Mayor Bill de Blasio’s latest turnaround on school closures seems a plus — but the chaos has left m🌳any parents frustrated, furious and downright🌃 dizzy.
After abruptly closing schools Nov. 19 because the citywide posi💮tivity rate hit 3 percent, de Blasio is abandoning that metric. Now, he aims to keep schools open regardless of what haꦬppens citywide. He’ll test 20 percent of in-school students weekly and close buildings on a school-by-school basis.
His plan for reopening now looks much like what Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and City Council Education Committee Chairman Mark Treyger proposed weeks ago. It starts next Monday, Dec. 7, as preschoo🅘lers and K-5 students go back. Three days later, special-ed kids at 🉐all grade levels attending District 75 schools return.
De Blasio has no timeline yet for , but he told CNN’s Alis🐻yn Camerota it’s unlikely before January. At least those older kids are better suited to remote learning.
Better: He says he sees lower grades returning to the classroom full time, five-days-a-week, soon. And he’s talking about offeri🌊ng parents another chance to switch from full remote to in-person learning.
Williams is (quite rightly) not satisfied, saying the city can’t wait for the mayor “to come to the right conclusions 𒀰at the wrong💯 moments in time.”
Students, parents, teachers and pri💙ncipals all deserve city leadership better than this.