The state Education Department on Thursday released its much-anticipated guidance to school districts on how to reopen amid the Covid-19 pandemic come September, but even before educators had a chance to peruse the lengthy document, one question stood out:
Will it be enough?
Coming into Thursday, school districts were looking for as many specifics as possible to answer myriad questions about how they would pull off reopening schools with all the proper health and safety guidelines while facing a deadline for submitting their own plans to the state just two weeks from now.
“I think they were thoughtful in their approach, it’s clear their priorities are the same as our priorities," Hamburg Superintendent Michael Cornell said. “When we have in-person instruction it needs to be done safely.”
“As with any document, especially one that has the reach and impact of this document, there will be different interpretations and the need for clarification,” Cornell said.
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The Education Department's 144-page report lays out what local educators should keep in mind as they plan the reopening, whether it is in-person classes, remote learning or a hybrid combination of the two.
While it goes over much of the same ground that was covered earlier in the week – when the state Health Department released its guidance for reopening schools – the Education Department's guidelines touch more on the instructional support districts will be asked to provide.
For instance:
Mandatory teaching and learning requirements include "ensuring substantive daily interaction between teachers and students" and clearly communicating with parents and guardians.
That’s something students and parents complained was missing in the spring when instruction moved online.
"Remote learning did not work for everyone during the spring 2020 school closures," the report states.
"In many schools and districts, large numbers of students did not log on or otherwise participate in online learning opportunities," the report continues. "It is therefore critical for schools to use a variety of creative methods to reach out to students and their families who did not engage in distance learning."
The Education Department's report provides no "one size fits all model," but addresses many facets of schooling, from schedules and attendance to transportation and special education, as well as health.
It provides rules for social distancing and mask wearing: Districts are to consider the number of students and staff allowed to return for in-person classes based on the ability to maintain appropriate social distance, and the availability of safe transportation and masks. The district must provide masks for those who do not have them.
The state recommends that the size of groups or "cohorts" of students be determined by the number of students who can be in each classroom while maintaining 6 feet of social distancing space.
It also suggests staggering the arrival and dismissal times to allow for social distancing on buses.
More broadly, the social-emotional well-being of students must be schools’ top priority, which will, in turn, allow academic learning to occur, according to the report.
“It is unrealistic to expect that students will return to instruction as they left it months ago. Students have experienced an extremely stressful, and for many, traumatic experience while isolated from school, friends, and community," the report states.
Districts also should look out for the well being of adults in schools, the report advises.
Among other issues addressed in the report are:
Health checks: Parents can take their child’s temperature at home before school and report it to the school. Any child with a fever of 100 degrees or higher, or with symptoms, should stay home.
Teaching ranks: Perhaps anticipating a lack of substitute teachers, the state is allowing substitute teachers without a valid certificate to work up to 90 days a year in a district.
Vulnerable student populations: “Reopening plans must address the learning loss experienced by many English language learners (ELLs), in both their English language development and their mastery of content area knowledge.” Districts also should consider in-person services a priority for high-needs students and preschool students with disabilities whenever possible.
New Covid-19 cases: District must have a plan for what to do if there is a confirmed case of Covid-19 in the school, and must collaborate with the local health department to determine the conditions for closing school.
Transportation: The report says students must wear a mask on a bus if they are physically able, but that "students who do not have a mask can NOT be denied transportation." That guidance seems to contradict with state Department of Health recommendation that students must "must wear acceptable face coverings at all times on school buses."
It also says buses should not carry hand sanitizer due to its combustible composition, and roof hatches should be open when temperatures are 45 degrees and above.
“Working with students, parents, educators and stakeholders, the Board of Regents and the department have developed a guidance document that will help schools as they prepare their respective reopening plans," said Interim Education Commissioner Shannon Tahoe.
Districts and schools are to submit their own reopening plans to the state Education Department by July 31.
Buffalo Board of Education Chief of Staff Darren Brown-Hall said he and other administrators in the district began reading the state Education Department guidelines after the report was released, and will continue going through it all day Friday.
“It’s very detailed in some aspects, and we appreciate that. We’re happy that we finally got the guidelines,” Brown-Hall said.
Brown-Hall said administrators want to make sure they are not missing anything crucial in the new report – or the report released earlier by the state Department of Health – as the school district develops its own specific plans for possibly reopening Buffalo schools in the fall.
Brown-Hall said both state reports contain useful, if duplicative, information.
“That’s good, because it reinforces what every district should be doing,” Brown-Hall said.
News Staff Reporter Harold McNeil contributed to this report.
