An “intentionally integrated” charter school in Harlem that was planning to welcome its inaugural class this fall will instead postpone its opening a full year due to the coronavirus.
In a letter to the hundreds of families that applied for the school’s April lottery, KIPP Beyond Middle School co-founders Joe Negron and Jeff Li said they did not think it was “prudent” to open the school until the 2021-22 school year given the current public health crisis.
“The unknowns and risks associated with the COVID-19 crisis are affecting all schools across our city, including our existing schools at KIPP NYC,” they wrote. “Amidst this uncertainty, we did not think it was prudent to open KIPP Beyond at this time.”
The postponement is an example of how the disruption caused by the coronavirus is beginning to extend from this school year into the next one. It’s also a setback for a school that’s already struggled with community pushback, and it pauses an integration effort in a part of Manhattan where many schools are starkly divided by race…