(Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash)
July 16, 2020 By Allie Griffin
New York City will offer free childcare services to the parents of more than 100,000 kids when school reopens in September, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced today.
The city will provide daycare for the children on days that they attend class remotely — which will be two to three days a week for most students under the city’s school reopening plan revealed earlier this month.
The childcare services will help working parents who cannot stay at home to supervise their child’s online studies on remote-learning days. Students will attend class in person on the other days of the week.
“So many parents have said that they can’t make it work if they don’t get more childcare,” de Blasio said at a press conference this morning.
He said the city will be able to provide childcare services for approximately 100,000 students on their remote learning days. However, that is only a small fraction of the 1.1 million students in New York City public schools.
The mayor said the 100,000 seats is only a starting point. The city hopes to offer more childcare seats as the academic year approaches.
“The goal will be to start by serving 100,000 kids and giving those families that balance in their life, that relief, that support — but then we aim to go farther,” de Blasio said.
“We’re going to use every conceivable space — community centers, libraries, cultural organizations — whatever we can find in communities.”
The program’s capacity will increase on a rolling basis.
The childcare services will be available to Pre-K through eighth graders in each borough.
The city is still working out the details of the program — such as how students will be selected for the limited seats.
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