Parents in New York City will be receiving much-needed support as Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) announced the city will be providing child care for approximately 100,000 students as a part of its initiative to partially reopen schools in the fall amid the coronavirus outbreak.
De Blasio explained the approach the city will be taking to sending children back to school.
Students will be allowed to learn on-site in a classroom two to three days a week and the remainder will be spent learning remotely.
De Blasio acknowledged parents need additional child care in order to make the blended learning model work.
He said the city has been doing everything it can to create new ways to provide child care.
“We’ve been trying to find every way to create new child care and to build it from scratch, honestly, because we’re having to create something that didn’t exist before on this scale to accommodate a new need and a new reality,” de Blasio said.
Check out his comments below:
According to de Blasio, with a blended format, the city can provide 100,000 families with child care.
De Blasio noted the city will use community centers, libraries, cultural organizations, and other community spaces to maximize available child care.
According to de Blasio, this is just the beginning.
“The goal will be to start by serving 100,000 kids and giving those families and those parents that balance in their life, that relief, that support, but then we aim to go further,” de Blasio said.
President Donald Trump has vowed to push governors and other officials to reopen schools, as IJR previously reported.
He later threatened to “cut off funding” if schools choose to remain closed.
Trump has received harsh criticism for his push to reopen schools.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) argued the Trump administration is “messing with the health of our children,” as IJR previously reported.