#Manhattan principal tells parents kids will be in school ‘about 5-6 times per month’

Enlarge Image

Principal Robert Bender outside of PS 11 in Manhattan.
Stephen Yang

A Manhattan principal cautioned parents at his school this week that their kids will likely be in classrooms only five or six times a month this upcoming year, the Post has learned.

PS 11 administrator Bob Bender said that social distancing requirements will severely curtail the number of students who can be physically present in school each day.

“This means that small group of students will be coming to school for about 5-6 times per month and then learning remotely on the other days,” he wrote in a letter to parents.

As part of its school reopening plan, City Hall will have kids alternating between classroom and remote learning to satisfy coronavirus safety protocols.

Mayor de Blasio’s de Blasio’s reopening plan anticipates that most kids attending class 2 to 3 times a week — although he acknowledged that there would be exceptions. Some schools, officials said, would be in their buildings once or twice a week.

“For the vast majority of kids in the vast majority of schools, you’re be going to school, to the classroom either two days a week or three days a week depending on the week,” de Blasio said on July 8.

Principals at large or crowded schools across the city are struggling to devise plans that would allow for that level of frequency.

A current Stuyvesant High School model splits its large student body of over 3,300 kids into four cohorts — a scenario that would have them in their facility once a week.

De Blasio has backed a limited return to city school buildings — in part to provide scheduling relief for parents who can’t work remotely.

But the plan has met with loudening resistance from key city forces – including the teachers and principals unions.

Those groups want more safety assurances and have questioned the DOE’s preparation level for a resumption of campus learning.

In his message to parents, Bender said blended learning guidelines submitted by the Department of Education could be difficult to implement.

The DOE has given city parents the opportunity to opt for a remote only format for the upcoming year.