At some public schools, students who have enrolled in the city's blended learning plan will be able to attend in-person classes once or twice a week.

But at P.S. 59 in Bedford-Stuyvesant, students who attend in-person class will do so every day, because of how many children are staying home.

What You Need To Know

  • At some public schools, students will be able to attend inperson classes once or twice a week

  • But at P.S. 59, students who attend in person will do so every day -- because 60% of students haven chosen to go all-remote

  • That's above the citywide remote rate. So far, about 35% of families have opted for all-remote learning

"We have close to 60 percent of our kids doing remote only. And the rest coming every day,” Principal Cherry-Ann Joseph-Hislop said. “With our numbers right now, we believe we can comfortably accommodate every child, every day."

Citywide, about 35 percent of families have so far chosen all-remote learning, making P.S. 59 a bit of an outlier.

It's a stark illustration of how different the new academic year will look from school to school.

It also appears to reflect the apprehension many Black and Hispanic parents feel about sending their children back to school. A statewide survey by The Education Trust found that such parents were more likely than white parents to be worried about the virus at schools. 94 percent of P.S. 59's students are Black or Hispanic, according to DOE data.

Mayor de Blasio visited P.S. 59 to highlight the importance of in-person learning, saying it cannot be replicated online.

"I am certain this school did a remarkable job with remote learning and will continue to, when kids are learning remote. But you cannot achieve so much as what happens inside this school building. You cannot achieve the magic that happens here,” he said.

In another example of how varied the logistical hurdles are, some schools are scrambling for extra staff to cover those with medical accommodations.

"P.S. 59, we only have one teacher who's working remotely. So all staff is; We are fully staffed and ready to go when school reopens. For us, it's more the professional development, ensuring that our teachers are ready to use the new platform,” Hilsop said.

The schools chancellor acknowledged it wouldn't be that easy everywhere.

"There are other schools that will have many more faculty members that will be on medical accommodation,” Carranza said. “So it really is school by school depending on the circumstances of their staff and then depending on how many students will be in person. So our superintendents are working with principals through those issues right now."