Safety First When Schools Reopen After Coronavirus, Letter Urges

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — Rumblings about New York gingerly considering maybe-sometime-in-the-future lifting the coronavirus lockdown prompted one Brooklyn community board to urge caution when it comes to the city's schools.

Community Board 6 officials on April 25 sent a letter to Mayor Bill de Blasioreferring to "confusion" over when schools will reopen. Deciding as to when likely will be up to debate, the letter states.

There is no room for debate, however, when it comes to putting measures in place that protect students and school staff, it states.

"These protocols should include easily administered widespread testings, availability, and use of personal protective equipment, a rigorous cleaning process, and measures such as the ability to instantly check the temperature of anyone who enters a public school," the officials wrote.

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Brooklyn's Community Board 6 covers Carroll Gardens, Gowanus, Red Hook and other west Brooklyn neighborhoods. One of those neighborhoods is Park Slope, where one elementary became a battleground in the initial debate over closing schools.

P.S. 107 remained open in early March after a parent tested positive for coronavirus. Parents were in an uproar over the school remaining open but acknowledged its administrators couldn't make call for the closure — that call could only be made by the city's school officials and they, like de Blasio at that time, were loathe to close schools.

A citywide school closure soon after ended the brouhaha, but not necessarily the debate over school safety.

CB6's letter shows at least some officials in and around Park Slope harbor concerns. And those aren't just centered in the neighborhoods between Prospect Park and the waterfront — the United Federation of Teachers organized a federal petition calling for only opening schools after widespread testing, regular temperature checks, rigorous cleaning and an exhaustive tracing procedure.

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