Rockville Centre schools superintendent aims to avoid remote learning return

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At the Jan. 13 Board of Education meeting, Acting Superintendent Robert Bartels said he believed that despite an increase in coronavirus cases across Nassau County due to the Omicron variant, students are better off learning in school instead of switching to a remote model.

“Students belong in schools where they can get the best possible instruction,” he said. “ . . . I know there are a number of parents who would like it to be a parent choice, but we believe students who can attend should be in school.”

With Covid-19 numbers increasing, many parents have expressed a desire to temporarily return to remote learning, while others have been outspoken against taking children out of school. Bartels said, however, that due to the rising number of students testing positive and having to quarantine, and others having to quarantine because of close contact to someone who tested positive, the district allows them to log on for classes remotely while waiting for test results.

Bartels said he was confident that it is best for students who don’t have to quarantine to learn in school, and that the district continues to abide by guidelines set forth by the Nassau County Health Department.

While case numbers did spike across the county in January, Bartels noted that the school district saw about 70 quarantine cases in the first week of the new year, but it fell to below 20 as of the Jan. 13 meeting.