Educator panel: Hoping for a more normal school year
When Long Island students return to school over the next few weeks, they'll see some changes since they were last in the classroom.
No more remote learning. No quarantines. No last-minute schedule interruptions prompted by COVID-19 outbreaks.
At least, that's the hope of Plainview-Old Bethpage Superintendent Mary O’Meara and her Port Washington counterpart, Superintendent Michael Hynes.
Mary O'Meara, superintendent of Schools in the Plainview-Old Behpage Central School District, is shown during a Newsday Live webinar where she discussed the upcoming school year. Credit: Newsday
Speaking Tuesday during a Newsday Live online forum, O'Meara and Hynes said they are planning a more normal school year after staff and students finished in June exhausted from a year of online learning during the pandemic.
Even with the delta variant sending the number of COVID-19 cases increasingly upward, the schools chiefs said they would still like students and staff to start the new year believing the worst is over.
"They need to bring a sense of hope, that this is really going to be one of their best years, if not their best year," Hynes said during the chat, moderated by Newsday columnist Joye Brown. "Everybody is incredibly proud of them. They’re very resilient."
Taking questions submitted by parents, O'Meara and Hynes said students will see at least a partial return to normalcy after a year of protocols aimed at safety.
Older students in Plainview-Old Westbury, for example, will be able to resume using lockers. "They don’t have to worry about that 40-pound backpack," O'Meara said.
Both superintendents said they are determined to avoid closing schools and returning to remote learning. Besides being reviled by many students and parents, online education left Port Washington staff "limping to the finish line," Hynes said.
Dr. Michael Hynes, superintendent of schools in the Port Washington School District, is shown during a Newsday Live webinar where he discussed the upcoming school year. Credit: Newsday
But some online tools proved to be a silver lining, allowing parents to attend concerts and student art exhibits without having to lose time at work, O'Meara said.
As much as possible, she and Hynes said, parents will be welcomed back to school buildings for parent-teacher conferences and other events.
"We feel the loss of parents within the system," Hynes said. "We lost that enthusiasm. We lost that connection."
And after a summer of contentious debates over mask mandates, administrators aim for "one uniform message, which is that we’re glad everyone’s back, let’s keep everyone safe," Hynes said.
"This is a health issue. This is a pandemic," O'Meara said. "This is not a reason to divide a community."
Carl MacGowan is a Long Island native who covers Brookhaven Town after having previously covered Smithtown, Suffolk County courts and numerous spot news and feature stories over his 20-plus year career at Newsday.
