NEW YORK — New York City schools will shut down Monday, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Sunday after a week of mounting pressure from parents, unions and other elected officials to shutter the schools amid the rapid spread of the coronavirus.
“It is time to take more drastic measures,” de Blasio said during an update at City Hall Sunday evening.
“This is a decision I have taken with no joy whatsoever."Both New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and de Blasio have resisted calls to shutter schools for weeks, warning that forcing health care workers to stay home and supervise their children would cause a drag on a hospital system already bracing for an overwhelming influx of patients. That calculation changed Sunday afternoon after the health care workers’ biggest union, 1199 SEIU, changed its position to voice support for closing schools.
Cuomo said Sunday afternoon he wanted the schools in the city — as well as in Westchester and on Long Island — to close, and de Blasio described the immediate steps the city was taking during a City Hall press conference.
“Our first attempt to reopen public schools will be Monday, April 20,” de Blasio said. “We may not have the opportunity to reopen them in this full school year.”
The city is currently making preparations to provide remote learning and care for the students who may not have supervision during the day throughout the five boroughs.