Blas’ Tale of Two Schools
LAST week, Justice Wayne Ozzi of the state Supreme Court delivered a clear message to the New York City Department of Education: When it comes to health and safety, and not least COVID-19 testing services from the city, New York state law insists that children in public and nonpublic schools be treated equally — period.
It’s peculiar that the Catholic schools of the Archdiocese of New York would need to go to court to vindicate this basic legal principle, especially in the middle of a public-health emergency. It’s more peculiar still that the city decided to appeal almost as soon as Justice Ozzi dismissed all of the DOE’s arguments and ruled in favor of nonpublic schools.
That means that despite our clear legal victory, the DOE got to temporarily suspend Ozzi’s order to “immediately provide . . . all New York City nonpublic schools with COVID-19 testing resources and services in the same manner and to the same extent as [city authorities] have been providing those health and welfare services to public schools.”
Do Mayor de Blasio and his schools chancellor, Richard Carranza, really believe that children in nonpublic schools deserve inferior measures to protect their health? Apparently.
Sadly, this isn’t the first time the city has gone out of its way to treat nonpublic school kids as second class. The federal CARES Act granted emergency relief to help all schools with COVID-related costs, including personal protective equipment, cleaning supplies, remote-learning technology and even salaries. Yet the city went to court to prohibit our religious and independent schools from receiving their proportionate share. As a result, our schools will see very little of that emergency relief, the bulk of which will go to government schools.
Catholic educators in the archdiocese worked diligently from March through August to develop a comprehensive plan to reopen our schools for in-person learning. Our brave, committed administrators and teachers are giving these students just what they need during this pandemic: the continuation of in-person instruction in a safe environment.
I wouldn’t want to believe that some in city government would see our success as a threat and are thus doing whatever they can to thwart us. But it’s hard to avoid that impression after what the DOE has put us through.
Catholic schools have rigorously obeyed the health and safety guidelines put forth by city and state. We would never do anything to jeopardize the health of our kids.
Back in March, when the seriousness of the coronavirus became apparent, we closed our schools even before the city decided to close public schools. If there were any indication that our kids would be put in harm’s way, we wouldn’t need to wait for someone to order us to shutter; we’d do so of our own accord — immediately.
But our schools are committed to staying open. The positivity rate in our schools falls well below the 3 percent threshold: It’s actually a minuscule 0.0046 percent. We’ve demonstrated that we can operate safely, and we will continue to do so.
The mayor has been on the news lately, saying (rightly) that the key to reopening schools is testing and more testing. That’s great to hear. Why, then, are he and Carranza so dead-set against following state law, now backed by a court order, requiring public and nonpublic kids to receive the same testing resources?
Our court case and Judge Ozzi’s order dealt with schools in “yellow” zones. Now that the virus is spreading, and more parts of the city are entering orange and potentially red zones, will we see additional draconian steps taken by the DOE that will put more of our kids at risk?
Hizzoner famously ran for office decrying the “two New Yorks.” He pledged to treat all New Yorkers equally. Well, he is the mayor of all schoolchildren in Gotham, as well, and he should tell Carranza to stop treating public and nonpublic school children differently.
COVID-19 doesn’t discriminate among children in our community based on the schools they attend. The DOE shouldn’t discriminate, either.