Students returned to New York City’s public schools Monday — many for the first time in more than 18 months since the pandemic brought the country’s biggest school district to a halt and drove the system’s one million school kids into remote learning, with about 40% eventually enrolling in a hybrid model last year.
Outside of PS 452 on the Upper West Side.
But on Monday, the public school system opened the doors of its 1,800 schools for in-person learning. Mayor Bill de Blasio has repeatedly promised a successful school year ahead, based on what he touts as the “gold standard” of COVID-19 protocols, a vaccination mandate for all Department of Education employees and a growing number of students themselves who are vaccinated — as of Friday, more than 66% of New York City’s kids aged 12-17 years old had gotten at least one dose, de Blasio said.
The return of so many students at the same time strained the website for the Department of Education’s health screening form, mandatory for every student to complete before entering school buildings, which crashed Monday morning.
The website’s crash led to long lines outside of school buildings as students and their families waited to fill out paper copies of the health screening form.
Lines of parents and kids at PS 139 in Ditmas Park.
“Our apologies for the short period it was down this morning. If you are having issues accessing the online tool, please use a paper form or inform school staff verbally,” the DOE said in a tweet.
Crowds outside of Brooklyn Tech HS.
Still, Monday's reopening proceeded more smoothly than last year’s school reopening plan which was more chaotic. Mayor de Blasio’s target date of September 10th, 2020 as the first day of school was moved to a staggered start, followed by a switch back to all remote learning across the system in November 2020 as COVID-19 rates surged.
READ MORE: Everything We Know About The Reopening Of NYC Schools This Year
Fardin Khan, 17, from Queens was taking in the hectic scene at Brooklyn Tech High School in Fort Greene Monday as students poured out of the nearby subway station and joined a line that wrapped around the block.
Khan said while he felt like he’s back home again, he worries school will be closed at some point this year like the abrupt switch to remote learning in November 2020. Brooklyn Tech is one of the largest high schools in the country with about 5,800 students enrolled.
"In a school like Tech, it’s way too many kids — there ain’t no such thing as social distancing," Khan said. "I wouldn’t be surprised if the school got shut down for like a week or two, something like that. Especially that sudden shutdown out of nowhere, I’m gonna expect the unexpected."
READ MORE: Collecting Masks And Anxieties, NYC Parents Brace For New School Year
Two mobile vaccination vans idled across the street from Brooklyn Tech, ready to offer shots of the Pfizer vaccine along with a $100 debit card. Just minutes before school started at 8 a.m., a worker confirmed that not a single student had stopped by for a shot.
At PS 25 in the Bronx Monday, de Blasio and Schools Chancellor Meisha Porter doled out fist bumps to kids filing into their school building.
“This is a tremendous day for all of New York City and I am the biggest cheerleader for the system,” Porter said.
Some parents have vowed to keep their kids out of schools since there is no remote option this year, and children under the age of 12 cannot be vaccinated yet.
Tom Sheppard, who is a member of the city’s 15-person Panel for Educational Policy advising the Department of Education, tweeted that he was not bringing his children to school Monday in protest for the lack of a remote option:
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With Stephen Nessen and Jessica Gould
