Mayor Bill de Blasio emphasized that he does not plan to shutter the public school system before winter recess - despite an increase in COVID-19 cases throughout the city and within classrooms. However, with the highly infectious omicron variant taking root, many educators and parents are raising alarms about spiking cases within schools and staffing shortages that are making it difficult to operate.

Asked on the Brian Lehrer Show Friday whether it makes sense to close schools, de Blasio said, “​​No, no, no,” adding “this is not March of 2020.”

On the previous day, the education department took the unusual step of calling on principals to quell rumors of imminent closure.

De Blasio has touted the school system’s official average positivity rate, which remains low, at 1.18%, but that number is based on a tiny sample of school communities who have consented to being tested.

Educators said cases in many schools are surging. “We’re experiencing a massive outbreak,” said Madeline Borrelli, teacher at 1S 228 in Brooklyn. She said on Friday that there were hundreds of close contacts, with many students in quarantine, as well as dozens of staff members absent. She added that two staff members got notice of positive results while they were teaching and had to leave the building.

Borrelli said the Situation Room –which is in charge of responding to cases in schools – appears to be so overwhelmed that it hasn’t been able to confirm all of the positive cases.

Multiple principals across the city have reported getting busy signals when they call the Situation Room, and said it often takes days for officials to respond with guidance.

A spokesperson for the education department said the city would be increasing the number of staffers at the Situation Room from 275 to 500 to meet the increased demand. In addition, the education department said administrators do not need to wait for the Situation Room before they inform close contacts to quarantine.

But the principals union said that guidance contradicts previous protocol and places too much responsibility on administrators. “This is an abdication of the DOE’s and the Situation Room’s responsibility to provide schools with timely and clear guidance regarding positive cases, and once again their strategy is to simply ‘let principals figure it out,’” the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators wrote in an update.

READ MORE: As Omicron Surges, NYC To Issue 1 Million Masks And 500k At-Home Tests

Meanwhile, principals said they are also scrambling to staff classrooms as more and more teachers get sick or have to stay home with their own quarantined kids. They said even if the number of positive cases doesn’t trigger a schoolwide closure, a staffing shortage might.

In a statement, an education department spokesperson said there is no “systemic” staff shortage.

But multiple administrators said they are struggling to cover classrooms. Arin Rusch, principal at MS 447 in Brooklyn, said her school lost some educators to the vaccine mandate, and now others are staying home because they are sick or their children are in quarantine.

"Our staff absenteeism is really high," Rusch said. She said she and other administrators have been covering classes to fill gaps. But she said she's most concerned about the weeks following the return to school on January 3rd, given the rise in cases and the additional exposure during the holidays.

United Federation of Teachers president Michael Mulgrew said the staffing issue is “growing by the day” adding that “there’s a real possibility” teacher shortages may cause some schools to close temporarily, as has happened in districts across the country.

“We want children in school,” he said. “We’re doing everything in our power to keep schools open.”

In an email to members, besides encouraging them to get boosters, Mulgrew said he was calling on the city to increase in-school and at-home testing for staff and students. (The Centers for Disease Control on Friday also emphasized that testing was key to safe and continuous school operations, including “Test to Stay” which allows asymptomatic unvaccinated students who do not test positive after a close contact with a COVID case to remain in school under specific conditions.)

Most parents, educators and students have said they much prefer to be in school, and psychologists have emphasized how crucial in–person learning is for students’ mental health. But Borrelli at IS 228 said the spread of the delta and omicron variants during the holiday season is creating new challenges.

“I think that anyone who taught remote last year would say that being face-to-face with the kids is best,” she said. “But it can’t come at the expense of our health and safety, the kids’ health and safety, and their families."

With reporting from Sophia Chang