A Brooklyn High School was forced to quarantine a third of its staff on the eve of the first day of classes after exposure to a COVID-19-positive colleague at a pair of work events held less than 72 hours earlier.
The episode happened at the Spring Creek school building in East New York, which houses staff and students for three separate schools. Spring Creek Community School (K422) and Academy for Young Writers (K404) are home to 6th through 12th graders, while P.S. K053 runs a District 75 program for K-12 special education at the location. Employees met on September 9th and September 10th for professional development days.
The Spring Creek Community School had budgeted for a 66-person workforce this year. Of its staff at the meetings, 59 were exposed and labeled as close contacts of the COVID-19 case—and 21 were placed into quarantine.
The Department of Education revealed this information Thursday after a WNYC/Gothamist investigation into the incident, following tips from members of the school community who were concerned about the lack of transparency. The names of parents, staff and other sources are being withheld for those who’ve requested it, including those within DOE and the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH), given the sensitivity of the subject and the potential for retribution. Emails and other documents support their narratives.
A separate campus – The Horan School in East Harlem – closed after just one week of classes due to a staff outbreak that city officials attributed to a back-to-school orientation event.
Morning Edition host Michael Hill speaks with WNYC Health and Science editor Nsikan Akpan about how the situation exposes a perfect storm of gaps in the city’s pandemic policy and how officials communicate to staff and parents about COVID-19 cases in New York City schools.
Click listen in the player, and head to Gothamist for more details on the story.