Parents Express Uncertainty, Confusion Over New York City's Schools Reopening Plan: 'What Do I Do?'
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - The updated plan to reopen New York City's schools in the fall has left many parents feeling uncertain about what they should do next.
"It's tough. I was thinking yesterday, alone thinking the whole day, what do I do?" said Wilson Polanco, Sr. of Morris Park.
He's reluctant to allow his 9-year-old son Wilson Jr. back inside PS 108.
"It's not going to be 100% perfect. That's my dilemma," he said.
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Shakeema Mills of Wakefield, the Bronx, is a hotel worker with a job on pause. While enjoying some fresh air on Orchard Beach, she told CBS2's Dave Carlin the city's updated school reopening plan is still not detailed enough to be reassuring. Her immune-compromised 5-year-old, Ahsha, is not going inside the walls of the school.
"She has asthma and she's a kid," she said. "It's harder to keep them in the safety zone. So it's better to do it when you're at home because when you're not there with them at school, you kind of don't know what's going to happen."
Joe Liew is a financial advisor from middle Village Queens whose daughter Sophia is assigned to PS 58. Even as it opens, they plan to wait for a scientific breakthrough.
"I would rather have the vaccine first before going back to regular school," Liew said.
"Some parents say at this point any written plan won't be good enough, Carlin reported.
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"I don't see enough information for me to make a decision yet," Polanco said. "What's the schedule? How's it going to work with lunch? All this stuff is not clear."
In his case, his son is not eager to return to traditional learning with his classmates, preferring his current set up.
"I work in a little office with my dad In our basement," Wilson Jr. said. "I actually want to spend more time with my family too."
So a big strain on the family continues. Dad, who works from home, may need to arrange daycare, but admits he has not even started looking.
All of the three parents told us everything about this is a pain, but until the city comes through with something more, they'd rather have the headache of homeschooling, child care and uncertainty than the headache of COVID-19 creeping in to their homes.