Coronavirus Closes 2nd Bed-Stuy School This Week: DOE

BED-STUY, BROOKLYN — Another Bed-Stuy school temporarily closed for in-person learning this week after multiple coronavirus cases were detected in the building, according to the Department of Education.

P.S. 54 on Sanford Street was one of more than 120 buildings across the five boroughs closed on Wednesday, according to the Department of Education and their map of active COVID-19 cases.

The school was shut down for 24 hours starting Tuesday after at least two coronavirus cases were reported at the building, according to the map.

The cases, reported Monday and Tuesday, closed a classroom at P.S. 54 and another classroom at K141, a specialized school that runs out of the five buildings across Brooklyn, including the Sanford Street facility.

Another school housing K141, P.S. 380 on Marcy Street, is facing a two-week closure that started Nov. 12, according to the map.

Per DOE policy, a school building is closed when there are at least two cases from different classrooms, from an activity or exposure outside of school or when the link between them cannot be determined, according to the DOE.

In each case, the building is temporarily closed while the DOE starts an investigation into the cases. In the scenario when a link between the cases cannot be determined, the school is closed for 14 days, according to the guidelines.

The Sanford Street building is the second building in Bed-Stuy this week to be closed because of coronavirus cases. P.S. 305 on Monroe Street also faced a 24-hour closure that extended into Monday.

Other Bed-Stuy buildings that have been temporarily closed because of coronavirus cases include I.S. 35 and P.S. 362, which were shut for 24 hours and P.S. 308 on Quincy Street, which faced a two-week closure.

The number of buildings closed across the five boroughs has seen an uptick this week. Across the five boroughs, there were 48 one-day school closures and 78 two-week closures as of Wednesday, 25 more than there were on Monday.

Education officials have temporarily shut down more than 270 schools since buildings began to reopen for in-person learning in September.

The closures come as New York City officials try to stave off a full shut down of schools as coronavirus rates creep up in the city.

As of Tuesday, the city had not yet reached the 3-percent threshold for closing down the public school system. Parents and teachers have been told to prepare to switch to remote learning with a day's notice should the threshold be reached.

Check the full map of active cases here.