COVID-19 UPDATE, MARCH 15: School Closures/Survey

Important! NYSNA Member Child Care Survey

We have just received notification from the Mayor’s Office that the NY City Public Schools will be closed to students effective Monday, March 16, 2020. The NYC school closings are in addition to recently-announced public school closings around the state.

NYSNA has raised concerns about the impact of the closure on nurses and other essential front-line healthcare workers and the need to provide child care services necessary to allow personnel to continue to work to protect the public health throughout New York State.

In NYC, the Mayor’s Office is in the process of preparing alternative child care services targeted to nurses and other essential health personnel and expects to have these services up and running next week. We are in direct communication with the Mayor’s office and working together to assess the need for alternative services for nurses and other essential personnel.

This will need to be done in every municipality around New York State. Arrangements will need to be made for distance learning where feasible, as well as for distribution of school meals and other ongoing services.

In order to assist local municipalities in the design and implementation of child care services, we are asking members to fill out the enclosed survey to give us a full understanding of the numbers involved and needs of our members and their families. Please complete the survey and return to us as soon as possible.

Thanks to you all for your vital work in this unprecedented situation.

In solidarity,
Pat Kane, RN
NYSNA Executive Director