On March 15, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that all New York City public schools would be closed until at least Monday, April 20, in an effort to slow the spread of the new coronavirus.

In response, UFT President Michael Mulgrew issued the following statement:

The administration has made the right decision — closing the schools is a critical step to reduce the spread of the virus and to help preserve the health of our students, their families and our staff.

In the coming days we will be working with the administration to ensure we have programs in place to provide our children with the instructional and other supports they need while our schools are shuttered.

Public school parents and teachers, along with local and state elected officials — and in particular the leadership of Governor Cuomo during this health care crisis — helped bring this decision about, and I want to thank all of them for their efforts. We all understand that working together is the way out of this crisis.