Guidelines from New York State on how to reopen schools amid the Covid-19 pandemic have answered some questions, but raised even more.
No one knows yet whether children will be at home or in a school building in September or some combination of the two, which may be most likely for districts.
"I’m concerned that if we have school every other day or if they have half the kids at a time report, where are they going to go the other days?" said Wendy Loveria, a school counselor and mother of three. "As a parent I'm concerned about how that's going to play out."
Robert Lowry, deputy director for the New York State Council of School Superintendents, describes the state guidance he had seen up until Wednesday as “uncertainties on top of uncertainties.”
“This provides some clarity, but I do think there will be ... people coming to different interpretations and we will be trying to help with that,” Lowry said.
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School districts were awaiting more detailed guidance Wednesday from the state Education Department, but it didn't come. Education officials were still working on what they called the "voluminous" document and pushed the release to Thursday.
“It’s just very open-ended. If a student or staff member is concerned about returning, what are the guidelines?” asked Paul Casseri, superintendent of the Lewiston-Porter school district. “I would assume they would need a doctor’s note, but I don’t know.”
So far, it’s not entirely clear what provisions a school would need to make for students who don't want to attend school during the pandemic for health reasons.
Loveria and her husband, Garrick, have three children – 3-year-old twins and a first grader.
"It's tough, because part of me just wants to go back full time," said Wendy Loveria, a counselor at Buffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts. "I love what I do. But I'm scared to go back now. A lot of our students have asthma and preexisting conditions that put them at higher risk."
She also fears for the safety of her own children, one of whom has asthma. The gravity of the situation is not lost on her. A colleague who had Covid-19 was on a ventilator for more than a month.
"I don't think people take it seriously," said Wendy Loveria.
Wendy Mistretta, a mother of two students in Buffalo Public Schools, said she was pleased to see that state guidance provided flexibility to accommodate “individuals who may not feel comfortable returning to an in-person educational environment.”
But she is concerned about what online instruction might look like for those students.
“As we saw in the spring, some teachers were really amazing. They did a really good job,” said Mistretta, president of the District Parent Coordinating Council, a Buffalo parent group. “And others were providing assignments – and assignments are not the same thing as instruction. I want to make sure we have class by class narrated instruction.”
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's parameters on infection rates to determine whether a school may open or close (5% or lower infection rate to open, 9% or higher to close) makes it easier to understand, Frontier Superintendent Richard Hughes said.
“I feel more optimistic about it, now that we have numbers, and we have a goal as a region to keep those numbers down,” he said. “The less the transmission is, the less our infection rate will go up and we’ll be able to keep our kids in school.”
He said the state Health Department's recommendation that everyone wear a mask in school is helpful, too. Parents have asked about that, and some have said their children are not wearing masks, he said.
“It’s better for our kids to be in school, but we have to do it in a safe fashion,” Hughes said.
Hundreds or even thousands of teachers across the region likely are at increased risk for Covid-19 because of underlying health issues or age, or both. The state has said that schools must make accommodations for them, but it’s not clear what those would be. Teaching remotely could be an option, according to the state, but there could be other options.
Buffalo teachers union president Phil Rumore said the city’s teachers have numerous concerns. Chief among them: the sanitizing of the schools on a consistent basis. The school custodians, or engineers, don’t have enough staff or supplies to do that, he said.
“I have not seen anything yet explaining how those buildings are going to continue to be safe,” he said.
How school districts will pay for the additional expenses required to reopen in September is still among the big uncertainties. There is still the threat of potentially large cuts in state education funding for next year. But even if that doesn’t come about, most state aid for schools was already frozen, Lowry said.
In fact, that brought Sen. Chuck Schumer to Wyoming County on Wednesday, when he announced a new legislative push to provide schools with more federal assistance to pay for personal protection equipment, cleaning supplies, computers, tablets and access to the internet.
Meanwhile, Wendy Loveria and her husband have been keeping a wary eye on the infection and hospitalization rates in the region. It seems as though the virus is under control in this area, but, they point out, that could change. As deputy superintendent at the Charter School for Applied Technologies, Garrick Loveria has been heavily involved in preparations for classes to resume Aug. 24 at his school.
The staff at the charter school have been brainstorming various possibilities.
"Is remote learning the same quality of instruction you can get in person? In my mind, it's not," he said. "I'm worried about how much we stunt the educational growth of the kids, and how do we weigh that against safety concerns."
