Franklin Square, Elmont school officials react to closure

Dr. Jared Bloom, the Franklin Square School District superintendent, said he hoped he would not have to send a letter to parents informing them that school buildings would remain closed this year. That is exactly what he did, however, last Friday.

That day, Gov. Andrew Cuomo mandated that schools throughout the state remain closed for the rest of the 2019-20 school year, and instead continue distance learning, to help stop the spread of the coronavirus.

The announcement came as Covid-19 hospitalizations and deaths continue a steady decline, but the state is still seeing nearly a thousand new cases a day, which Cuomo said was unacceptably high.

His decision affects 4.2 million students statewide in 700 public school districts, 89 SUNY and CUNY colleges, and 100 private colleges.

“While we all knew this was inevitable, it does not make it any easier for the students and staff,” Bloom wrote. “Honestly, as I sit alone in my office at Washington Street School, it is eerily quiet, but instruction is still ongoing, and we will continue to make sure our students are engaged and supported throughout the rest of the school year.”

District officials planned to move forward with the fourth phase of their distance learning program on Monday, which included English and math lessons posted online every day; two to three science and social studies lessons posted each week; and phys. ed., library, art and music lessons posted weekly. The district also planned to hold small-group classes for students, schedule extra-help hours and continue services for students with special needs.

In Elmont, district officials posted online on Monday that lesson plans would no longer be posted on the district’s website as of April 20, and instead teachers would use Seesaw — an interactive program that enables them to send students lessons, videos and other material. Art, music, physical education and library teachers have also been granted access to each teacher’s Seesaw class to provide specific instruction to the students.

iPads were distributed to students in the district last week, and they will be able to complete their assignments at their own pace, Elmont officials wrote in their FAQ, and anyone with issues should reach out to their building administrators.

Those with concerns in Franklin Square, meanwhile, can send questions to their local Parent Teacher Association to be answered at Bloom’s Virtual Coffee with the Superintendent on May 18 at 7 p.m.  

School elections have also been re-scheduled to June 9. Every voter will receive an absentee ballot in the mail.

And local districts are also looking for ways to honor their graduating classes. Officials in the Franklin Square School District are looking for long- and short-term options to celebrate their sixth-graders, who will move up to the Sewanhaka Central High School District next year. “Regardless of what we do, it will be special,” Bloom said, “and we will make sure our kids know how much we love them.”

At the high school level, meanwhile, Superintendent James Grossane said the district was looking to hold virtual graduation ceremonies. “They may look different, but it is important that we celebrate their accomplishments,” he wrote on the district’s website on May 1. But, Grossane said, “it will also be special and memorable.”

He added that he understood why the decision to close schools was made, but he also understands that students miss their teachers and friends, and that “all of us who work in the district miss our students and colleagues as well.”

“These times have brought out the best in all of us,” Grossane noted, “and we have made herculean efforts to keep learning moving forward.”

Bloom also said that parents, teachers, students and administrators would get through the rest of the year together, and he displayed a new district logo with all three Franklin Square school mascots together. “We are in this together, we will get through this, we support each other,” he said. “We can! We will!”

Social distancing practices, as mandated by the state, have prevented an estimated 100,000 Covid-19 cases, Cuomo said in his announcement last Friday. For the first time in weeks, he said, the number of overnight deaths had dropped below 300 from Thursday into Friday — from 306 to 289, a 5.5 percent decline. New hospitalizations were also down.

“Our past actions changed the past trajectory,” he said, adding today’s actions will determine “the number of sick tomorrow” — hence the need to keep school buildings closed and continue social distancing.

Now, however, state officials must determine more precisely why the state is still seeing nearly a thousand new cases a day. So the state is drilling down, looking at new cases by county.

It is also looking at who is becoming infected. The governor wondered if essential workers were, or if other people were. Where are they becoming infected? At work? On public transportation?

Those are the questions the state is seeking to answer, Cuomo said.

In the meantime, he said, people should continue wearing their masks in public and keep up social distancing to protect others, he said.