Today I announced we will close @NYCSchools for the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year.

This is a public health decision — and not an easy one. But it's the right one. The social distancing strategies have been working, and we cannot risk a resurgence of the virus.

Our health experts believe this is the safest, best approach. I spoke to Dr. Anthony Fauci from the NIAID last night, and he agreed keeping schools closed was important to protecting New Yorkers.

COVID-19 has been challenging for every New Yorker, but it's been especially difficult on our kids. They're resilient, but this is traumatic. Too many of them have lost someone they love. Each of them has lost normalcy. Everything we do next for our schools will be for them.

Closing school buildings doesn't mean we won't be there for our communities. Here's what we're going to do to make sure we support our families in the months to come:

1 - We will complete deliveries of internet enabled digital devices for every student who needs them for remote learning. This will be complete before the end of April.

If you’re a parent or student and have requested or still need a device, call 311 or sign up at http://schools.nyc.gov  right away.

2 – Remote learning isn’t easy. Our parents need information and IT support as fast as they can get it — we'll be expanding our parent help line and tech support hours and increasing staffing to meet our families' needs.

3 - Our teachers and parents have met this challenge with creativity and ingenuity. Now we’ll be launching new online activities and programs to help them engage our kids.

4 – We won’t let this crisis come between our seniors and their graduation. They've worked too hard to miss out on this major life milestone. They’ll have one-on-one support in the weeks ahead.

5 - Finally, our students are going to come into 2020-2021 school year with challenges beyond anything we’ve ever seen. We owe it to them to make it our greatest academic year yet. We'll have a LOT of catching up to do. We will be working tirelessly until September to get ready.

This is a heartbreaking decision because our students are such brilliant, hardworking kids. It's a lost opportunity we can't get back.

But the safety of our city and their lives are too important. And I know if anyone can take on the challenge to come, it's our @NYCSchools family.