Local school districts plan reopening amid coronavirus spikes

The Sewanhaka Central High School District is finalizing its reopening plan for the 2021-2022 school year amid a spike in delta variant cases of the coronavirus nearly two years after the beginning of the pandemic.

During an August 10 meeting of the school district’s board of education, Beth Kierez, a trustee representing the Floral Park-Bellerose School District, provided an update on the re-opening plan for Floral Park Memorial High School and all of the schools in the Sewanhaka district.

Kierez said that the district received a letter on August 10 from the New York State Department of Education that said whether or not mask-wearing is required is no longer up to local school districts, but rather will be based on guidelines from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the American Academy of Pediatrics. Both organizations currently recommend that masks be worn inside schools, Kierez noted.

“In light of the state education department’s statements, we anticipate it may adopt these recommendations” for the upcoming school year, Kierez said.

The letter also said that the Department of Education is developing a guideline for re-opening amid the pandemic during the 2021-2022 school year, Kierez said. “It is anticipated that the guidance will address the wearing of masks, social distancing, remote learning, transportation, and community transmission tracking,” she added.

Kierez said that the Sewanhaka Central High School District abided by the guidelines provided by New York State during the 2020-2021 school year and now plans to abide by state guidelines during the 2021-2022 school year.

Kierez detailed aspects of the re-opening plan for the Floral Park-Bellerose School District specifically and for all Sewanhaka district schools at large.

As of now, mask-wearing is not required outdoors but is required inside, specifically in hallways, classrooms and buses. Mask breaks will be provided for students inside classrooms. Each day, temperature checks will be administered to all faculty, staff, students and visitors upon entry into school district buildings. Doors and windows will remain open during the school day, and students will again be allowed to access when they return to Floral Park-Bellerose schools. Certain schools have increased the number of lunch periods provided for students and will provide additional space for students to eat lunch to promote social distancing. Additionally, in continuation of a 2020-2021 school year policy, there will be more staff present during student arrivals in the morning to account for extra arrival areas provided for spacing concerns.

Remote learning is no longer to be offered by the Sewanhaka Central High School District, Kierez said, barring an extension by the governor of the 2020-2021 school year’s change to the requirement for 180 days of in-person attendance by students.

“While we are very proud of the job our faculty, staff, and students did to continue teaching and learning during our periods of remote and hybrid learning, there is no adequate substitute for in-person learning,” a statement released by the district, as part of a document titled Fall 2021 Opening Plan Overview on the district’s website, said. This view is reiterated throughout the document: “If at any point a resurgence of Covid-19 should force an emergency closure of schools, ‘live’ instruction via Google Meet will be provided daily by all teachers.”

The district, in response to the shortened and largely virtual nature of the 2020-2021 school year for students, offered a “Summer Enrichment Camp” that was “designed to re-engage, re-invigorate, and re-ignite students’ love of school and learning. The camp was established to better the social and emotional well-being of students before this upcoming school year, according to the Fall 2021 Opening Plan Overview Document on the district’s website.

The district is also holding “welcome back orientation” events during the week of August 30. Orientation for seventh grade students is planned for August 30 between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m., while orientations for eighth grade students as well as ninth to 12th grade students are planned for August 31 between 9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., respectively.

“The reason for these orientations is that some students have never even set foot in the building,” said Douglas Vigo, a member of the district’s board of education also representing the Floral Park-Bellerose School District, at the August 10 meeting.

Vigo provided a report on new day-to-day protocols, changes to policies implemented during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, to be enforced inside the district’s schools beginning in September.

“Everything will revert to normal, or back to where it was before Covid,” Vigo said. “The direction for this year is that kids will be moving from classroom to classroom. Class time will go back to starting time and ending time, the length of the day will be the same as it used to be, four minutes between class to class,” Vigo added, citing some examples of changes that students can expect this school year.

The first day of school for Sewanhaka Central High School District schools is September 2.

Vigo advised those in attendance at the meeting to read the re-opening plan, which can be found on the Sewanhaka Central High School District’s website and is updated consistently following Board of Education meetings and any other changes to federal or state guidelines.

The Re-Entry Committee at the Floral Park-Bellerose School District is set to meet the week of August 23, when the school administration returns, to discuss re-opening plans, Kierez said.
“Please understand that if there are any new updates, we will adjust accordingly and keep everyone posted,” she added.