Public School Middle School Students to Return to Classrooms on Feb. 25

By Yehudit Garmaise 

   After more than three months of remote-only learning, New York City public school students in grades 6 to 8 will restart in-person classes on Feb. 25, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced this morning at his press conference.

    The city’s middle schools have been closed for in-person instruction since the middle of November, when the entire school system was briefly shuttered because of rising COVID-19 rates.

   Although at the beginning of December, officials administered increased COVID testing to reopen preschools, elementary schools, and District 75 programs for students with complex disabilities, those officials said they needed more time to plan the logistics to reopen the city’s middle and high schools.

   Although some schools have had to temporarily close after outbreaks of COVID-19, the mayor, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and health officials have said many times that schools are the safest place for children to be in the COVID-19 pandemic.

  “Our schools are the safest places in New York City,” Mayor de Blasio said this morning. “Everyone will be going into an environment that is safe. That has been proven time and time again. Just look at the data.”

  New York City Schools Chancellor Richard A. Carranza said that officials now have the testing capacity to provide testing for 20% of students and staff each week to middle schools with in-person classes.

    “We are up and running,” said Chancellor Carranza, who added that air purifiers will be running in middle school classrooms. “We are ready to go. I say to educators, ‘Follow the guidelines to provide a safe environment for our students and for all of our educators.’”