Crown Heights School Falls Under COVID Investigation: DOE

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — A Crown Heights school has fallen under investigation by the Department of Education for multiple coronavirus cases detected in the last week, according to the department.

Aspirations Diploma Plus High School on Eastern Parkway was marked as under investigation Monday on the DOE's interactive map detailing coronavirus cases across the city.

The investigation comes after four classrooms at the school 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. A fifth classroom at Young Adult Borough Center program at the campus was also partially closed, the maps shows.

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.

Near Crown Heights, M.S. 061 Dr. Gladstone H. Atwell school on Empire Boulevard was also under investigation. Boys and Girls High School on Fulton Street and a campus on Herkimer Street where one school has already been closed were also both under investigation in Bed-Stuy, according to the map.

The surge in investigations comes 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.

Reached by phone on Monday, the principal at Aspirations High School declined to comment further on the investigation.