This study examines competing justice claims that stakeholders—including district leaders, families, and educators—evoked during the 2020 COVID-19 New York City school reopening debates. Drawing on frameworks by Fraser (1997, 2000, 2005) and Abu El-Haj (2006) and thematic analysis of 300 news and opinion articles, we examine stakeholders’ overlapping and contested understandings of justice in public education, including claims related to how school resources are distributed; whom district policies recognize; and who is represented in policymaking. In addition to deepening our understanding of the educational politics of the COVID-19 pandemic –an event with field-changing consequences –our analysis offers researchers and policymakers a more robust basis for advancing equity and conceptualizing just educational policy for multiple stakeholders.