Chancellor Richard Carranza acknowledged
that while the goal is in-person school,
distance learning “is going to stay with us”
past the pandemic.
“We’re looking at this being a component,” he
said during a news conference with de Blasio.
Mulgrew said it will take more than teacher
vaccines to open schools fully and safely.
He noted that scientists aren’t yet clear on
whether vaccinated people might still be
able to spread the virus, even if they aren’t
sickened themselves. And he wonders how
comfortable families will feel about having
unvaccinated children and young teens begin
the new year unvaccinated.
“This is where it gets tough. So how do you say
you’re opening in September when we need to
get these questions answered?” he asked.
A parent coalition in Evanston, Illinois, has
asked Superintendent Eric Witherspoon
what assurances he could give that Evanston
Township High School will provide in-person
learning in the 2021-22 academic year.
“We are witnessing a real crisis in our
community,” Laurel O’Sullivan, the parent of an
Evanston high school junior, said by phone. “We
are a coalition that includes medical and mental
health experts who are, in their practices in the
community, daily seeing kids experiencing a
huge surge in mental and emotional health
crises. ... It’s a social, emotional and academic
crisis that we’re seeing.”
The district did not respond to a request
for comment.