Cuomo closes schools for the rest of semester; no plan yet for the fall
ALBANY — Schools will remain closed for the rest of the semester to protect students and staff against COVID-19, and there is no plan yet for how or if they will reopen in September, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said Friday.
“We have to protect our children,” Cuomo said. “We don’t think it’s possible to do that in a way that would keep our children and students and educators safe … There is no decision on the fall because the fall is a long time away,” he said.
School officials welcomed the decision. They said massive and unparalleled planning and restructuring would need to be done even for a normal September opening date, which Cuomo said is critical as part of a broad reopening of the economy, which has been shuttered since March to fight spread of the virus.
“The big question is, are you ready to reopen the school in September, and if you don’t, then you could argue you won’t be ready for business openings if the schools aren’t open in September,” Cuomo said.
The governor, in an executive order issued Friday, also set voting on school budgets and board candidates for June 9. The original May 19 date was postponed due to disruptions caused by the pandemic.
Cuomo directed the state’s more than 700 school districts, public and private colleges serving 4.2 million students to start making plans now on how to reopen. Those plans must include ways to maintain social distancing, wearing masks and reducing gatherings of any size, including a typical classroom of 25 students on Long Island.
“Parents of our youngest students are saying, ‘There’s no way they can keep a mask on in school,’” said Jeanette Deutermann of Bellmore, a leading parent activist on Long Island. “That’s just one small example of the challenges they’re going to face, and why it’s so important to have educators and parents be part of the discussion of those challenges.”
Joseph Romano, a music and band instructor in the Levittown district and a union delegate, understands the unique challenges of social distancing at school.
“Of course, we’re concerned for children,” Romano said. “But as you start setting things up, you put the whole community at risk, and I would think older teachers would be the most vulnerable, just because of what the statistics say. That could be frightening.”
He echoed the concern of Cuomo, who said that despite a waning of the virus, a second wave could hit in the fall.
“Come September,” Romano said, “we might not be back.”
Whenever classes resume, schools will look much different. Buses might have to make extra runs to reduce the number of students on board, classes may have to be staggered or turned into morning and afternoon sessions to reduce class sizes and the number of students in the hallways; cafeteria scheduling would have be staggered; more teachers may have to be hired and more space may have to be used for instruction, according to education officials on Long Island and in Albany.
“There has been a hope to reopen schools, but as local leaders started to contemplate what would be required, the prospect became more daunting,” said Robert Lowry, executive director of the New York State Council of School Superintendents. “I think the governor was right to take some time to figure out how to do this.”
“I think everyone hopes we can open by September,” said David Albert of the state School Boards Association. “Nobody wants to open up schools until we know for sure it’s safe for students and staff to return … but if it’s not safe, then we aren’t going to open up schools in the summer or even the fall.”
Cuomo’s extension of his March 18 executive order that closed schools temporarily this semester means online-based instruction will continue through June, although it has had mixed success.
“There are kids and families who just sort of disappeared, they disengaged,” Lowry said. “There are variations in the quality of what different districts are able to do.”
Lowry said no decision has yet been made on summer school, which include special education classes. Summer instruction could potentially be done in classrooms with social distancing measures because of the summer session’s much smaller student population. Most of the students attend to make up for failed classes. But summer school could also be expanded to help other students who choose to use the time in class to catch up for the lost class time this spring.
Albert said online summer school and remote learning is likely, but summer schools being operated in classrooms is “a big ‘if’ right now.”
Lowry said the problem of trying to bolster summer school as well as create ways to allow social distancing in September comes down to the same problem: money.
Larger summer schools and social distancing in the fall might require more space, teachers and other resources. Schools also face a potential cut in school aid because the virus and the economic shutdown ordered by Cuomo to contend with it has helped create a shortfall of at least $10 billion in Albany. Further, the prospects of a federal stimulus to make up for lost state and school revenue is uncertain.
Education officials agreed that whenever instruction resumes, schools won’t be the same.
“No one thinks this fall will be like any other fall because students are going to be in such a different place,” Lowry said.
Michael Gormley has worked for Newsday since 2013, covering state government, politics and issues. He has covered Albany since 2001.
