NYC principals union pushes back on school reopening plan
NEW YORK - The president of the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators, representing over 6,000 Principals, Assistant Principals, Supervisors and Education Administrators who work in New York City's public schools, sent a letter to New York City Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza and Mayor Bill de Blasio on Wednesday, saying that schools would not be ready to reopen for in-person classes on September 10 and calling the city’s reopening plans “incomplete.”
“We have been systematically addressing those concerns and we have a whole month to go before schools reopen and we’re going to do a lot more,” De Blasio said.
However, the union said that “the city has failed to address many of our crucial concerns,” including when will nurses be hired and PPE supplies made available.
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“The people that know the schools the best are our Principals,” Carranza said on Wednesday while touring Village Academy in Far Rockaway, Queens. Officials at the reconfigured school say they are ready to reopen on time, with students sitting apart from one another and each class only having 10 students at a time, each with an assigned desk. Students will also eat breakfast and lunch at their desks. Students will also have to follow one-way signs in hallways when walking to class.
"Every classroom will have a hand sanitizer and a disinfectant available," Carranza said. "Face coverings are going to be required, and those who don't have a face covering, we will provide one for them."
Carranza and De Blasio are urging parents to begin talking to their children about why they will need to wear a mask all day at school and use hand sanitizer, along with why they can’t hug their friends or sit right next to them so it doesn’t come as a surprise when the new school year begins.