Cuomo: 107 New York School Districts In Danger of Not Reopening

Gov. Andrew Cuomo says 107 New York school districts are in danger of not being allowed to reopen for the entire upcoming school year.

On Monday, Cuomo announced a Friday deadline for school districts that have not submitted plans for in-person learning. Currently, 107 school districts have not submitted a plan for in-person learning, according to Cuomo.

"There are 107 school districts that have not submitted their plan - for those 107 school districts, how they didn't submit a plan is beyond me. If they don't submit a plan by this Friday, they can't open," Cuomo said. "The main arbiter here of whether a school district has an intelligent plan to reopen and whether people have confidence in that district's plan: It's going to be the parents and it's going to be the teachers, and that requires discussion, and that's going to be a dialogue. Parents don't have to send their child. The parents are responsible for the health and safety of the child, and they're not going to send the child if they don't believe the plan makes sense. A teacher is not going to come back into the classroom if they think the classroom is not safe, and that's right. The school district has to have that dialogue by the 21st to fully comply with our rules."

Districts that fail to meet the Friday deadline will be unable to provide in-person learning for the upcoming school year, officials say.

"Maybe they just have determined that they don't want to open, which is the only logical conclusion," Cuomo said. "But if they think they're going to open, then they have to have their plan in by Friday."

The State continues to review plans based on set criteria. Districts that are found to be out of compliance will get a letter from the State Department of Health and a follow-up call naming the sections of their plans that are deficient, in which case they will have until Friday to amend their plan.

The list of school districts that have not submitted a plan, according to Cuomo is below:

• Franklinville
• Portville
• Salamanca
• West Valley
• Broadalbin-Perth
• Mayfield
• Kendall
• Argyle
• Fort Ann
• Hendrick Hudson
• Bedford
• Garrison
• Carle Place
• Elmont
• Garden City
• Lawrence
• Locust Valley
• Malverne
• Manhasset
• Mineola
• New Hyde Park
• Plainedge
• Plainview
• Syosset
• Uniondale
• Middletown
• Valley-Montgmry
• Camden
• Oriskany
• Utica
• Waterville
• Lake Pleasant
• C-V At Ilion-Mohawk Csd
• Van Hornsville
• Carthage
• Lyme
• Newark Valley
• Spencer Van Etten
• George Jr Republic
• Brentwood
• Brookhaven-Comsewogue Ufsd
• Deer Park
• Longwood
• Middle Country
• Mount Sinai
• North Babylon
• Oysterponds
• Remsenburg
• Rocky Point
• Sachem
• Tuckahoe Common
• Wainscott
• Western Suffolk Boces
• Arkport
• Bradford
• Corning
• Hammondsport
• Cooperstown
• Richfield Springs Csd
• Worcester
• Odessa Montour
• Peru
• Johnsburg
• Webster
• Nyack
• Sloan
• Williamsville
• Catskill
• Windham Ashland
• Edinburg Common Sd
• Shenendehowa
• Sagaponack
• Cortland
• Andes
• Margaretville
• Beacon
• Poughkeepsie
• Elmira
• Victor
• East Bloomfield
• Geneva
• Lewiston Porter
• Pine Valley
• Altmar-Parish
• Oswego
• Fayettvlle-Manlius
• Berkshire
• Germantown
• Kinderhook
• Brunswick Central
• East Greenbush
• Troy
• Seneca Falls
• Eldred
• Jeff Youngsville
• Canton
• Hammond
• Heuvelton
• Lisbon
• Massena
• Potsdam
• Palmyra-Macedon
• Red Creek
• Wyoming
• Amsterdam
• Canajoharie
• Fort Plain

The Citizen reports many school districts were surprised to end up on the list. It's possible some districts didn't realize plans had to be submitted online to the New York State Education Department and the Department of Health or submitted plans to the wrong place.

Rich Azzopardi, the Senior Advisor to Gov. Cuomo said the above list is correct.

"The list of districts that didn't file a plan with the state Department of Health is accurate. Despite clear guidance provided to these schools, which included a link to the DOH portal, some districts in follow-up calls said they filed with the State Education Department - which is not an executive agency - but didn't file with DOH. Others filled out an affirmation certifying that they would be abiding by the state's reopening guidance, but didn't actually submit their plan, something many of these districts are now rectifying," Azzopardi said in a statement.

The Governor also reminded districts they must complete the three to five public sessions with parents and teachers and post their plans for remote learning, testing and tracing on their website by August 21 to be in compliance with standards established by the State.