Park Slope School Stays Open Despite Parent's Coronavirus Case

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — A parent of two students at Park Slope's P.S. 107 tested positive for coronavirus but the school remains open despite an outcry from families.

Those anxious families rang phones at the school off the hook Thursday, demanding to know why administrators hadn't yet closed the school.

But the school's PTA President Amy Weintraub kept telling them that administrators' hands are tied because it was a parent — not that parent's two children who have been out of school since Tuesday — who tested positive for COVID-19. They haven't received words on coronavirus test results for the children, she said

Only the city's Department of Education and Chancellor Richard A. Carranza can make the call to close the school at this point, Weintraub said.

"I personally am calling on the chancellor to make the right decision and close the school at least until we know what the test results for those kids," she said. "It doesn’t make sense to still have school until we know what’s going on."

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The parent received the positive coronavirus diagnosis this week. That's after they attended a family night on March 6 at the school, Weintraub said.

This story previously stated the parent attended another school event over the weekend, but Weintraub said she has since learned that appears to be inaccurate.

The Eighth Avenue school's custodial staff have disinfected the building as much as possible since the parent's diagnosis this week, Weintraub said.

"Of course our custodial staff is cleaning, cleaning, cleaning," she said.

But that's not enough for Weintraub and other parents. A parent who wanted to be unnamed said she plans to keep her fourth grader out of school for the foreseeable future.

"My biggest fear is people aren’t taking this seriously and there are things that we could be doing — for everyone,” she said.

Lesley Oseep, a parent of a second-grader and a fourth-grader, said she actually started keeping her children out of school starting Thursday. It's important to practice social distancing to help slow or contain the outbreak before more drastic steps like those taken in Italy are necessary, she said.

Oseep he acknowledged many families don't have the means to keep their children home. She said city officials should make it an option for parents, rather than simply wait for reasons to shut down.

"Let them make that decision," she said of parents.

Weintraub, Oseep and the parent who wished to be unnamed all repeated that the school's administrators can't make the decision to close at this point.

"Something has to change with the DOE and the chancellor," she said.

Several schools across New York City have closed over coronavirus concerns.

City Councilman Brad Lander and Assemblyman Robert Carroll urged DOE leadership to at least consider a 24-hour closure for P.S. 107, given the parent was in the school before they were tested for the virus, he wrote in a statement. That’s the same period of time for when students or staff test positive, they wrote.

“We made that case strongly to senior DOE leadership,” Lander and Carroll wrote. “Given that they declined our pleas, we stand with you in whatever decision your family feels is right about whether your children attend school tomorrow.”

Attendance during this time won’t be counted against students in admissions decisions, Lander wrote and Carroll wrote. They urged city officials to take a more “proactive” approach toward school closures.

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The DOE didn't directly respond to a Patch reporter's questions about the school.

“The Department of Education will immediately notify school communities when we know of a confirmed case among the student body or school staff," wrote DOE spokeswoman Danielle Filson in an email. "We continue to encourage students and staff who are feeling sick to follow citywide guidance and stay home."