Cuomo Criticizes 'Indecipherable' School Reopening Plans
NEW YORK CITY — Don't expect a plan alone to be enough reassurance for parents to feel comfortable sending their children back to New York's schools, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said.
Cuomo on Monday broadly critiqued school districts statewide for failing to engage parents in back-to-school talks. He made his comments in New York City and — though he declined specifically to call out the city — many interpreted them as a swipe against Mayor Bill de Blasio.
De Blasio and city school officials last week outlined a plan for schools' potential return in September amid the coronavirus pandemic. Cuomo said he hadn't yet read the city's plan.
But he said many plans being bandied around are "indecipherable" or not specific enough on coronavirus precautions, and he repeatedly asked for school districts to reach out to parents.
"I don't care what any bureaucrat says, I trust the parents more than anyone," he said. "I don't care if the school district says reopen, if they don't have a good plan for reopening no kids are going to come and no teachers are going to come. So then you have no reopening, so you're talking to yourself."
Cuomo said he expects to make a decision this week on whether to reopen schools statewide.
New York City's school reopening plan sets a 3 percent positive coronavirus rate as the threshold for keeping schools open or closed citywide. It also details closing individual schools and shifting to remote learning if two students or staff in different classrooms test positive.
Despite saying he hadn't read the city's proposal, Cuomo and state education officials over the weekend labeled it more of an outline than a plan.
De Blasio on Monday brushed off the criticism, calling himself "past the point of irritation."
"We provide a very clear roadmap to the state and we're going to keep providing a lot of additional information," he said. "Remember we have 1,800 separate schools. So, we will be providing plans for each. And look, I know that step by step, we're going to continue to improve this plan."
Plans should have details on testing strategies and other situations a parent might have a question about, Cuomo said.
"But if you don't have the details for each school then you don't have a plan, because how can a parent make a decision?" he said. "And it's not just New York City, you know, it's any school district."
This article originally appeared on the New York City Patch
