Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Tuesday that the city’s public schools will be starting ten days later than scheduled to address concerns about the coronavirus raised by parents, teachers and administrators, the New York Times reports.
The nation’s largest school district, with 1.1 million students, New York had planned to open for in-classroom education September 10th, but will now delay any instruction–either on-line or in-person–until September 21st.
School administrators, teachers and elected officials had warned the mayor that city schools would not be ready to open on September 10th, given all the additional preparation needed to protect students and staff from coronavirus infections. The 75,000-member strong teachers union had threatened a strike if they were required to report for school openings on the 10th.
The mayor also said schools will implement random testing of students and staff in early October.
The initial focal point of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States, the State of New York has successful controlled the spread of the virus. When the pandemic first hit US shores, the state was registering more than 10,000 new cases daily; that number is now less than 800.
Within the Five Boroughs of New York City, fewer than 300 cases are typically reported on a daily basis, making it relatively safe to open schools with property protocols and monitoring.