De Blasio unveils plan to reopen N.Y. schools in fall

NEW YORK — New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a hybrid backto-school plan Wednesday with most students inside their physical schools just two or three days a week, but Gov. Andrew Cuomo said it’s up to him to decide whether schools can open at all.

De Blasio said his plan calls for most students learning online at least half the time because schools can’t accommodate all their students and maintain safe social distancing.

“When you think about social distancing, you need more space,” de Blasio said. “You’re going to have fewer kids in a classroom, fewer kids in the school building.”

De Blasio said parents will have the option of online-only instruction for their children, but he said 75 percent of parents who answered a survey want their children in school in September.

Cuomo, however, a Democrat like de Blasio who has clashed with the mayor repeatedly over control of the city’s schools and other issues, said all school districts statewide must submit plans for reopening by July 31 and state officials will decide in the first week of August whether to accept the plans — and whether schools will reopen in the fall at all.

“They can submit a plan, the plan will be reviewed and then we will accept or deny the specific plan or ask for alterations on the specific plan and then make a global decision as to whether or not any school district will reopen and that will be the first week of August,” said Cuomo, who held a press conference in New York City shortly after de Blasio’s briefing.

De Blasio said the city would work closely “every step of the way with the state of New York.”

New York City’s school buildings were closed in March when nonessential businesses were shuttered to halt the spread of the coronavirus.