NEW YORK — New York City likely will not hire the 8,000 teachers which city union leaders argue are needed to make blended learning work, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday. 

"We've had a rigorous process to get that right," de Blasio said of the 2,000 additional teachers the Department of Education had hired as of Monday. 

"I've never met a manager that didn't want a bigger budget and more personnel."

About 58 percent of students are slated to begin blended learning, which will bring them into classrooms about three days a week, on September 21, according to the DOE.  

The combination of in-school and remote learning has necessitated the city to quickly expand its staff of teachers, but it has not said how many extra teachers principals have requested.

The principals union leader estimates it's closer to 10,000, a number de Blasio disputed. 

"We are the people providing the services to our parents and kids," de Blasio said. "If there are still some gaps, we'll take another step."

This debate over staffing comes as the city faces the potential need to layoff of 22,000 of its 380,000 city workers. 

Those layoffs are still pending as labor union reps lobby Albany to allow long term borrowing and to find savings on the city-level, de Blasio said. 

"I'm very worried about the challenges we're facing right now," de Blasio said. "We're running out of options." 

The Health Department urged all New Yorkers to get flu shots for themselves and children more than six months old and to donate blood and plasma.

"This is important for our most vulnerable New Yorkers," said Commissioner Dave Chokshi. "We can't just leave it up to chance."

As the press conference concluded, a reporter asked de Blasio to address confusion over the school reopening process, from questionable ventilation inspections, the delayed start date and a sudden reversal on outdoor learning. 

"I honestly don't believe there is a lot of confusion," de Blasio said. "I think it's pretty straight forward at this point."