ALBANY - New York schools will be able to open this fall, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Friday.
Cuomo said the infection rates due to COVID-19 are low enough so the districts can begin to reopen next month.
"By our infection rates, all school districts can open everywhere in the state. Every region is below the threshold that we established, which is just great news," Cuomo said on a conference call with reporters.
Friday's decision is meant to be a preliminary one because the first day of school is still a month away.
And each district needs to develop its own reopening plan that gets state approval, including how they will handle coronavirus testing, contact tracing if someone tests positive and how they will address remote learning.
Schools do not have to bring students back to the building, Cuomo said. His decision authorizes them to do so if they can, and many districts have been considering a hybrid model, particularly for high schools, of some days in class and some days remotely.
"They can do in-person school, but it is up to them," he said.
Greece Superintendent Kathleen Graupman, president of the Monroe County Council of School Superintendents, said she understands some parents' concerns but is confident in the safety precautions local districts have outlined.
"It’s going to be new and different and changed," she said. "But I have no question they’re going to be safe for kids. And I have no question we’ll have thought of every detail."
She said, though, that many superintendents remain confused by the way Cuomo talks about medical testing of students.
"The way he talks about that really feels different from the way we navigated that in Monroe County," Graupman said. "That feels like a disconnect and it also can be confusing for parents."
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What happens now for schools?
Each district had to submit their plans so they can being reviewed by the state Health Department, and then posted online.
Cuomo said 127 districts had not yet submitted their plansand 50 of the plans so far were either "incomplete" or "deficient." If a district's plan is not approved by the Health Department, they are not authorized to open.
The Health Department did not respond to a request for the names of those districts Friday. Graupman said she has not heard whether any are in the Rochester area.
New York has the most deaths in the nation due to COVID-19, slightly more than 25,000, but the infection rates in recent weeks have hovered around 1% of those tests, among the lowest in the nation.
"Again, we have the best infection situation in the country," Cuomo said. "If any state can do it, this state can do it because we’ve been smart since Day 1."
Valerie Clements, who has two daughters in the Gates Chili school district, said the news from Cuomo was "great"— but added that it didn't help much for children who struggled with remote learning.
"It’s not going back to ‘normal,’ it is still the choice of hybrid learning or 100% virtual; parents are screwed either way," she said. Clements plans to send her older daughter to school but to keep the younger one, who would have been entering kindergarten, at home.
"In my living situationit works well, but what about parents who have small children and are essential employees, single parents or parents who are working from home whose job requires them to actually concentrate for more than 10 minutes?" she said.
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What will be allowed in schools?
For in-person learning, students and staff will need to wear masks when social distancing cannot take place or when students are eating.
The Department of Health and the State Education department are in the process of reviewing the extensive reopening plans schools were supposed to submit last Friday, which they were advised to post publicly to their websites.
In addition to the full plans that districts were required to postonline, Cuomo directed them Friday to postthe three components he said has received the most questions about: remote learning, testing and contact tracing.
He said it would be up to each districtto decide whether to close a school building if there is a case of COVID. Unions want any district to close a schoolfor at least 14 days if a positive case is found.
"These questions of remote learning, testing, contact tracing, these have to be done district by district, because the circumstances are that different, district by district," Cuomo said, pushing back against the calls for a statewide policy around these issues.
"But I can't fashion a plan that will work in every school district, because they just, they are just too different, and the circumstances are different."
The state is also requiring districts to hold three public sessions to answer questions from parents before Aug. 21.
They also must hold a separate session for teachers.
In 'Big 5' school districts—New York City, Buffalo, Yonkers, Syracuse and Rochester— the district must hold five sessions for parents.
"I can’t fashion a plan that works in every school district because they are just too different," Cuomo said, urging districts to developtheir own plans that are supported by parents, teachers and students.
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How teachers, parents responded to reopening plan
The New York State United Teachers union raised concernsover the reopening of schools, saying that basing the decision on infection rates tells"only one part of the story."
The schools' plans, the union said, lack specific procedures for closure, testing and contact tracing in the event of a COVID-19 case.
"Right now, there may be some areas where parents and educators are confident in their district’s plan, but in many others, we know they aren’t," said NYSUT president Andy Pallotta.
"No district should consider themselves ready to reopen buildings until their plans are safeand everything in that plan meant to keep the school community safe is implemented."
The state Schools Board Association warned that schools may soon need to choose a hybrid model of in-person and remote learning, depending on safety concerns.
"Our districts are working tirelessly to craft plans that will suit the individual, unique needs of each community," the group said.
"While the preliminary deadline for submitting plans is upon us, we know that August will be a month of continued intense work by our administrators, staff and others to prepare for whatever reality faces us when the time comes to start school in September."
Mandy Palmer said her three children are "anxiously excited" to get back to school in person in Greece, particularly because the older ones struggled with online learning.
“My fiancé and I are both essential workers involved in child care and schools and feel confident ... that our kids will be properly cared for to the best of (educators’) abilities," Palmersaid.
Contains reporting by Justin Murphy and Victoria Freile.
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