The Philadelphia public school district has again put off plans to bring students back to classrooms for at least some in-person instruction. Now, as coronavirus cases multiply in the city and across the state, remote learning will continue “until further notice.”
“We have decide to remain 100 percent virtual at this time,” the superintendent, William R. Hite Jr., said Tuesday afternoon.
The district had tentatively planned to bring younger students back to classrooms for hybrid learning on Nov. 30. Students in third through 12th grade with complex needs were to return to classrooms in January, with high school and technical students to follow in February. All that is up in the air now.
“We hope to see these children in school before the spring, but it’s all going to be based on the advice from the health community,” Dr. Hite said.
Philadelphia is the latest major American public school district to postpone or retreat from in-person instruction.
Boston reversed course in late October, sending the few high-needs students who had come back to classrooms home again and postponing plans for young learners to re-enter classrooms. Chicago has no set date to reopen its classrooms. Across Maryland, districts are reconsidering or reversing plans.
San Francisco, amid widespread dysfunction, does not have a timeline for its schools to reopen, although coronavirus cases remain low in the city. San Diego has halted a phased return to classrooms until January. And only a few Los Angeles public school students are back in school buildings; most classrooms are unlikely to reopen before January.
While public-school students in the city still learn entirely online, around 95 independent, parochial and charter schools in Philadelphia have reopened for at least some in-person education, according to Dr. Thomas Farley, the city’s health commissioner.
“We’re not recommending that they shut down for in-person education,” Dr. Farley said of other schools in the city, although he noted that that might change if the city’s daily case counts continue to rise.
There have been cases and case clusters at several independent schools in Philadelphia, but only three appear to have had in-person transmission, Dr. Farley said. That tracks with a growing consensus among scientists that there is little clear evidence of significant coronavirus transmission in schools, especially among younger children.
The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers praised the decision to put off the resumption of in-person instruction. “Our voices and concerns have been heard,” Jerry Jordan, the president, wrote in a letter to members, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. “This is a big victory for this union.”
— Amelia Nierenberg The New York Times