The Department of Education has extended staff COVID-19 medical exemptions for the rest of the school year.
The accommodation was granted Thursday to about 35,000 DOE employees, allowing them to work remotely.
That figure includes 20,000 city teachers — or roughly 27 percent of the total educator workforce in the country’s largest school system.
In addition, 200 city principals have also sought and received permission not to work from their school buildings this year.
The exemption, which is given to staffers vulnerable to the virus or with at-risk family members at home, was originally set to expire in December.
But DOE human resources officials sent out an email the day after Mayor Bill de Blasio shuttered schools to let staffers know that the arrangement would be extended.
“Please note that this accommodation, including the expiration date, is subject to further DOE review and change in accordance with applicable federal, state, and and city policy,” the email stated.
The entire DOE system transitioned to a remote-only format this week after the city hit a 3 percent infection rate closure threshold.
Mayor Bill de Blasio has said he expects in-person learning to resume in the near future.
Roughly 335,000 kids are enrolled in the city’s suspended blended format that has them alternate between classroom and remote learning.
