A petition launched by education unions is calling on the council to keep Nottingham schools closed, and to advise academies to do the same.
In less than 24 hours, the petition from the teachers' union, NASUWT and the National Education Union (NEU) gathered more than 1,000 signatures.
It comes after unions hit back at plans announced by the Government to reopen schools to more children from June 1.
Concerns have been raised about the safety of pupils and staff, as well as the potential for a wider societal spread of Covid-19.
The petition is directed to Nottingham City Council and asks that schools remain closed until the threat of the virus subsides.
It adds: "The reopening of schools should not happen until it is certain that there will be no second wave, and that no pupil or teacher is put in danger.
"The advice of the Chief Scientific Officer at the Department for Education (DfE) is that schools are not yet prepared to reopen, and that a rush to open them could set off a second wave of the virus."
The petition also points out that three councils in England have announced their schools would not reopen on June 1.
The petition highlights a recent letter byNottinghamshire County Counci director of education, which stresses that no school is being forced to reopen its doors and that school's plans may "change over time".
Finally, the petition said it urges Nottingham City Council to keep its schools closed and to "write to all academies asking them not to reopen until it is safe".
The Government has stated parents should not face penalty fines for not sending their children back, although 'strongly encourages' them to attend.
Both the city and county councils have said parents would not be penalised, but councillors have spoken of the confusion around the situation.
NASUWT's Nottingham Secretary, Andrew Sutton, said: "Teachers in Nottingham want nothing more that to return to their classrooms and resume the jobs that they love.
"What we ask is that time is taken to consider how this can be achieved in a safe way that doesn't put staff, children, families and our communities at risk from the threat of this insidious virus.
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"Racing head long into opening schools before we have adequate testing and tracing and when transmission within schools cannot be ruled means that no-one is yet safe.
"There needs to be an acceptance from government and school leadership of this reality.
"The race to open up our schools wider, without adequate planning, risk assessment and time to implement measures to reduce the threat of transmission of the virus in our classrooms places each and every person learning and working in our schools at unacceptable risk.
"Government and school leadership need to face reality, as many of our teachers are having to, that a premature return will inevitably lead to serious illness and death of teachers, support staff and an increase in transmission in our communities."
Sheena Wheatley, Secretary of Nottingham NEU, said: "The risk of a second wave if schools open too early is real, and the government's rush to open schools could put pupils and teachers at risk.
"No school should open until it is safe to do so."
Anne Thompson, National Executive Member for Nottingham NASUWT said: "June 1 is too soon and was never intended to be a hard and fast rule.
"Many head teachers have recognised this and are being cautious in their approach.
"Teachers want to get back into the classroom but only when it is safe for all concerned. We are still waiting for the scientific evidence and using Denmark as an example is erroneous."
For more information on the petition, click here.
Around 70 percent of schools in the city are now academies, and Nottingham City Council says it will remain up to them to make independent decisions on what to do on June 1.
Councillor Neghat Khan, portfolio holder for early years, education and employment, said: “The safety of children and staff is our main priority. I want to be clear that we will be encouraging schools to take all precautions to minimise risk to pupils, parents or teachers.
“We are working closely with schools in the city to understand how we can support them to be ready to reopen as soon as they feel it is safe to do so. The Government has set a return date of 1 June for children for Nurseries, Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 – but we will need to be certain that the schools will be able to do this in a safe way.
“It is important to remember that our schools have never closed during the Covid-19 crisis; they have remained open for the children of key workers and to vulnerable children for the last eight weeks. During this time, they have developed new ways of working to allow a small number of children to be safely in school.
“We are now looking at ways of scaling this up so that we can start to increase gradually the number of children who return so that schools can continue to address safety concerns and good hygiene within a school or nursery environment. This might include smaller class sizes and staggered start and finish times for example. This will obviously mean that not all pupils can be in school at any one time.
“We have strong links with all partners across schools, academies, nurseries and special needs schools – all are committed to finding a way forward.”
