's coronavirus rules have led to only 10 full school closures so far this year, far less than the hundreds of extended closures in the 2020-21 school year under previous guidelines.

Still, the number of investigations has ramped up in recent weeks. A total of 101 schools have been investigated this year for possible closure, including 44 active investigations as of Monday, according to the map.

The surge comes as amid a spike in coronavirus cases across the city and state. New York has broken its all-time COVID cases record three days in a row this week, including 12,404 positive cases detected in New York City alone on Sunday.

At the South Slope campus, there were also cases detected in the M.S. 88, P.S. 295 and New Voices School of Academic and Creative Arts, which share the campus.

At M.S. 88, there were eight partial classroom closures as of Monday, according to the map. Three classrooms were partially closed at New Voices and one was partially closed at P.S. 295, the map shows.

The campus is at least the second school in the neighborhood to be the site of a Department of Education investigation. P.S. 118 on Eighth Street was investigated earlier this month, but remained open after officials finished looking into the situation.

P.S. K053 did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the investigation.