Posted on 03/15/2020 4:37:13 PM PDT by Hojczyk
New York City officials on Sunday said its public school system will close for over a month in an effort to halt the spread of the coronavirus, a decision affecting over 1.1 million children.
The decision came amid a growing number of school closures in communities and entire states across the U.S. as well as mounting pressure from New York residents, City Council members and others.
The mayor called it a "very troubling moment, a moment when I'm just distraught at having to take this action, but I became convinced over the course of today that there is no other choice."
He also announced that the number of deaths in the city rose to five and he was ordering the end of elective surgeries.
New York City has the largest public school system in the nation, with nearly 1,900 public schools. Many private schools already have closed.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office had announced the city school closure moments before de Blasio, but initially said it would start as early as Tuesday.
De Blasio initially was reluctant to close the school system because of the consequences for students and their families. Just this past Saturday, the mayor, a Democrat, said it was critical to keep schools open.
He said he worried that health care workers and first responders would have to stay home to care for children, and that hundreds of thousands of poor students could go hungry without their free or reduced-price school meals.
Multiple states already have announced they were closing schools, as have major cities including Los Angeles, Houston, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Until APRIL 20th!!!!!
NYC teachers planning ‘mass sickout’ over de Blasio’s refusal to close schools
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is refusing to close public schools over coronavirus despite union pressure.
I guess this did him In...
WillieHelm blinked
“...hundreds of thousands of poor students could go hungry without their free or reduced-price school meals.”
how are they going to get free lunch and breakfast?
My birthday! And a cashier’s I met at Home Depot yesterday!
...and Hitler’s.
Great. /sarc So all the “Teens”, and “Youths” will be out of school wreaking havoc.
Many of them still need to be fed and provided medicines.
Just send all the kids to re-education camps. Problem solved.
Shades of 1939
I don’t like the man, but his concerns were warranted.
Loosing feral kids into the streets.
His concerns about the “free” breakfast and lunch were downright disturbing.
How long were teachers expected to risk their own health with this virus? Having your employer openly admit that he wanted you to expose yourself to serve as a “free” daycare and restaurant is ridiculous.
Kind of ironic - we know that the Deep State and others use fear as a way to steer and control the people - we had the commie/nuke war threat until the Berlin Wall came down then it wasn’t viable anymore and up pops Globull Warming, which has many in fear that we’re gonna destroy the Earth even as we do less harm than past generations and none of the data actually supports anything but the earth’s climate and Mother Nature do not now, and never did have a “balance” and even if they did, we have no idea of how to maintain one or ‘fix’ things...all our efforts end up causing more harm....the coronavirus scare is no different - the panic-induced knee-jerking will cause more harm than the virus.
Folks who would be up in arms if the government decided to tell them they could not move freely are now begging that same government to lock them, and everyone else, down....I’d wager if, after doing that, the story ‘evolved” they would also go meekly to barb-wire surrounded camps/tent cities because the “latest info” said that’s the only way to stop it.
Even though we know that they use fear to guide and control us, so many can’t see it through the red haze of insane panic....they not only welcome the government controls, they beg for them...
And the fear mongers will try to leverage it...
Reminds me of a saying, by Ben Franklin, that many FReepers, who are now acting insane, used to showcase:
“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”
I was thinking more of the parents, especially those,who worked in the “front lines” against the virus,being faced with arranging child care or staying home and losing income. And it is a real concern that a great number of NYC school children do depend on the school to feed them.
“how are they going to get free lunch and breakfast?”
Don’t know about NY, but my bro said that in Indianapolis the schools are closed — for learning. But free food continues. If people can congregate for free food, why can’t they learn while they’re there? Is Wuhan sentient? Does Wuhan say to itself, “I can’t hit these kids when they’re eating corn dogs, but just wait until they crack open a book”? Idiocy. People have lost their minds in this country.
How are we at a point where free sh!t has taken precedence over the safety of the working taxpayers who provide the school lunches?
Crazy...
I don’t begrudge the children a free(to them)meal. But it can certainly be supplied without keeping schools open.
My issue is that there are no expectations whatsoever of the parents - and we already provided the “free” meals in their foodstamps/WIC/etc.
NYC does it throughout the summer - for anyone.
That is why we have the heaviest “poor” people in the world - bipedal livestock.
Please do not refer to another human being as bipedal livestock.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.