On Thursday, Mayor Bill de Blasio promised to place a nurse in all 1,800 New York City public schools this fall.
De Blasio sees it as another layer of caution to keep the schools safe for children and teachers to return to when classes are scheduled to resume on Sept. 10. The school buildings have not been open since March 16, when de Blasio closed them due to the COVID-19 pandemic and all instruction was shifted to remote learning.
“We’re taking every precaution but there is tremendous value to having a health professional present,” de Blasio said during a morning press conference.
The Department of Education will work with the city’s Health + Hospital system to staff schools.
“They did an amazing job at the height of the crisis bringing in additional healthcare heroes and they are going to do it again and make sure that we have enough nurses for every single school and to show all the folks who have been raising this concern, I hear you loud and clear,” de Blasio added.
The announcement came a day after the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators (CSA) and the United Federation of Teachers requested a delay in reopening New York City public schools. The unions argue that there are too many unanswered questions related to keeping educators safe on the job, and children safe in their classrooms.
This story originally appeared on amny.com.
