NEW YORK (AP) — The state governor and the New York City mayor are at odds over whether public school sites in the 1.1 million-student district will be shuttered for the rest of the academic year to curb the coronavirus.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said Saturday they would close, but Gov. Andrew Cuomo swiftly responded that the decision was his to make. The governor says school closings would have to be coordinated with districts surrounding the city.
"That's his opinion, but he didn't close them and he can't open them," Cuomo said during a Saturday afternoon press conference. "It happened on a metropolitan wide basis. And we're going to either -- we'll act on a metropolitan basis, coordinated with Nassau, Suffolk, West Chester.
"And ideally, I'd like to coordinate with New Jersey and Connecticut if we can. The New Jersey and Connecticut coordination is not a legal matter. It's a mutual basis of interest."
The dispute was the latest in a long-running grudge match between the two Democrats. School buildings in the nation's largest school district have been closed since March 16.
