Previously on SBPDL: In Face of Wuhan Virus (Coronavirus) Threat, Seattle Public School System Will Remain Open Because “Diverse” K-12 Student Body Must Have Access to Free Lunch Program/Daycare

New York City is a 33 percent white city, but only 15 percent of students in the public school system are white. Some deeper statistics for those interested in the racial breakdown of the largest public school system in America:

13.2 percent of students are English Language Learners

20.2 percent are students with disabilities

72.8 percent are economically disadvantaged

Starting in the calendar year 2017-2018, all students attending New York City public schools were eligible for free lunches (did you know the federal government spends $12 billion each year on free lunches for students nationwide?) so as see the discontinuing of “lunch shaming” and the stigma around overwhelmingly non-white students getting their lunches paid for by taxpayers. [How New York City hopes to end the stigma associated with ‘lunch shaming’ by feeding every student for fre e, CNBC, September 30, 2017]

Well, the 85 percent non-white New York City Public School system (66 percent Hispanic and black) won’t shut down with the fear of the Wuhan virus/coronavirus spreading, because these taxpayer supported institutions “double as social service centers for hundreds of thousands of poor students.” [Coronavirus in N.Y.C.: Why Closing Public Schools Is a ‘Last Resort’: The city’s schools will probably stay open because they double as social service centers for hundreds of thousands of poor students., New York Times, March 9, 2020]:

New York City has the largest public school system in the United States, a vast district with about 750,000 children who are poor, including around 114,000 who are homeless. For such students, school may be the only place they can get three hot meals a day and medical care, and even wash their dirty laundry. That is why the city’s public schools will probably stay open even if the new coronavirus becomes more widespread in New York. Richard A. Carranza, the schools chancellor, said earlier this week that he considered long-term closings an “extreme” measure and a “last resort.” There are no plans to shut schools down, and Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Friday that none of the city’s 1.1 million public school students had shown any symptoms of the virus. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have advised that, so far, children have been less likely than adults to become infected.