Suit seeks reopen of city schools

Councilman Joe Borelli wants city public schools open again pronto.

The Staten Island Republican filed legal papers late Friday asking a Manhattan federal judge to immediately reverse the decision to shutter school buildings amid rising COVID-19 rates.

It’s the second lawsuit against the city from Borelli (above) and public school parents, with the first one filed last month still pending.

Borelli on Saturday lashed out at Mayor de Blasio and Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza for continuing to “fail our children time and time again.”

“Even though they had six months to prepare for this school year, they failed to do so and our children are forced to pay the price,” he said.

De Blasio last week ordered schools to close for in-person learning because the city’s overall coronavirus positivity rate hit 3%.

A spokeswoman for de Blasio derided Borelli for not taking the pandemic seriously and suggested the suit is an exercise in political grandstanding.

“We’ll keep our focus where it should be: fighting back the virus and ensuring our schools can reopen as safely as possible,” said spokeswoman Avery Cohen.

Public health experts say schools do not appear to be a major contributor to the spread of COVID-19 and infection rates in reopened city public schools are a small fraction of those in the community as a whole.

“Why are we closing our schools?” Borelli said. “We are hurting our children, and this incompetence at the top is unacceptable.”

Both de Blasio and Gov. Cuomo stressed the importance of setting firm metrics like the 3% benchmark for closing schools as a way of keeping politics out of the reopening process.

Hizzoner says he is bound by his summer agreement with teachers, parents and staff to abide by the 3% rule.

The governor now says the city should be more flexible because doctors have learned much more about the spread of the pandemic.