By Julie Shapiro
P.S. 130 students flooded back into the building Tuesday morning, a week after the city closed the school because of concerns about swine flu.
None of the elementary school’s 1,081 students have been diagnosed with swine flu, but 76 students had flu-like symptoms in the week before the closure, the city said.
Attendance was still down a bit on Tuesday, with 8 percent of the children absent. Principal Lily Woo said some parents may not have heard that the school reopened, or they may be following the school’s advice to keep their children home if they are ill.
Woo said she was surprised to find out last week that her school would be the first in Manhattan to close.
“The best thing is not to panic,” Woo said in a phone interview. “There’s legitimate concern because of what’s been going on [but] everyone is suspicious about everything.”
The closure came after the most important testing was done for the year, and the school was moving into fun activities like field trips and arts performances, some of which have been postponed or cancelled, Woo said.
P.S. 130 was among 20 public schools, mostly in Queens, to reopen Tuesday. Nine public schools remained closed. Four adults with swine flu have died in New York City, and all had underlying health conditions that the city has not disclosed.
Many of the parents dropping their children off at school Tuesday morning said they were glad the school had closed to give sick children time to recover.
“They did the sensible thing,” said Sulabha Patel, whose 6-year-old daughter goes to P.S. 130.
Patel, a stay-at-home mom who lives on the Upper East Side, said her daughter fell ill just after the school closed last week, but she recovered quickly.
“I’m glad she didn’t miss any school,” Patel said.
P.S. 130 draws mainly from Chinatown, and most parents who brought their children to school Tuesday morning did not speak English. But those who did said many students were sick with the flu last week. Some also said teachers were sick, but Woo said no teachers had the flu.
Several parents who spoke to Downtown Express said the closure sent them scrambling to find someone to watch their children during the day.
A woman who gave only her family name, Lee, said it was difficult to find a babysitter for her 6-year-old daughter. She said the school was right to close as a precaution, but she was worried about her daughter missing out on class time.
“They lose one day, and they lose one day of education,” Lee said as she gathered her daughter’s hair into a ponytail outside of P.S. 130. “That’s very important.”
Richard Rizzo, another parent, said he noticed more people taking their children to work while the school was closed. The closure came at a good time for Rizzo’s 6-year-old son, who would have had to miss school last week anyway because he got his tonsils out. Rizzo, who lives in the Flatiron District, said his wife stayed home from work to watch their son.
Not everyone was happy that the school closed. Oksana Todorova said the closure created unnecessary paranoia, since the school did not have any confirmed cases of swine flu.
“Suddenly everyone got worried,” Todorova said as she dropped off her 6-year-old daughter Sascha Alcoce.
Todorova, an artist who lives in Brooklyn but has a studio near P.S. 130, said she had to rework her schedule to watch her daughter during the week off. Sascha was sick just before the school closed, but Todorova said it never occurred to her that Sascha could have anything more serious than an ordinary bug. Sascha recovered quickly and expected to return to school, but by then the school was closed.
“I thought it was just like spring break or something,” Sascha said Tuesday morning, grinning. “It was fun.”
Julie@DowntownExpress.com
