Mayor Bill de Blasio with Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza. City Hall. Credit: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office.
Sept. 1, 2020 By Allie Griffin
New York City schools will reopen more than 10 days later than originally planned, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced today.
Public school buildings were set to reopen next week on Thursday, Sept. 10, but de Blasio pushed back the reopening date to Monday, Sept. 21 in a last-minute change to avert a teachers’ strike.
The unions representing teachers and principals said they needed more time to prepare for the unprecedented school year amid COVID-19 regulations and a new teaching model. The United Federation of Teachers (UFT) had threatened to strike if the city didn’t meet their requirements — among them, mandatory COVID-19 testing.
The union representing school principals, the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators (CSA), penned a letter to de Blasio last month demanding that he delay the reopening of schools, noting that more time is needed to properly implement a safety plan.
De Blasio was joined by the union leaders this morning to announce that the unions and city have reached an agreement.
“A lot was on the line here to work through, but I’m pleased to report that we’ve come to an agreement to move forward, to address real concerns that have been raised about how to do things the right way,” he said at the press briefing.
Schools will use the extra time to prepare for the new year.
“The school instructional days were slated to begin Sept. 10, we’re going to hold that for a few days,” de Blasio said. “We’re going to allow preparation days for our educators and staff to get ready under these unprecedented circumstances.”
Classrooms will open their doors on the 21st for blended learning, in which most students will attend classes in person either two or three days a week and will spend the remainder of school days learning online.
“What would have happened on Sept. 10 will now happen on Sept. 21,” de Blasio said.
All students will be required to do remote learning from Wednesday, Sept. 16 through Friday, Sept. 18 before classes switch to the blending learning model.
De Blasio also promised to have monthly COVID-19 testing at schools, in which a random sample of 10 to 20 percent of students and staff members would be tested for the virus.
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9 Comments
Totally agree as a retired teacher I feel that lives of students and teachers also need to be protected! and it will prevent a lot of grief just because someone did not have the right mind to take sane decisions at the appropriate time!lives of all people matter!Whether they.are black white or brown.Including all fathers,sons,grand parents mothers and daughters.!!!!!
Whats really troubling is the DOE and City of NY had months to prepare for the first day of school.
The mayor is no hero…he must have figured out that neither the teachers or the majority of the kids wouldn’t show up…instead of letting the teachers go “on strike” for two or three weeks AND not having to pay them (saving tons of needed money) DEBlasio caved to the Union.
Well said by someone who is neither a teacher, principal, parent of student or member of a union.
My hunch is you’re a Trump supporter.
I was hoping to look for part time work when my kids went to school and now i have to postpone job hunting. Its such a difficult time for parents with school aged children. I cant afford a baby sitter or to feed them on my own. I have not paid rent since April.
Its the students that are suffering through all of this.
Teacher’s union could not care less – they were all paid through the summer. It’s the parents and the kids who suffer. I used to respect teachers but no more.
Please! This is the ONLY profession where we are MADE to continue our own schooling and learning pretty much until we retire. We now have to accumulate 100+ hours of professional development per five years or we’ll be in jeopardy of losing our jobs.
You don’t respect teachers? We can tell by how your children behave within normal times!
Rethink your role as a parent!
My kids are great and employed
Teachers unions are the mafia