BACK TO SCHOOL LOOK 2020!
Cuomo says kids can return to classrooms
Gov. Cuomo gave the thumbs-up for students in New York City to return to classrooms for at least part of the week this fall, provided COVID infection rates remain low. Second grader Rylee Lucas (above) of Saltillo, Miss., where classes are already back in session, gives a preview of what this year’s stylish kid might look like.
School bells are free to ring again across New York state, including in the five boroughs, this fall, as Gov. Cuomo announced on Friday that coronavirus infection rates were low enough to allow kids to return to class.
“Good news. All schools can reopen,” the governor said in a teleconference with reporters.
The state is hovering at a 1 percent positive test rate for COVID-19 — well below the 5 percent threshold recommended by the World Health Organization and adopted by the state.
Cuomo trumpeted that statistic, noting that New York had once been the epicenter of the US coronavirus outbreak.
“You look at our infection rate, we probably are in the best situation in the country right now,” he said. “If anybody can open schools, we can open schools. And that’s true for every region in the state, period.”
But he noted that each school district must submit reopening plans for approval by the state Health Department.
That includes all 1,800 of New York City’s schools, which have yet to submit their proposals after failing to meet a statewide deadline of July 31.
New York City was also tardy in submitting its systemwide plan last week on blended learning for its 1.1 million students, with an earlier version getting panned by some, including the United Federation for Teachers union, for lacking detail.
On Friday evening, the city Department of Education sent to the state its final reopening plan — a 109-page proposal with more details.
Students and staff will be chosen at random for temperature screenings every day before entering the building and will be required to conduct at-home temperature checks, according to the expanded guidance, which was posted online.
Staffers are asked to get tested at least seven days before the start of school on Sept. 10, with the DOE suggesting they then get checked at least once a month.
Students with a temperature above 100 degrees will not be allowed to enter.
The plan also lays out how coronavirus-positive students and staff will be handled, including a 14-day quarantine mandate for those in classes with a confirmed case.
In schools where students travel between classes, quarantine will also be mandated for people in all classes attended by the confirmed case.
Students in quarantine will continue remote learning — which families can still opt into 100 percent.
COVID-19-positive students and staff will be allowed to return to school only with a doctor’s clearance and if they are symptom-free for 24 hours without medication, the plan says.
Other details, such as class size and whether other areas like gyms will be used for instruction, have been left up to individual schools. Their plans are expected to be released sometime next week.
Mayor de Blasio previously announced the blended-learning model, which includes one to three days of in-school instruction and remote learning the rest of the week.
He said schools will reopen only if the positivity rate remains below 3 percent — although the DOE’s finalized version of the plan is much more conservative.
Schools could close if there were “recurrent, uncontrolled outbreaks of COVID-19 . . . even if the overall case rates across New York City were to remain low,” the proposal says.
Following Cuomo’s announcement, de Blasio reiterated that safety is a priority.
“We’re committed to getting this right. We will reopen safely,” the mayor tweeted.