New Dorp and the Hungerford School Program in New Dorp High School are closed after a student who attends the school tested positive for the … Photos: The coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in New YorkSTATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Despite widespread calls to shut down the city’s public schools, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Friday he plans to keep schools open.Instead, the mayor will take a number of steps to keep the schools up and running.Those steps include moving meals from school cafeterias to classrooms, moving physical education classes outside, canceling field trips and work that takes school officials from school to school.“I look at this through the lens of parents that I’ve known and as a parent myself and I know there are many many factors that have to be looked at here, but I’m also looking at this from how we protect those three pillars I keep talking about: schools, transit, and healthcare,” he told reporters at a press conference at City Hall Friday evening.The mayor cautioned that if he closed down the city’s schools, kids would still go “all over their buildings and their communities looking for something to do,” which would compromise a schools’ closure.He also said that if the city closed the largest school district in the country, it might not reopen for the rest of the calendar year.“I think there is an illusion out there that you can shut down schools temporarily in the midst of a growing crisis,” he said. All rights reserved ( On Thursday, the Archdiocese of New York Superintendent of Catholic Schools Michael J. Deegan announced that After being informed by expert health officials and the Health and Safety Task Force of the Office of the Superintendent of Schools, the decision was made out of an abundance of caution, according to the notice.“The health and safety of our students, staff and families is of the utmost importance,” said the notice.After consultation with leadership of the CYO and the Catholic High School Athletic Associations, all activities and all sporting events and practices have been canceled indefinitely.“We are continuing to monitor the situation surrounding COVID-19 (Coronavirus),” said the notice. UPDATE: On Fri 3/13/20, in an abundance of caution, we will close 2 school bldgs & one D75 program; only ONE has a confirmed New Dorp and the Hungerford School Program in New Dorp High School are closed after a student who attends the school tested positive for the coronavirus, according to a post on social media by Councilman Steven Matteo.He said that the other Hungerford sites in the borough are still open.The student who tested positive attended the Hungerford program at the New Dorp building, according to Assemblyman Michael Reilly (R-South Shore).Matteo said via social media that the initial closure period for New Dorp is 24 hours to clean and disinfect the high school. We intend for our schools to remain open,” de Blasio said. Also, St. Teresa Catholic school … “I think the sober honest reality is if you shut down, you have to be ready for the possibility that that’s it for the school year, that might be it for the calendar year.”If conditions around the outbreak change, the mayor said he would be willing to go in a “different direction if that’s what I think is in the best interest of the city.”Earlier on Friday, New Dorp High School closed its campus after a parent of one of the students in its Hungerford School tested positive for the disease.The mayor said the school would likely reopen on Monday after being cleaned, but noted that would be determined after the school is cleaned and an evaluation done over the weekend.The mayor’s announcement Friday comes after days of pressure from his fellow elected officials and the wider community for the closures in an effort to limit the spread of the disease.City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, the United Federal of Teachers and members of Staten Island’s delegation of elected officials have called on the mayor to make the call to close the public schools.
The local Health Department will notify schools if and when a school must close due to COVID-19.Earlier this week, Brooklyn Councilman Mark Treyger (D) shared a “temporary contingency plan” with the Department of Education that would direct schools to move to a summer school model where school sites are combined into a few buildings in each borough to service students.Treyger’s plan would move to that type of model where schools could provide grab and go meals to the most vulnerable students and keep those schools fully staffed with healthcare professionals to give students any medical services they require.Parents who cannot put their children in childcare would also have the option to send their kids to those schools.But the mayor said Friday he had yet to see Treyger’s plan.On Thursday, the Archdiocese of New York Superintendent of Catholic Schools Michael J. Deegan announced that Note to readers: if you purchase something through one of our affiliate links we may earn a commission.Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our © 2020 Advance Local Media LLC. New Dorp High School and The Hungerford School were shuttered “in an abundance of caution,” the education department announced on Twitter early Friday morning. Earlier on Friday, New Dorp High School closed its campus after a parent of one of the students in its Hungerford School tested positive for the disease. The mayor said that 68% of the 1.1 million children in city schools attended classes on Friday.A day earlier, he said he expects the number of confirmed cases to rise to 1,000 citywide by next week as he But as the city’s public schools remain open, Gov. They’ll either be moved online, if they can be, or they will be cancelled, it depends on each activity.