Blas Stands Up for Kids
Mayor de Blasio is doing the right thing and standing up for kids, despite complaints from the teachers and principals unions trying to stop school reopenings. Kudos, Mr. Mayor. On Wednesday, principals-union boss Mark Cannizzaro conveyed “dire warnings” to the mayor about the city’s plan to open schools Sept. 10. A group of Brooklyn principals similarly said they were “gravely concerned” about the plan and that it’s becoming “clear” that “schools cannot open.”
United Federation of Teachers head Michael Mulgrew, who’s already threatened a strike and/ or lawsuit, had to chime in, too. “Will any parents be willing to put their children in a school whose principal believes the building is not ready to open because it is not safe?” he snarked.
Please. No one wants to put kids in unsafe schools — and no one intends to.
For starters, many parents have opted to have their kids stick with remote learning and to keep them out of schools entirely. Those who do go will attend only part-time, with online instruction the rest of the time. So school buildings will have far fewer students, allowing significant social-distancing.
And remember, groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics say the benefits of inperson school outweigh the risks from the virus. Keeping kids home hurts their mental health and development.
Meanwhile, school staff can get medical exemptions if they have serious issues.
We don’t doubt that the unions have some legitimate gripes and that they lack sufficient “information and guidance” at this point. It should surprise no one that the usually inept Department of Education still has some big issues to resolve.
Yet to his credit, de Blasio put the complaints in perspective. “Unions will always sound various alarms, and unions will say things sometimes in a very dramatic fashion,” said the mayor. But “the mission is to take care of our kids.” Hear, hear.
Meanwhile, he says the DOE is “systematically addressing” the unions’ concerns.
Standing up to unions, of course, is highly unusual for de Blasio. It seems this time, he understands what’s on the line for kids — not to mention parents who need their children in school while they work.
“As a parent . . . I would say my kids are not going to get educated if they are all remote. It just won’t be as good,” he said.
And given all the precautions, he added, “I would send my [own] kid to school.”
Notably, de Blasio is one of the few bigcity mayors to allow any kind of in-person classes this fall. So his refusal to throw in the towel is doubly commendable.
Again, the onus is on the DOE — with, one hopes, the cooperation of the unions — to find a way to make in-person classes work.
But the mayor insists: “We’re gonna make it work.” Finally, kids may catch a break.