LaGuardia High School Shortens School Day, Cancels Activities

UPPER WEST SIDE, MANHATTAN — One of the Upper West Side's public high school's will move to a shortened school day and has cancelled all after-school activities due to the coronavirus, even as the rest of the city's public schools remain open.

Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts announced that it would be operating on a shortened "conference day" schedule to help avoid students traveling during crowded rush hour times, according to the school and a student who spoke with Patch.

Some school officials said that it is likely only a matter of time before all classes get cancelled at the school, according to a student.

"They did say to not be too surprised when they do end up being canceled because people may not even show up," the student, a junior at the school, told Patch.

The school also suspended all after-school activities and moved to remote parent-teacher conferences.

For some students at the performing arts school, that may mean not performing the shows they've been working on for much of the year, the student said.

"They told us to kind of expect the worst in terms of ever getting to perform [our musical]," the students said. "It's really disappointing for everyone — everyone was really excited and really prepared and put a lot of work into it."

Principal Yeou-Jey Vasconcelos said that the school will try to reschedule all events that are affected.

The cancelation at LaGuardia comes as Mayor Bill de Blasio and the Department of Education resist closing all public schools, despite calls from some of the city's top elected officials and the teacher's union.

So far, several New York City schools have temporarily closed or, as the CUNY system did, transitioned to online learning. Success Academy, one of the city's largest charter school systems with 18,000 students, will transition to remote learning Monday.

The Mayor argued on "The Brian Lehrer Show" Friday morning that public schools provide child care that make it possible for New Yorkers to work and connect children with vital resources to help them stay healthy.

"We need our children to be fed," de Blasio said. "We need people to keep working for our livelihood."

The Mayor has instead called on parents to keep at home children who have serious medical conditions and on the Department of Education to conduct temporary closures and cleanings on campuses with reported coronavirus cases.

For LaGuardia, the shortened school day will mean a full day of period one to period 10 classes from 8 a.m. to 2:48 p.m. The school building will close, and all school members must be out, by 3 p.m., officials said.