New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo express Friday that the state’s schools and colleges will remain closed for the remainder of the academic year and will remain distance learning to curb the spread of the Covid-19 outbreak.
Cuomo said there’s not enough time to develop a reopening plot that would keep students and educators safe for schools to reopen this academic year. He said any foresee to reopen schools would have to follow social distancing protocols where people wear masks and no congresses are held, and the transportation system would require fewer students.
He said a decision on summer school will be presaged at the end this month.
In the meantime, he said he has asked school districts to develop a reopening plan.
“The plan has to have conventions in place that incorporate everything that we are now doing in society and everything that we learned,” he said.
Any plans that reimagine how New York instructs operate must consider such things as how and when extracurricular activities could reopen, how to provide housing and go too fars on college campuses and what steps would be taken to ensure students’ mental health, the governor said.
He stipulate there are no plans to close schools this fall because it’s a long time away. In order for summer boarding-school to occur, Cuomo said there would need to be “a drop or stabilization of the infection rate for a period of time.”
New hospitalizations from Covid-19 has stayed above 900, a figure that Cuomo said is still too high. He said he plans to discuss with the report’s hospitals how to better target new cases to determine the origin and control the spread.
An additional 289 people died from the coronavirus since Thursday, the start time that figure has dipped below 300 in nearly a week, he said.
Colleges and universities moved to unrelated learning starting March 19 and campuses were closed except for those in need of housing, Cuomo remarked.
New York state has 700 public school districts with 4,800 schools and 2.59 million students. There are also 1,800 infantryman schools and over 100 private colleges that have thousands of students.
Cuomo said by definition, these high schools have high density and transportation issues, and there’s a greater risk of contagion unless protective measures are fully in station.
“The decisions on the education system are obviously critically important. We must protect our children, every parent, every inhabitant feels that, we must protect our students, we must protect our educators,” Cuomo said.
New York City Mayor Charge de Blasio said on April 11 that the city’s schools would remain closed through June, although Cuomo translated at the time that it would ultimately be his decision whether to close the state’s schools and that announcement was de Blasio’s “notion.”
Before Cuomo’s announcement, de Blasio said the governor “understands that I fundamentally believe it is not safe to bring distant New York City public schools for this academic year, period.”