On Friday, Governor Cuomo of New York announced that students statewide are allowed to return to school for a new school year.
What We Know:
- Many school districts have prompted their teachers to start in-person classes a few days a week, while some can learn remotely. “Everywhere in the state, every region is below the threshold that we established,” Cuomo said during a conference call. “If there’s a spike in the infection rate, if there’s a matter of concern in the infection rate, then we can revisit.”
- In reality, the COVID-19 virus numbers among younger populations have been increasing. According to the NYC Health Department, New York has 223,876 confirmed cases as of today.
- On Wednesday, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced COVID-19 checkpoints would be put in place at key entry points across the city as it continues to fight off the virus. Locations will vary throughout the city and de Blasio has partnered with transportation and tourism companies, including hotels, trains, and transportation rental companies, to ensure the checkpoints.
- The students have a choice to do in-person school, remote, or a “hybrid” mix. Cuomo said, “New Yorkers will decide what they want to do and how they want to do it. This is up to them.” Masks are required and social distancing is enforced during the schooling process.
- Governor Cuomo has a plan for returning as he posted in a tweet,
As schools reopen NYS is requiring all school districts to:
1) Post their remote learning plans & their testing/tracing plans online
2) Set dates for 3-5 discussion sessions with parents & community (prior to Aug 21)
3) Have at least one separate discussion with teachers alone
The 749 school districts are required to file a reopening plan with the state Health and Education departments. The Health Department must then approve the district’s plan in order for their school to reopen.
