After a week of poor air quality from the Canadian wildfires, New York City’s public schools will be reopening all of its buildings and facilities for normal, in-person operations on Saturday and resuming in-person classes on Monday, June 12, the city Department of Education announced Friday afternoon.
“We are returning to regular school, after-school, and work schedules on Monday,” the DOE stated in a tweet.
The DOE clarified that there are no longer any restrictions on outdoor programs, such as end-of-year celebrations, PSAL activities, school-sponsored community events, or other NYC Public Schools’ events.
While there may still be some weekend events that are being canceled because of substandard air quality, the DOE’s planned weekend in-person instruction, including Saturday academies, Regents prep courses, and tutoring will continue as planned in-person.
The DOE had originally called off in-person staff development on Thursday, and offered staff a remote option. Students who were not exempt from attending school because of the annual “Clerical Day” were required to attend remote learning, following hazardous air quality levels on Wednesday.
The current air quality index level is at 48 on the AirNow monitor, as of press time. The Environmental Protection Agency runs the AirNow platform, and has deemed levels between 0-50 as “Good.”
However, the EPA still forecasted an air quality index of “105” today, which is a level that is unhealthy for sensitive groups of people, namely those who have heart or lung disease, older adults, children and teenagers.
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