Mayor Bill de Blasio on Thursday increased the pressure for teachers to appear on the first day of school – and said it was “their job” – when he shot down pleas from teachers’ principals and unions to delay it again.
The mayor was grilled over the pushback from the Board of School Supervisors and Administrators and the United Federation of Teachers at his daily press release and said he was confident teachers will be there on Sept. 10. Despite the opposition.
“Unless people have medical accommodation, their job is to come in and serve our children,” Blasio told reporters. “And I’m convinced that this is what they’re going to do, because that’s what they’ve been doing all their lives.
“This is a professional reality,” he said. “People will stand up because it’s the right thing to do for our children.”
Both unions sent letters to Blasio and school chancellor Richard Carranza on Wednesday to delay the school year over concerns about coronavirus.
The CSA, which represents about 6,100 principals, assistant principals, supervisors and administrators in New York City, said there are still too many strangers this school year – despite the city releasing its latest opening plan last week.
One of those concerns includes the shortage of nurses in urban schools.
The Blasio has said that nurses, hired by NYC Health + hospitals, will be on hand at every pandemic at every school, and meet a huge demand from unions. But he did not provide further details on Thursday.
“No question in my mind, we will have them,” he said.
Asked why not delaying returning to school for a few weeks to give schools more time to prepare, Hizzoner said there is still a lot of time left to address concerns – something he has said several times before.
“If you are a month away from the opening of school, it is understandable that there will still be questions that need to be resolved,” he said. “Obviously there will be challenges, but in the end – let’s tackle those challenges.”
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