Sadly, it’s going to be well after the start of the school year before the residents of New York City will be able to boot Bill de Blasio out of City Hall, presumably to be replaced by Eric Andrews. And this week, Hizzoner proved yet again that he can still cause even more problems before he’s finally term-limited out of office. His latest pronouncement from on high is that he doesn’t need to listen to the CDC or even his own State Department of Health. Kids returning to school for in-person learning in September will all have to wear face masks until further notice. Unless, that is, he changes his mind yet again before then.

All New York City public school students must continue to wear masks in the classroom, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday — despite the CDC’s latest guidance that vaccinated kids and teachers can go mask-free.

“For now we’re sticking with the idea that wearing the masks is a smart thing to do in schools,” de Blasio said during his morning press briefing. “We’ll keep assessing as we go along, but for now it still makes sense.”

“We’ve been constantly working with the CDC but we also in this case have been very careful given everything the city’s been through,” the mayor added.

The twisting of what federal officials have said and, frankly, outright lies are really rather offensive here. The Mayor goes on to claim that he’s “working with the CDC.” And his own city Health Commissioner said that these new mandates “mirror” what the CDC has said. But the latest directive from the CDC actually instructs schools to adopt a “layered” approach using contact tracing and testing in lieu of masks and distancing.

In case nobody told the Mayor yet, “in lieu of” actually means “instead of,” not “in addition to.” Hey, I’m just trying to help, folks.

Further, the New York State Department of Health also issued new guidelines to keep in step with the CDC, also saying masks and distancing aren’t required in schools. That’s what “mirroring” actually means.

De Blasio’s claims to be “following the science” and using the “gold standard” for school safety are nonsense. He’s simply winging it, the same way that California tried to do for four hours yesterday before backing down. The difference there is that Gavin Newsom is actually worried about keeping his job. Bill de Blasio will be done after this year with no option to run again, so he doesn’t have to worry about how much he ticks off the parents of New York City or traumatizes the children.

Hizzoner did leave himself a back door to get out of this mess, saying that he will be continuing to “monitor” the situation and these instructions could change by the beginning of the school year. That might be a good idea unless he wants a revolt on his hands. All he really needs to do is say that any parents who want their children to wear a mask to school (or any children who make the decision on their own) are free to do so. Seriously… that’s literally all it would take. Much like getting vaccinated to begin with, that’s a decision for the families to make, provided they keep themselves informed and are ready to deal with any potential consequences either way.