Kindergarten through 12th grade schools and college campuses in New York state will remain closed for the rest of the academic year, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced on Friday.
On March 15, the governor shuttered schools across the state to further stop the spread of the novel coronavirus. Hours later, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that schools in the nation’s largest school district would close amid rising pressure from parents, students, teachers and unions.
In early April, Mayor Bill de Blasio said that New York City public schools would not reopen until the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year in September. Shortly after his April 11 announcement, Governor Andrew Cuomo said that ” no decision” had been made about schools and that the Mayor’s comment was an “opinion” adding that he wanted to coordinate school reopening with neighboring states New Jersey and Connecticut.
The fate of whether or not summer school will adopt distance learning will be decided by the end of May. Meal programs and child cares services for essential workers will continue.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has put us all in a place where we are required to make difficult but necessary decisions to protect ourselves and our loved ones,” said New York State Department of Education Chancellor Betty Rosa and Interim Commissioner Shannon Tahoe in a joint statement. “Closing schools for the remainder of the school year is the right one to protect New York’s students, teachers and school staff.”
