Cuomo unveils plan for school reopenings in New York

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) released a plan Monday for schools to reopen based on the regional level of coronavirus infection rates. 

“Everyone wants to reopen the schools. I want to reopen the schools, everybody wants to reopen the schools,” Cuomo said during a briefing. “It’s not, do we reopen or not. You reopen if it’s safe to reopen. How do you know it’s safe? You look at the data.”

Schools will reopen if a region is in the state’s phase four of reopening and if the daily infection rate remains below 5 percent over a 14-day average by the first week of August, the governor said. Schools will close if the regional infection rate is greater than 9 percent during a seven-day average.

We all want schools to open but it has to be safe. In NY we will decide based on the data.

Schools will reopen if a region is in Phase 4 & daily infection rate remains below 5% (14-day avg).

Schools close if regional infection rate is greater than 9% (7-day avg) after August 1.

— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) July 13, 2020

“We’re not going to use our children as a litmus test and we’re not going to put our children in a place where their health is in danger,” Cuomo said. “It’s that simple, common sense and intelligence can still determine what we do even in this crazy environment. We’re not going to use our children as guinea pigs.”

The New York State Education Department released guidance for schools and districts to follow as they plan to reopen, whether for in-person or remote learning or a combination of the two, but is leaving decisions on plans to make up to the districts.  

All districts and schools are required to create and submit to reopening plans at the school level to the state education department by July 31.

The State Department lists guidance for facilities, which may pose one of the largest hurdles as schools look to bring students back in the fall. The education department’s guidance states schools may expand their physical footprint or change the way they use space to help promote social distancing. 

The state also calls for schools to continue to “meet or exceed ventilation requirements” and may want to consult with design professionals to increase ventilation and filtration. 

The state guidance also says districts will be required to perform regular school bus disinfection and train school bus staff regarding social distancing on the bus, at stops and at unloading times. 

To help with chronic absenteeism, the state guidance said schools should use “a variety of creative methods to reach out to students and families who have not engaged in distance learning.” 

New York was once the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, but the state has since managed to control the outbreak of the virus as it surges in other parts of the country. Some upstate counties never experienced high levels of coronavirus cases. 

The Trump administration has been pushing for schools to reopen. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos on Sunday doubled down on the administration’s push to reopen schools, telling CNN the “rule should be kids go back to school this fall” with exceptions in areas with “little flare ups” that can be dealt on a case-by-case basis. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released guidelines regarding school reopening. President Trump last week called the federal agencies guidelines on opening schools “very tough & expensive.” 

DeVos said the guidelines are “meant to be flexible and meant to be applied as appropriate for the situation.” 

Cuomo also slammed Trump’s push for schools to reopen. 

“He was wrong on the economic reopening. He’s wrong on the schools reopening,” the governor said Monday.