Despite cases of Covid-19 spiking across Erie County, the state has opened the door for schools to resume in-person instruction sooner than anticipated, at least for some students.
But will they?
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Monday announced less stringent rules for schools when it comes to testing students, teachers and staff for the virus, with the goal of keeping more schools open for classroom instruction.
“I think it is good news,” said Jon MacSwan, superintendent of the Cleveland Hill School District. “As soon as we get the details worked out and our testing capacity up and running, we’re looking to get kids back in school.”
But the announcement didn’t necessarily change minds in the Buffalo Public Schools, where all 32,000 students have been learning remotely since September.
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“Until I hear more details, this will not affect my decision to re-open in person,” Superintendent Kriner Cash said.
“Once we receive specific guidance from the NYS Department of Health, we will be able to understand what the requirements will be for a district our size – the second largest district in New York State,” Cash said in a prepared statement.
Schools across most of Erie County were forced to close and switch to remote learning last week after the state labeled vast portions of the county "orange zones" due to the high rate of Covid-19 infections.
The previous plan called for orange zone schools to reopen only after testing all students and staff who attend school in person. Then, 25% of them had to be tested each week – a logistical and financial nightmare for districts. Protocol was similar for the even more restrictive "red zone" designation, which much of Erie County could be tagged with in the near future.
But that changed Monday.
Under the changes announced by the governor, schools in orange zones now would need to test 20% of students and staff each month, while schools in red zones are required to test 30% each month.
“It’s a big difference,” said Michael Cornell, superintendent of the Hamburg Central School District. “It’s much more feasible than the previous plan was.”
The governor has been signaling the shift in recent days, with data showing the infection rate is lower in schools than in their surrounding communities. Superintendents, including the Erie-Niagara School Superintendents Association, had been prodding the state to acknowledge that realization.
Private schools, too, are pleased that the state has reassessed its thinking on this issue, said Eric Yarwood, executive director of the Education Collaborative of Western New York, a coalition of 14 area private schools.
“From our perspective, we agree with the assessment that Covid is not spreading within the schools. Any of the cases that we have had have been traced to external sources,” Yarwoood said. “We know when you implement the guidance issued by the CDC, it works.”
Private schools, in fact, have been testing students in preparation for returning this week, but Yarwood said the old testing rules made “it nearly impossible to do that many tests per week.”
Still, superintendents were hesitant Monday to predict when – or if – schools would reopen until they had a chance to look closer at the new rules Cuomo previewed during his press briefing. They expect written guidance in the next day or two.
“With that information, we will be able to further asses the full cost for tests and possible additional staffing that will be needed to comply with testing requirements in both an orange zone and, if infections rates increase, a red zone,” Cash said.
Other unanswered questions include:
• Will schools still be required to test all students and staff before returning them to the building, at which point the new guidelines for periodic testing would kick in?
“I don’t believe the 100% testing requirement will remain in the new guidance,” Cornell said. “It wasn’t mentioned at all.”
• Will students be forced to learn remotely if parents don’t give their consent for them to be tested?
Superintendents don’t believe that will be the case, but want to see it in writing.
• Will the new testing parameters apply to high school students, as well?
Transmission rates are lower among children, while teenagers spread Covid-19 at rates comparable to adults. The governor, who has made that distinction, referred only to students with special needs and those in grades K through eight.
“The testing in and of itself does sound doable,” MacSwan said. “The question will be, ‘How many families will we have?’
“Because, we did have an increasing number of people choosing to shift to the remote side of the instructional model that we offer as the infection rates were reported to them through the news.”
