Gov. Guomo Give The Greenlight For Schools To Reopen This Fall

Parents and students all over the state have been anxiously awaiting Governor Cuomo’s greenlight for reopening schools, and today he has given the greenlight.

We have been waiting all week to hear Governor Cuomo’s decision on whether schools can reopen this fall. Governor Cuomo made the announcement and said that he has looked at reopening plans submitted last week by school districts, and New York’s current COVID19 infection rates to make his decision.

After reviewing the school districts’ reopening plans, he feels confident that schools can reopen safely.

Governor Cuomo is requiring equity in remote learning. Districts must have plans for testing of students and teachers. In addition, they must have plans for contact tracing if someone tests positive.

School districts will know if their plans have been approved by Monday.

Governor Cuomo did caution that if things change, he would have to make other difficult decisions. He said, “If there’s a spike in the infection rate, then we can revisit it, but for planning purposes, we can re-open.”

Schools must hold three to five discussions with parents about the reopening and they should have one meeting with teachers before August 21st.

School districts have the option of delaying their opening, and no interscholastic sports have been approved yet.

On Thursday 70,170 COVID-19 tests were administered in New York State, and 1% of those tests had a positive outcome. Unfortunately, five New Yorkers died as a result of COVID-19 yesterday.

So, Governor Cuomo has made his difficult decision and decided to open schools. Now parents have a difficult decision to make as to whether they will send their children to school, or do some form of homeschooling. What decisions will you make?