12,000 NYC Kids Bumped From In-Person Education Over Missing Virus Testing Forms

New York City is bouncing some 12,000 children from in-person education because their parents haven’t signed a consent form allowing random testing for COVID-19.

The parents of all of the children had registered the students for in-person learning. They’re among 190,000 pre-school, elementary and special education students who returned to classrooms earlier this month.

Close to 60,000 pre-school and kindergarten children are exempt from testing because officials believe they are less likely to transmit the disease.

But that leaves about 130,000 students who must participate in the testing program, with random weekly tests of 20% of everyone in each school building.

“Due to the extensive efforts of our staff, 91% of students who need a consent form have one on file,” Nathaniel Styer, a spokesperson for the Department of Education, told The Staten Island Advance. “Students without consent forms, and who do not have approved exemptions, are transitioned to remote instruction.”

Testing is “one of our best tools for stopping the spread of COVID-19 in our schools, and we are focused on making this a brief and gentle experience for our students, led by trained testers,” he explained.

Mayor Bill de Blasio and Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza have repeatedly warned that children wouldn’t be allowed in school if they didn’t submit consent forms. The ousted students can return to school as soon as parents sign the forms.

The city’s school system is the largest in the nation, with some one million students. All middle- and high-school students are taught remotely. Many elementary students are also learning via online instruction at the request of their parents.

The city had shut down its entire in-person program when positive citywide testing for COVID-19 hit 3%. But in-person learning was started up again early this month.