New York City public schools will no longer resume individual classes for all students on Monday, Sept. 21, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Thursday.
Instead, the city will return more than a million of its students to the classroom on a rolling basis, starting with last week’s pre-school.
Schools serving students in fifth-grade kindergarten will return from September 29, followed by middle and high schools on October 1.
The last-minute change to the plan has caused even more confusion among parents and school administrators who are already frustrated with De Blasio’s flip-flops.
It marks the second time the mayor has delayed the start of individual classes, which were originally scheduled to begin on September 10.
De Blasio’s continued failure to commit to a plan at 11 a.m. has fueled a chorus of critics who say the education department is not preparing to bring the country’s largest school district back online amid a coronavirus epidemic.
New York City public schools will no longer resume individual classes for all students on Monday, Sept. 21, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Thursday.
De Blasio and union leaders said they chose to use the phased model to reopen schools because the city needed more time to prepare buildings and recruit more teachers.
“We are doing this to ensure that we meet all the standards set,” the mayor said, adding that he had “literally made a list of 20 different concerns that we are working on because Those were real concerns. ‘.
Unions representing teachers and principals in the public school district have warned that schools still do not have teachers or coronavirus safety measures that are required to reopen safely.
Labor leaders, who sounded alarms in recent days that schools still do not need teachers or coronavirus safety measures to reopen safely, appeared with De Blasio at a news conference on Thursday.
“It would not be safe for our students to open on Mondays,” said Mark Canizaro, president of the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators, a union representing principals.
Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, called the reopening of the school district an “unprecedented challenge.”
‘We want our school system to be running and safe and we want it to continue and be safe. The families of the children of this city deserve it, ‘said Mulgru.
“We are protecting our schools, our families and our children against this horrific situation known as the epidemic.”
De Blasio and union leaders said they chose to use the phased model group to reopen schools because the city needed more time for students to return.
De Blasio’s continued failure to commit to the 11th Hour Plan has fueled a chorus of critics who say the Department of Education is not preparing to bring the country’s largest school district back online amid the coronavirus epidemic.
De Blasio confirmed that staff shortages were one of the main issues leading to the recent delays and announced that the Department of Education was hiring an additional 2,500 teachers over the 2,000 added earlier this week.
‘When I heard Mark [Cannizzaro] And Michael [Mulgrew] Talk about the needs of special school staff that were still not addressed in a timely manner, I heard an honest concern, ‘said the mayor.
‘It was clear to me that we didn’t have enough clear numbers and we had to agree on the numbers that the DOE bureaucracy listens to devotees who have the ability to hear exactly what is happening differently from each school. ‘
The news was immediately met with a reaction on Twitter as parents accused De Blasio and other education officials of ignoring the union leaders’ concerns until the last minute.
One person tweeted, ‘NYC mayor makes decision less than a week before school delays and phase resumes (advocates made this call months ago).’
‘This is the height of arrogance and poor planning. We have spent the last 3 months. Unacceptable. ‘
Another critic wrote against him, using de Blasio’s own line – ‘reopening the silence’: ‘Mission accomplished: parents, teachers and students in disbelief.’
‘You had it all summer, you already opened late. This failure falls on the mayor and the chancellor. Someone should lose their job, ‘said a third user.
Many outraged parents pointed out that de Blasio was causing significant harm to powerless children by failing to implement a coherent plan.
‘How do you change this last minute three days before school starts?’ One woman tweeted.
‘Do you have any idea how bad this is for kids who are thrilled to start school on Monday and crushed when they hear about this delay?’
‘What a monument! Don’t you know that you will need more teachers now ??? What are you “leaders” thinking ????? Obviously not about students and teachers and learning … ‘one man wrote.
Another woman wrote: ‘My child is in fourth grade, he doesn’t know how to read or write, and you expect him to learn from afar … good luck will come to him when I’m at work … I think That this willpower is wasted another year for children with special needs. ‘
The news immediately met with a reaction on Twitter as parents lamented that de Blasio had months to prepare to reopen schools, but failed to listen to the concerns of union leaders.
De Blasio has repeatedly assured that the city may pull out of the hybrid education system announced back in July, which will see 58 per cent students and online and in-class attendees participate.
Just yesterday he insisted that the individual class would start on September 21 as planned, as the school year would start remotely this week with a three-day orientation.
‘We have repeatedly said it will not be a perfect start,’ de Blasio said Wednesday.
‘We will make a lot of adjustments in a week as things continue to improve.
‘But the important reality here is that we will provide the best education possible, the best education in person, we will continue to improve, we will stay organized and find out what we need in terms of staff. ‘
For the first time since March, very few students began returning to physical classrooms on Wednesday, when Covid-19 was forced to close schoolhouses in New York and the rest of the country.
The resume is that an average of about 240 people a day are diagnosed with coronavirus in New York City, one of the few big cities trying to start the school year with students in real classrooms.
De Blasio has repeatedly assured that the city could remove the hybrid education system announced back in July, which will see 58 per cent of students and both online and in person participate in the class.
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