NYC schools will reopen for in-person learning in September, de Blasio says

New York City public schools will fully reopen for in-person learning in September — with no remote option for students, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday.

“It’s good news: [In] New York City public schools, 1 million kids will be back in their classroom in September, all in person, no remote,” Hizzoner said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

“We can’t live in the grip of COVID the rest of our lives,” the mayor added at a later press conference. “It’s time for everyone to come back.” 

He said students and teachers will still be required to wear masks.

De Blasio added that no COVID-related medical accommodations would be made for teachers to keep working from home. Nearly a third of city public-school educators are currently working remotely because of coronavirus-related concerns.

“We will resume the rules that existed before the pandemic,” the mayor said. “So there always were rules for providing accommodation for very particular and severe circumstances that existed before we ever heard a COVID. We’re going to resume the pre-COVID rules.”

The administration’s announcement to go fully in-person came two weeks after de Blasio suggested there could be a virtual option in the fall — and followed more than a year of remote learning because of COVID-19 restrictions. 

A majority of the city’s public-school students, or about 600,000, remain all remote, while parents of the rest opted for a blended approach that includes some on-site instruction.

De Blasio’s about-face comes after the head of the national teachers union earlier this month called for all US schools to fully reopen with masking and social distancing by the next academic year. The powerful American Federation of Teachers had previously lobbied to put the brakes on getting kids back in classrooms full time. 

A City Hall aide said the mayor reversed course given the Big Apple’s steadily declining COVID-19 positivity rate and as more school-age children become eligible for a vaccine.

On May 10, kids ages 12 to 15 became eligible to receive the Pfizer immunization, and the mayor said last week that administering doses in public schools is “worth a look, for sure.”

“You can’t have a full recovery without full-strength schools, everyone back sitting in those classrooms, kids learning again,” the mayor said on MSNBC. 

“It’s time. It’s really time to go full-strength now.”

Michael Mulgrew, head of the United Federation of Teachers, the city’s largest educators’ union, said in a statement, “There is no substitute for in-person instruction. 

“NYC educators want their students physically in front of them. We want as many students back in school as safely possible.” 

But “we still have concerns about the safety of a small number of students with extreme medical challenges,” Mulgrew said. “For that small group of students, a remote option may still be necessary.”

The union did not respond to questions about the city not allowing for COVID-19-related medical accommodations for teachers.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, asked about de Blasio’s schools announcement at a later press event, said, “On the current trajectory, there is no reason we cannot open schools statewide in September.

“We’re going to set a statewide policy, which will govern all school districts,” the governor said. “But if you ask me today, by the current trajectory that we are on, I think there’s no reason why every school shouldn’t be open.”

De Blasio claimed the Big Apple has set a “gold standard” for opening schools safely with cleaning and masking protocols — and said he’s confident he can persuade parents hesitant about sending their children back into the classroom to get on board with “a lot of communication.

“We’re going to welcome parents to come into the schools, starting in June, [to] see how much has been done to keep them safe, get reacclimated,” he said.  

“Anyone who has a question, concern, come into your child’s school — see what’s going on, [and] get the answers.”  

De Blasio also said he suspects that federal 3-feet social distancing guidelines will be relaxed by the time the next school year starts Sept. 13, given the nation’s progress against the coronavirus.

“I think the CDC will be changing those rules quite a bit between now and September,” the mayor said — but if not, he added that city schools can still “make that work.”

De Blasio told reporters that most school buildings can already accommodate such spacing.

“It’s a new day,” the mayor said. “We have to start recognizing, we can go back to the world that was before COVID.”

Additional reporting by Reuven Fenton, Nolan Hicks and Kate Sheehy