De Blasio delays reopening of NYC public schools, again
NEW YORK - Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Thursday that he was delaying the reopening of New York City public schools for in-person classes again.
Students who had opted for in-person instruction were expected to return on Monday, Sept. 21, but de Blasio said concerns over the safety and health of the school system and the need to hire more teachers would delay the start for a second time.
Classes will now begin on Tuesday, Sept. 29 for K-5 and K-8 students. Middle school, high school, secondary school, and transfer/adult education students will begin classes on Oct. 1. 3-K, Pre-K and District 75 students will begin on Sept. 21 as was previously announced.
In-person classes were originally scheduled to resume on Sept. 10.
Labor leaders, who had sounded alarms in recent days that the schools just weren't ready to reopen, appeared with the Democrat during a briefing from City Hall.
"I literally made a list of 20 different concerns that we will work through to address," said de Blasio.
“Opening Monday to everyone would not have been safe for our students,” said Mark Cannizzaro, president of the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators, the union that represents principals.
De Blasio also announced that an additional 2,500 educators had been hired for the new school year bringing the total number of new instructors to 4,500.
New York City's more than one million public school students resumed classes remotely on Monday following a shutdown in March due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.