Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza says despite a rise in Coronavirus cases in parts of Brooklyn and Queens, there is no plan to potentially shut down individual portions of the school system for in-person learning. In an interview with NY1, Carranza said any decision to close school buildings would be systemwide, impacting all 1.1 million students and 1,900 schools. 

“It’s citywide. Most of our students don’t exclusively go to school in their neighborhood. There’s a lot of transience in our city because we have a lot of choices in our city,” Carranza said.

“But we’re working very closely with all of our medical experts. They are targeting communities in which they see an uptick in the community spread, very aggressive test and trace, very aggressive testing protocols, and should that be affecting any of our school communities, we will absolutely act on that,” he continued.

The COVID-19 infection rate in the city has remained relatively low, hovering around 1 percent for the past month. But just as more students were heading back to school on Tuesday, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the infection rate surpassed 3 percent. Because a 3 percent infection rate has been the city's threshold to shut down schools, students will become fully remote should this hold for a week. 

As part of the city’s phased-in approach, 300,000 elementary school students are reporting back to the classroom. Middle and high school students head back to school on Thursday.

This will mean half a million students will be back at school this week.

“That’s bigger than any school system in America, and that’s just half of our student body,” Carranza said on “Mornings On 1.”

Parts of Brooklyn and Queens have seen a spike in cases, with Borough Park on Sunday logging a positivity rate of 17 percent, according to Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Carranza said he is working closely with sister agencies, including the Department of Health, the NYC Test & Trace Corps and NYC Health + Hospitals, to ensure safety.

“We’re just keeping a very close eye on making sure that we continue to be in the position to even have the option for in-person learning,” he said.

The schools chancellor also commented on The Council of School Supervisors and Administrators taking a vote of no confidence in him and the mayor on Sunday. The union representing principals asked the state education department to take over the city's school system for the duration of the pandemic.

Carranza said he has since had two working sessions with the principals union.

“My goal and the mayor’s goal is not to get caught up in the politics of it,” he said.