#School-reopening plans ought to put the kids — not the adults — first

Mayor Bill de Blasio is set to unveil his school-reopening plan Friday. Thanks to his reluctance to cross the United Federation of Teachers, it’s sure to be another bust.

The “blended” model already floated by Chancellor Richard Carranza looks to be a worst-of-both-worlds mix of alternating remote and in-class instruction.

We can’t endorse the alternate plan offered by Public Advocate Jumaane Williams (since it would keep all kids home until October), but at least it moves to full-time in-school classes for kids 10 and under: As he notes, all the science suggests those children are at minimal virus risk and don’t even spread the bug significantly.

But the teachers’ union opposes nearly all in-person classes, preferring continued remote “instruction” — though it so far isn’t willing to agree that teachers actually have to show up even virtually for such classes.

Randi Weingarten, the head of the UFT’s national parent union, is forthright about supporting strikes if districts where infection rates are over 5 percent order teachers back to school, claiming: “If people die while they are educating kids, you eviscerate any credibility that you would have going forward about whether or not a school is safe.”

Yet experts agree that children learn best when physically present in the classroom. The venerable American Academy of Pediatrics says no student should be excluded from school unless infected and that “school policies should be guided by supporting the overall health and well-being of all children.”

Meanwhile, school after school is reporting that Carranza’s rules mean students won’t be in the building more than half the time, sometimes not even a third of it. Even so, the custodians’ union is saying more staff will be needed for the daily sanitizing regime.

None of these adults seems focused on their top duty: ensuring kids get the education they need.