New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo distanced himself from New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio for shutting down the nation’s largest public school system because of spiking coronavirus infections.
Cuomo on Friday joined Massachusetts Republican Gov. Charlie Baker and some of the region’s Democratic governors in a joint tweet, declaring that “in-person learning is safe when appropriate protections are in place, even in places with high transmission rates.”
A joint message from myself, @NYGovCuomo, @GovernorTomWolf, @JohnCarneyDE, @GovNedLamont, @GovRaimondo, and @MassGovernor on the importance of in-person education: pic.twitter.com/urtNq7YRO9
— Governor Phil Murphy (@GovMurphy) November 19, 2020
The tweet came two days after de Blasio shut down in-person instruction for New York City public schools immediately after Cuomo told reporters during a press conference that schools in the city would not be shut down.
Though public schools in the city are shuttered, Catholic and other private schools in the city are allowed to stay open for in-person instruction.
Cuomo learned of the school closures from a reporter at the press conference after excoriating the press corps for asking whether schools in the city of New York would be open on Thursday and saying that the information Cuomo and de Blasio were providing local parents was “confusing.”
New York Democratic Rep. Carolyn Maloney, who represents parts of the Upper East Side of the boroughs of Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn, told the Washington Examiner Friday, “I think you have to listen to the medical professionals if they say it is dangerous, that’s their job to do. I would follow the medical professionals until we can get it worked out.”
Maloney argued that not all New Yorkers want the public schools opened, saying, “Well, it depends. Some people want them open. Some people want them closed.”
New York Republican Rep. Tom Reed, whose district covers the Southern Tier of New York state, the Finger Lakes, and western New York told the Washington Examiner that most of the schools in his district are open for in-person learning.
“They are doing mostly hybrid type of environment — you know, where they do a couple of days at home, three days in session. This New York City situation is not a good situation. And, and it’s a shame that there wasn’t more coordination. There wasn’t more based on the real data in the school system where the transmission rate, I think was like point two, as opposed to the 3% that they’re using as the standard that caused them to close the school, that was more of a citywide type of standards,” Reed said.
He added, “And so that is why I’m very supportive of these determinations being made at the local level. And it should be based on the data within the schools, not necessarily the surrounding data.”
Known for their long-standing feuds on numerous issues from city transportation to law enforcement, Cuomo and de Blasio believe they each have science on their side. President Trump urged schools to reopen back in late July, and Cuomo blasted the idea, saying it was a “state decision. Period.”
