Brooklyn Parents Invited To Join Back-To-School Discussion

BROOKLYN, NY — Park Slope parents can have their questions about sending kids back to school in the fall answered this week during a town hall with education officials.

Community Board 6 — which includes Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, the Columbia Waterfront District, Gowanus, Park Slope and Red Hook — will host a virtual "Back-to-School Townhall" on Thursday with Council Member Brad Lander and a group of Department of Education officials.

The webinar will bring Deputy Chancellor Adrienne Austin, Executive Superintendent Karen Watts and District 15 Superintendent Anita Skop online to discuss the back-to-school plans, which city officials first unveiled earlier this month.

Mayor Bill de Blasio and School Chancellor Richard Carranza have said that schools will bring in half or a third of their students in classrooms at a time and have kids who are at home each day continue with remote learning in an effort to maintain social distancing guidelines.

The schedules are the latest details the mayor and Department of Education have given about their plan to bring kids back to school since announcing earlier that public schools would reopen in September.

Mandatory masks for children and staff, nightly deep cleanings, hand washing stations and using outdoor or large spaces like cafeterias, gyms and auditoriums for more social distancing are also part of the plan.

The plan has been met with mixed emotions from educators, parents and Patch readers. Half of readers who answered a Patch survey about the plan last week said they don't think schools should reopen in the fall.

Here's how to join the town hall:

When: 7 p.m. Thursday, July 23

Where: Online. Find a registration link here.

Who: Council Member Brad Lander, Community Board 6 District Manager Mike Racioppo, Deputy Chancellor Adrienne Austin, Executive Superintendent Karen Watts and District 15 Superintendent Anita Skop.