Patch: De Blasio Blasted Over Detail-Free School Closure Decision

Matt Troutman

"A proclamation is not a plan," said a union leader after Hizzoner announced schools will end the two-case rule for COVID-19 closures.

NEW YORK CITY — Mayor Bill de Blasio left an important detail out of his announcement that the city will end its "two-case rule" for coronavirus school closures: a replacement plan.

The omission didn't go unnoticed by educators and parents who now have until Friday to decide whether to send their children to in-person classes.

"A proclamation is not a plan," Michael Mulgrew, who heads the United Federation of Teachers union, said in a statement. "The city can't change the two-case rule without Albany's approval."

The two-case rule has been a thorn in many parents' sides during the pandemic. It required entire schools to be shut down after two unlinked cases of coronavirus are detected on the campus.

But critics such as Council Member Brad Lander pointed out the threshold forced students to learn at home even when there were no coronavirus cases in their classroom or evidence of spread within the school.

"Parents are every single day, every minute, asking about this," Lander told Department of Education officials at a recent hearing.

De Blasio's acknowledged parents' complaints during his announcement and said they'll get two more days to opt their children into in-person learning.

As far as a replacement, he only said the city will announce it in the "coming days."

Reporters repeatedly tried to press de Blasio on details, but he stayed mum.

"I think what folks feel — and they're right — is that the two-case rule had outlived its usefulness," he said. "So, it will be gone. There will be a new rule in place soon. What it means is schools will be open more and more consistently. That's what parents want to know."

Justin Krebs, a City Council candidate from Brooklyn and a PTA member at PS 39, said the mayor's decision lacked clarity.

"The city has had months to reexamine its arbitrary and disastrous 2-case rule and yet again parents, teachers, and administrators are awaiting actual details from the Mayor," he said in a statement.

Mulgrew, who backed the rule, said in a statement that students now account for the lion's share of new COVID-19 infections.

"Any change to the two-case rule has to take the safety of children and their families into account, not the Mayor's need for a Monday morning announcement," he said.