Students across the region have been sent home for weeks. They won’t return to school until April 20th, at the earliest. Leaders are now working on meal programs and distributing on-line lessons to those affected.
What We Know:
- Coronavirus cases continue to spike in the Tri-State Area. There were 950 patients in New York State with the coronavirus, and 463 of those are in New York City, where the death toll has risen to five.
- According to CBS New York, Mayor Bill de Blasio has closed the city’s public schools, calling it a tough but necessary decision. Schools will move to a remote learning model until at least spring recess, with the possibility of that being extended for the remainder of the school year.
- “It is very painful. It is going to be very difficult for a lot of families. And so this is a decision that I have taken with no joy whatsoever, with a lot of pain honestly, because it’s something I could not in a million years have imagined having to do,” de Blasio said Sunday.
- Schools across the city will be handing out boxed meals from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. so thousands of kids won’t go hungry.
- New York City Public School Chancellor, Richard Caranza, was at Hernando De Soto school in Chinatown where the grab-and-go food was available. “They can pick up their breakfast and their lunch at the same time,” said Caranza. “We can expect to have more and more traffic as the week goes on.”
- All public schools will begin providing online instruction next week, but Caranza says at least 300,000 students don’t have devices or access to the internet at home.
- “We’ve already ordered hot spots,” he said. “We teamed with Apple. We bought laptops. We’re going to have laptops coming in at about 25,000 a day over the next week or so.”
The city is will also be working on a plan to provide child care for health care workers starting next week.
