Staffer At Inwood School Has Positive Coronavirus Case
INWOOD, NY — Education officials recently released 56 New York City schools' names with confirmed coronavirus cases among staffers, and the Paula Hedbavny School in Inwood was named on the list.
The news comes less than a week before students are set to return for in-person classes.
The Paula Hedbavny School is located at 421 West 219 Street, near the very top section of Inwood. The Upper Manhattan school is K-8 and has 554 students, according to the New York Department of Education.
Only two schools, P.S. 811X in the Bronx and P.S. 139 in Brooklyn, had two separate suspected cases, prompting automatic 24-hour closures. All other school buildings are staying open, as teachers prepare for students to return Sept. 21. Remote classes began Wednesday.
The disclosure came two days after officials revealed the positive case count without telling parents where the exact schools were.
The city had tested 17,000 school employees through Monday, with a positivity rate of .32 percent, the DOE said. The city will start mandatory monthly random testing at each school beginning in October.
DOE protocol does not automatically close down a school if one coronavirus case is detected, though staff have the option to work from home while contact tracing is completed.
The city's reopening plan continues to draw criticism from teachers around the city who say it does not do enough to guarantee their safety. Staff at some schools have staged protests outside their buildings, demanding improved ventilation and increased testing.
Patch reporter Nick Garber contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on the Washington Heights-Inwood Patch
