NYC Board of Ed desperately wants to open schools, but what is it doing to keep our kids safe?

On September 21st, kids officially went back to school in New York City.

My son, Zubin, started preschool this year. But instead of dropping him off on his first day, we planted ourselves in front of a computer screen like thousands of other NYC parents. I initially decided to send him to the hybrid program, but my worries started after I saw the tussle between the Teachers union and Mayor de Blasio.

Then I attended a school town hall where administrators read off scripts and dodged parents’ questions to minimize conflict. After seeing that, I made the simple choice: to join the nearly 40 percent of parents who have opted to have their children learn fully remotely.

New York City is reportedly the only major school district in the United States to have children go back to in-person learning this fall. After a harrowing spring, where 30,000 New Yorkers still lost their lives amidst one of the earliest (and strictest) lockdowns, our infection rate is now less than 1 percent. We’re going outside again, masks on, dining on sidewalks and visiting NYC’s beloved parks and outdoor spots.

But is the low infection rate enough to risk the lives of 1.1 million schoolchildren? What is the New York City Board of Education…