The Road To Reopening Schools
If the city’s children are to get an education this year — in whatever form — Mayor de Blasio and Chancellor Richard Carranza better start getting their ducks in order.
With just a few weeks left before the start of the new school year, teachers are vowing to strike, principals are threatening to retire, custodians are whining, schoolbus drivers need to be hired and routes ironed out.
Oh, and there’s a nursing shortage, too.
On top of all this, Gov. Cuomo is yet again looking to stir trouble and make the job harder. Isn’t life in the city — with COVID, a crime wave, a homeless crisis, protests — tough enough already?
Start with the teachers’ union, and groups like the Solidarity Caucus and MORE Caucus. They’ve blasted the city’s reopening plan and even called on Carranza to step down. The teachers want at least 14 days with no new cases before schools reopen.
On Monday, they — along with parents and students — staged a theatrical street protest, complete with faux coffins and a guillotine, at union headquarters on Lower Broadway.
The deaths of kids and teachers would be on de Blasio and Carranza’s heads if schools are reopened prematurely, they screamed — as they did little social-distancing themselves amid their shouting.
They also cited a lack of enough nurses and the inability of school custodians to properly disinfect classrooms.
Meanwhile, industry insiders in the city complain that bus companies, which haven’t been paid since March, have laid-off drivers, matrons and mechanics. Logistically, they say the city is behind the eightball in getting school buses repaired and inspected, personnel hired, vetted and trained and routes finalized.
Principals, as The Post’s Susan Edelman reported Sunday, also say they’ll head out the schoolhouse door in droves — perhaps as many as 17 percent of them — if classrooms reopen in September.
Amid all this, a Cuomo aide pooh-poohed de Blasio’s plan as a mere “outline” because it contained only 30 pages.
And the gov himself warned that he’ll have final say over whether schools in the city open. De Blasio says he’s now “past the point of irritation” with the gov’s endless zingers.
None of which bodes well for kids: Given everything that’s hit New Yorkers over the past half-year, the key players should be working together, seeking solutions, agreeing to concessions, where necessary — if they truly want to ensure a meaningful educational year.
Remember, it’s the who are supposed to come first. Instead, it’s squabbling, demanding, threatening — and precious little getting done.