Once-unsafe streets now provide pupils refuge from pandemic

Once-unsafe streets now provide pupils refuge from pandemic

SeattlePI.com

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NEW YORK (AP) — A public school in Brooklyn is looking to show how classes can be moved outside to more safely facilitate in-person learning.

Teachers and parents at Public School 15 in the Red Hook neighborhood took to the street outside their campus Wednesday to demonstrate one way outdoor learning could work.

From afar, the demonstration looked like a street fair or a farmer's market. Past a crossing guard, a traffic barricade and a handwashing station, teachers held lessons with children under 10, who sat on cushions on asphalt.

“Teachers and principals and parents are modeling outdoor learning, and fighting to get more of it and soon,” said City Council Member Brad Lander, who has been polling school districts on their desire for outdoor schooling since July.

The demonstration follows a deal Tuesday between Mayor Bill de Blasio and unions representing school staff and administrators, who had been talking about a possible strike out of concern that the school system wasn't ready to safely start the school year. In a compromise, the start of mixed in-person and online learning was delayed for several days, and city officials promised to test 10-20% of students and staff for the virus each month.

If New York City schools open their classrooms to students as planned on Sept. 21, it will be the largest district to have pupils physically in school buildings during the pandemic.

Schools like P.S. 15 have completed surveys on their furniture and street permitting needs in recent days as part of a last-minute effort by the city to support outdoor learning. The city's Department of Education is not expected to respond to the requests before school starts.

The idea of educating students outside in Red Hook would have once raised serious safety concerns.

P.S. 15 is...

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