During a press briefing early on Saturday morning, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that he had decided to keep schools closed through the year. The New York Post reported on the announcement, saying that the mayor characterized the decision as “‘painful’ but said keeping the schools closed is the way to keep the coronavirus from spreading.”

When asked about this decision hours later during New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s daily briefing on 4/11/2020, the governor answered that no decision on school closures had been made, and that at this time, the final decision resided with the governor. Watch the briefing here on Twitter, and the response is at minute 28.

Reporter Jesse (we didn’t catch a last name) asked: “Are you saying it’s your legal authority to close New York City schools, not Bill de Blasio’s?”

Gov. Cuomo answered: “It is my legal authority in this situation, yes. That's why when we closed them, we closed them statewide. We closed at the same time the island, then the suburbs, and we coordinated all upstate.”

Important to Gov. Cuomo is connecting businesses opening with school opening. During today’s briefing, Gov. Cuomo said: “I think you have to coordinate the business with the schools. Schools do education. Schools also do daycare, effectively, for a large percentage of the New York City population. How can you say to people: I think you can go back to work in May, but schools are going to continue to be closed, so figure out what to do with your children during the day, but you're going to have to go to work.”

With regard to officials in New York City and the White House saying they want businesses to open in May, Gov. Cuomo’s response was in part: “I accept it. I hear it. I'm not prepared to act on it. I have talked to all the County Executives. Some people believe the businesses will open in May. [Cuomo added that it was the mayor of NYC who thinks this.] Some people think we open in two weeks. Some people until June. I hear it all. We'll discuss it; we'll coordinate it.”

The governor has given no indication that businesses will open in May, and in fact, chastised Broadway’s announcement that it would open in June. During a press briefing this week, Gov. Cuomo responded to a question from a reporter about Broadway: “I wouldn’t use what Broadway thinks as a barometer of anything.”

Whose Authority Is It, Anyway?

Reporters were quick to focus on the whose-authority-is-it angle, with several followup questions and subsequent articles, but the fact remains, New York schools are closed until Wednesday, April 29, at least.

Gov. Cuomo presented his regional school closure strategy: “At the end of the day, the decision must be at minimum for the metropolitan area, hopefully statewide, ideally regional, with Connecticut and New Jersey. That's my goal. Coordinate school and business.”

Melissa DeRosa, the secretary to Gov. Cuomo, explained to Reporter Jesse how statewide school closures work in the executive order: “When we did the executive order with the 180-day waiver,” she explained, “school districts need a waiver if they are going to have less than 180 days of school. We said we are setting them all at the same time. Everyone is on the same schedule. NY PAUSE is extended through April 29. Everyone is on the exact same schedule, and when we extend that, that’s when we extend the 180-day waiver.”

Other States Have Closed Schools For The Year

New York would not be the first to close schools for the year, if this were to happen. California announced a school closure for the year on April 1. Kansas, in fact, was the first state to announce in-person school closures for the year back near March 18. Washington state announced school closures for the year on April 6. So far, Ohio has not announced a school closure for the year, and has extended it to May so far.

The governor went on to explain his rationale, that he is connecting school closure or opening with when businesses open, about which no decision has been made, now that we are in the apex that has plateaued, depending upon human behavior of maintaining social distancing.

If you want to make a prediction, like if a predicted snowfall is going to result in a snow day, you could follow A Little Beacon Blog’s snow day methodology, which includes keeping an eye on Ohio for weather patterns. Will COVID school closures follow?