The most obvious is that the upper middle class white community has leaned on him to keep schools open. I am, frankly, shocked at some of the people who have clamored for building openings. A few months ago, they were indignant about it. Positivity is below 1%, they bellowed. Those of us who opposed opening buildings were ridiculous. We were hysterical.
What are the open building advocates saying now? Who knows? Have they got a shiny new rationale? Are they just hoping none of us recall what they were saying back in September? It doesn't much matter, because the mayor is still persuaded. Why is that?
My pet theory is that he thinks, by keeping schools open, he makes himself a hero. No other city has done what NYC has done. Mayor de Blasio believes, perhaps, that this will resuscitate his tarnished reputation. Maybe people will forget that last year he walked off his job for months in a self-indulgent run for President, an effort in which he garnered no more votes than my dog.
Maybe teachers, by being forced to teach masked children six feet apart, will fail to notice it's something straight out of Black Mirror. Maybe we'll forget that just weeks ago de Blasio tried to steal a billion dollars from us. Maybe we won't even recall that he left the Bloomberg machine to fester within Tweed, and that the chronic ineptitude in testing for ventilation and COVID is thus his fault .
Someone messaged me that perhaps he was waiting for Cuomo to close schools. That way no one can blame de Blasio, and he can say, "Hey, it wasn't my decision." Then those uptight white parents can find something different to complain about. Will they end up supporting de Blasio in his next quixotic campaign for whatever? I'd refer you to this modern riddle:
What's the difference between Elvis and Bill de Blasio?
Elvis is alive.
Does the mayor even know the positivity rate has crossed 9%? Actually, the tweet below says it's crystal clear he does:
Here’s a look at our #COVID19 indicators for Saturday.
— Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) January 2, 2021
• 201 new hospitalizations
• 3,648 new cases
• 9.39% positivity rate (7-day avg.)
Start 2021 off right. Practice social distancing, avoid large gatherings, wear a mask and get tested.https://t.co/hnU8YAS15r
Avoid large gatherings, but hop on those trains and buses to come to school. And it's the mayor himself announcing we've crossed that particular 9% Rubicon, with not a hint of irony. Given we're just past the holiday season, replete with entirely predictable surprises, it doesn't look like figures are going the other way either. We know that the mayor is late for everything. He shows up late to talks, to meetings, to pressers. I'm glad he's not in one of my classes. He waited weeks, back in March, to close schools. People died, and no one is going to forget that, ever.
What will bring Mayor Bill de Blasio to actually close schools? As previously mentioned, he could be ordered by the governor. Maybe Joe Biden will take hold of this on a national level, but I'm not holding my breath. This thing has been so politicized that we still have Trump supporters who still think it's a hoax.
The other thing that will move the mayor is a catastrophe. While de Blasio sits around in his office marking off black eyes and feathers in his cap, he needs to wake up and realize that the first casualty in this idiotic adventure will be blood on his hands. The press and public at large will pounce, and the open building advocates will head for the hills with their crappy arguments.
This will be the worst of all possible black eyes for the mayor. While I no longer respect de Blasio, and while the chancellor has proven to be nothing more than one of his handy pocket tools, I'd urge them both to reverse this march into the Big Muddy.
It's idiotic and destructive. If either of these men wishes to leave office with any integrity or reputation intact, it's time for them to close the buildings, at the very least until this trend is reversed.
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