De Blasio On School Concerns: 'New Yorkers Don't Need Perfection'

NEW YORK CITY — Mayor Bill de Blasio struck a defiant tone over growing calls for New York City to delay reopening schools.

Shutting down the reopening would be the "easy way out," de Blasio argued Thursday. He said he'll listen to and address concerns one-by-one as schools ramp up to a Sept. 10 return.

"But if people say, look, it's not perfect therefore we don't want to participate, that's not New York," he said. "New Yorkers do not need perfection. New Yorkers are pragmatic, New Yorkers are tough."

De Blasio made those remarks after prominent unions representing principals and teachers called to delay schools' return to in-person instruction.

City officials have left too many safety and logistical questions open to reopen the nation's largest school system in the middle of a pandemic, the unions argued.

"The slow rollout of guidance has forced us to once again address an unfortunate truth: schools will not be ready to open for in-person instruction on September 10th," stated a letter from a principal's union. "A more realistic, phased-in approach would instead welcome students for in-person learning toward the end of September, following a fully remote start to the year."

De Blasio began a news conference by addressing one long-standing concern for schools. He announced every public school building will have a certified nurse.

The city's Health+Hospital health care system will hire hundreds of extra nurses to fill an anticipated — and much-worried about — shortfall in schools, he said.

"To all the folks who have been raising that concern, I hear you loud and clear," he said.

School officials will continue to address concerns and troubleshoot problems during the month before schools go back, and likely even afterward, de Blasio said.

We're in the middle of a pandemic, it's not business as usual, he said.

"Things are not going to be perfect, but we can get them right," he said. "So, for people who have fear, I understand fear. We've been through a lot. I understand the trauma that a lot of people have been through.

"But the fact that there's a lot of outstanding questions doesn't scare me. We're going to deal with the questions."