De Blasio: Schools closing 'a setback we will overcome'

New York City is shuttering schools to try to stop the renewed spread of the coronavirus, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday, in a painful about-face for one of the first big U.S. school systems to bring students back to classrooms this fall.

The nation's largest public school system will halt in-person learning Thursday, sending more than 1 million children into all-online classes, the mayor said.

The Democrat said at an afternoon news conference that plans were being made to bring in-person learning back as quickly as possible if the infection rate drops, though he cautioned that the bar to return would be higher than it was to close down.

He added that schools would definitely remain closed through Thanksgiving.

De Blasio said increased virus testing of children at schools would be a component of the return plan and parental consent for that testing would be required for pupils hoping to come back.

"We're going to fight this back," de Blasio said. "This is a setback, but it's a setback we will overcome."

The city had said since summer that school buildings would close if 3% of all the coronavirus tests performed citywide over a seven-day period came back positive. As the rate neared that point last week, de Blasio advised parents to prepare for a possible shutdown.

The mayor said the rate equaled that mark as of Tuesday. But, in fact, a revision of earlier city data showed it had likely been above that threshold since Nov. 11.

The city's public school students will now be taught entirely online, as most already are. As of the end of October, only about 25% of students had attended class in person this fall, far fewer than officials had expected.

Some city parents and officials had lobbied hard for the mayor to take other actions first before restoring to a schools closure, like ending indoor restaurant dining or requiring nonessential businesses to close.

New York City's school system, like others across the nation, initially halted in-person learning in mid-March as the virus spiked. In-person school resumed Sept. 21 for pre-kindergarteners and some special education students. Elementary schools opened Sept. 29 and high schools Oct. 1. To keep students spread out, the city offered in-person learning only part-time.

At the time, the seven-day positive test average rate was under 2%.

Even as the school system stayed open, nearly 1,500 classrooms went through temporary closures after students or staffers tested positive, and officials began instituting local shutdowns in neighborhoods where coronavirus cases were rising rapidly.

As of midweek, more than 2,300 students or staff at public schools had tested positive since the start of the school year.

While many big U.S. school districts had decided to start the fall term with online learning, de Blasio pushed for opening schoolhouse doors. The Democrat argued that students needed services they got in school and that many parents were counting on it in order to get back to work.

The reopening date, originally set for Sept. 10, was postponed twice as teachers, principals and some parents said safety precautions and staffing were inadequate, with the teachers' union at one point threatening to strike.

The city agreed to changes, including hiring thousands more teachers and testing 10% to 20% of all students and staffers per month for the virus.