NYC Schools Will Have Whatever They Need In Reopening, Mayor Says

NEW YORK CITY — A growing wave of concerns about New York City schools reopening during the coronavirus pandemic prompted Mayor Bill de Blasio to offer reassurances on safety supplies and procedures.

Schools will have hand sanitizer, personal protective equipment, regular cleanings and principals can soon call a special hotline for supply needs, he promised Monday.

"Whatever our educators need, whatever our staff needs, whatever our kids need — we're going to make sure it's there," he said.

De Blasio offered the promises after prominent unions called to delay reopening schools on Sept. 10.

He pushed back on the concerns last week, saying doing so would be the "easy way out" that "tough" New Yorkers don't take.

On Monday, de Blasio struck a less defiant, more reassuring tone during a daily news conference. He presented a video that detailed the supplies going to schools citywide:

• 4 million face masks
• 3.5 million bottles of hand sanitizer
• 800,000 canisters of disinfectant wipes

It also outlined cleaning steps that more than 7,000 custodians will undertake daily, if not more often.

Principals soon will also have a hotline to call if they fall short on any supplies or gear, de Blasio said.

But for all the reassurance de Blasio sought to offer, he still called reopening plans a "work in progress" with many details to be hashed out in the less than a month before school begins.

"And then some of this will be determined in the actual doing of it, like so much of the rest of life," he said.