Schools are "the single biggest piece" of New York City's larger reopening, @NYCMayor says at start of briefing. Everything must be done w focus on "health & safety," mayor says. Will follow data & science, work closely w state, put "every precaution in place."

"We need to listen to the voices of our parents," mayor says. "So many New Yorkers desperately need to get back to work...to a work place," & want education for their kids to resume.

Says also so appreciative of work teachers & school leaders doing to prepare for reopening.

"Blended learning" will be the approach, with a mix of in-person & remote learning for students.

>> Most students will be in school either 2 or 3 days per week. Other days remote learning.

Another part of the plan is to "hope & pray" that there will be a COVID-19 vaccine, de Blasio says.

Not sure about this one. De Blasio says potential silver lining is there will be fewer students in classrooms, meaning teachers have smaller class sizes & can better interact with students. Statement ignores the other part of the class that is supposed to be learning remotely.

Families not comfortable with sending their children to school can opt for "fully remote" learning & there will be opportunities at different times for those students to be shifted to the blended model.

Immense issue as New York City eyes school reopening under social distancing guidelines & a real gov't failure coming home to roost: the city's *many* overcrowded school & *far too large* class sizes.

Read: https://www.gothamgazette.com/city/8673-struggling-with-school-overcrowding-and-large-class-sizes-city-advances-8-8-billion-plan

Unclear exactly what the need for additional teachers will be given smaller class sizes & the blended learning approach, but @DOEChancellor says DOE is in process of identifying every possible additional person in the DOE who is potentially eligible to be a teacher.

De Blasio: city is doing everything it can to identify options to expand school space - renting space near schools, etc.

As de Blasio continues to discuss school reopening plans, even stressing that the city will be working very closely with the state, can't help but wonder how @NYGovCuomo might decide to assert control over this situation at his 11:30am press conference.

ah, asked about Cuomo potentially asserting such power yet again, de Blasio stresses the importance of being prepared & having reopening plans ready now.

"optimum [class] size is 9 to 12 students," @DOEChancellor says, though stresses there are many wide variables.

yes Cuomo is of course asserting power here but this isn't really incongruous with what de Blasio said, tho the mayor did make September school reopening seem more set than Cuomo is indicating https://twitter.com/reemadamin/status/1280891162132459521

Asked about de Blasio putting plan out, Cuomo says yes city can submit plans to be reviewed & state will give feedback, process of approval will unfold into early August.

Cuomo declines to weigh in on city school plan, says too early to make decisions. Gov says NY in better shape than he thought it would be right now, he'd thought infections would increase some with reopenings. Says many things could still spike the #s, including travel into NY.

Asked about mixed messages from Mayor & Governor, Cuomo downplays, says city is planning but state has ultimate legal authority on reopening. Says he doesn't think de Blasio said anything different.

He then admits there's clearly some confusion.

"It's not intelligent to make a decision today," Cuomo says about school reopenings. Says there's "no conspiracy" or anything else going on, just trying to be safe & smart.

good list of some of the open Qs re city’s burgeoning school reopening plan https://twitter.com/agzimmerman/status/1280895718069276674?s=21 https://twitter.com/agzimmerman/status/1280895718069276674