Furloughs Will Hit Superintendents As NYC Schools Reopen

NEW YORK CITY — The city's school reopening stumbled and eventually plowed forward amid staffing woes. Now, it'll unfold despite the temporary absences or unpaid stints of school leaders.

Chancellor Richard Carranza this week told superintendents and other non-union school managers that they will be among 9,000 city employees furloughed in coming months, according to the New York Post.

The five-day furloughs running from October to March were announced by Mayor Bill de Blasio as a way to forestall layoffs amid a looming budget crunch. He said Thursday the furloughs won't affect most school employees, for now.

"This is all management level, and folks who are not represented by a union," de Blasio said. "The fact is that we just have to find savings everywhere we can and the furlough is one week of pay that will be spread out over time to lessen the blow, but again the goal here is to find savings — the bigger savings we need, we have to work through with the unions, because that’s where the vast majority of the workers are."

In-person instruction reopened this week for 3-K, pre-K and special education students after months of coronavirus-related closure. It will roll out next week for the bulk of students returning to class.

Juggling in-person instruction with remote learning has been a major staffing challenge for schools, and it already caused one delay in schools' reopening.

The superintendent and managerial furloughs added another burden to the rocky reopening.