How The Upper East Side’s Private Schools Are Reopening This Fall

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Amid citywide debate over how and whether New York’s public schools should reopen in the fall, the Upper East side’s private schools are likewise laying out how they plan to open their doors to students in September.

Elite private schools like Dalton and Brearley have rolled out detailed, often contradictory reopening plans in recent weeks, with some pledging to start the year remotely before switching to in-person class, and others planning the opposite, Bloomberg News reported. Most plan to reopen during the second week of September.

The all-boys Allen-Stevenson School will allow students to attend class either from home or at the school building, but all classes will be livestreamed, with teachers leading class remotely. The school anticipates that it will need to pivot to fully remote learning at times throughout the year, according to its online guide.

At Brearley, the all-girls K-12 school may offer classes in tents set up on the school’s outdoor play spaces, according to its reopening plan. Each grade will have a designated arrival time every morning, and the school brought in staff from Bank Street College to train its teachers on "developing emotionally- and trauma-responsive school routines and restorative practices" for students.

The all-boys Browning School is planning on a hybrid model, where K-5 students return to school full-time, and grades 6-8 and 9-12 switch each week between attending school online and in-person. To allow for social distancing, the school leased additional space at the 59th Street French Institute, five minutes from Browning, the school said.

The Dalton School will reopen with a combination of in-school and online learning. All teachers will teach remotely, while lessons will be streamed to students’ computers or to the classroom whiteboard, according to Bloomberg. K-4 students will have priority to attend school in-person, while older students will be given the chance to come to campus to “reconnect” with fellow students and teachers.

Horace Mann’s 68-page reopening plan calls for students to begin the year with in-person classes, allowing them to socialize, before moving to online instruction, which could last from Thanksgiving break through the second week of January.

At Spence, the all-girls school will start the year remotely, before allowing grades K-4 to attend school in-person in October, according to the school’s plan. Students in the older grades may be able to return during the winter.

Meanwhile, city officials are still scrambling to reassure parents and teachers' unions that roughly 700,000 students and thousands of staff will stay safe once public schools reopen in September.

Read more at Bloomberg News.

Related coverage:

• NYC Schools Will Have Whatever They Need In Reopening, Mayor Says
• Principals Union Joins Call To Keep NYC Schools Closed