A Growing Push To Conduct Outdoor Learning This School Year Has Historical Precedent

As the school year fast approaches in the midst of a pandemic that continues to spread across America, some NYC parents and teachers are urging education officials to consider bringing New York City's 1.1 million public school students back to school, but not back into schools.

Hundreds of people have signed a petition calling for the de Blasio administration's open streets initiatives to be expanded to create outdoor classrooms for school children.

A group of parents started the petition—which builds on growing demands for outdoor learning—late on a Friday night demanding open streets near schools.

By Tuesday, it had nearly 2,000 signatures.

"We're committed to trying to figure out safe, rigorous and, imaginative ways to return to in-person learning safely," a mother of two elementary school kids at a Carroll Gardens school, Rebekah Cook-Mack, told Gothamist. "We have done this for restaurants and we need to do this for teachers, families, kids, and for the city."

Tents, water fountains and other outdoor equipment would be needed, and space in park areas could be utilized as well, according to the petition's proposal. "This has been done before and can be done well if we give our schools the resources they need and the time to plan," the petition reads.

Indeed, the U.S. has created such open-air classrooms during health crises in the past.

During the early 20th century, a number of schools were set up in the open air as part of the effort to control tuberculosis outbreaks in American cities. During colder months, students were wrapped in thick blankets to form so-called "sitting-out bags" to keep them warm.

The open air schools were a success — no kids got sick in one experiment led by two Rhode Island doctors—and the outside education movement continued for decades, with five international conferences until the mid-1900s.

In New York City, the Horace Mann School built two open-air spaces on the rooftop, with the southside of the open-air "rooms" entirely open, according to a 1918 book on open air schools by Neil S. MacDonald, when more than 250 open-window classes had been built. At another school in Manhattan, "when the weather permits, all the work is done in the open, on the roof; in inclement weather there is a classroom provided," MacDonald wrote.

In 1929, the New York City health commissioner at the time supported open air schools, echoing a Chicago doctor who said schools should be "palaces of sunshine" and more attention should be paid to students' health.

Cook-Mack, with rising first- and third-grade students, says the call for outdoor learning builds on a preexisting push to expand classes into gardens, along NYC's shorelines, and elsewhere.

"Is this the perfect solution to every problem? No. Does this give us options? Yes," she said. "We know that it's safer outside. We know that. That's clear."

A comparative immunologist and biology professor told the Times, "Outside is definitely safer," though experts still recommend distancing and masks outside. The massive protests against police violence that saw tens of thousands packed in the streets has not sparked an uptick in COVID-19 cases in the U.S. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends any type of gathering should be done so with proper ventilation systems and increasing the "circulation of outdoor air as much as possible" by opening windows or doors, according to a July 7th memo. The agency says gatherings should "prioritize outdoor activities" with social distancing.

So far, Mayor Bill de Blasio has floated a "blended learning" plan, with students studying some days remote and some days in person.

During a Monday morning news conference, de Blasio said other spaces for better distancing between students in already over-crowded schools are being evaluated — like trailers or other unused spaces.

"Where there is additional space that could work for a school, that's going to be the first priority," de Blasio said. "For a space to work for a school, obviously, it has to be pretty nearby and it has to be available quickly."

The de Blasio administration has already tapped 100,000 spaces for childcare at libraries and cultural centers for working parents on the remote-learning days in the "blended" model.

"We are planning multiple reopening scenarios that will give every child the academic support they need while keeping them safe," a Department of Education spokesperson, Danielle Filson, said in an email. "We are exploring all feasible options and continue to monitor this evolving situation."