July 18, 2020

Dear Members and Stakeholders,

Reopening schools; when and how, now, mostly, answered.

The much anticipated New York State-specific school reopening guidance was provided this week by the governor’s office, the New York State Department of Health and the New York State Education Department.   The governor announced on Monday that regions of the state must meet specific metrics before schools can resume in-person learning. Specifically, schools will get the green light from the state to reopen at the start of August if their region remains in, or moves to, Phase 4 AND the coronavirus infection rate, on a 14-day average, remains below 5 percent.  There is a trigger ("safety valve") to require schools to close if the infection rate hits 9 percent on a 7-day average.

Later that day, the Department of Health (DOH) released INTERIM GUIDANCE FOR IN-PERSON INSTRUCTION AT PRE-K TO GRADE 12 SCHOOLS DURING THE COVID-19 PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY.  This document provides guidance for schools that are allowed to provide in-person instruction in the coming school year. The 23-page master guidance document was then supported by Summary Guidelines for In-Person Instruction at Pre-K to Grade 12 Schools, which organizes the information into mandatory and recommended best practices.  A Checklist for Pre-K to Grade 12 School Reopening Plans provides you with a reopening plan review that will ensure that your plan adheres to the mandated core health and safety principles described in the DOH guidance.  Reopening Plans must be submitted by July 31.

The focus of the DOH guidance is primarily on public health protections for in-person instruction, which left many gaps and uncertainties regarding instructional, staff support and logistics protocols as well as student support services in a remote or blended instructional environment.  Because the school board has the ability and responsibility to choose the best method of instructional delivery when the district reopens, school leaders needed more information and guidance regarding these areas.

On Thursday, following a series of state-wide regional meetings with a wide breadth of education stakeholders, the State Education Department (SED) released RECOVERING, REBUILDING, AND RENEWING: THE SPIRIT OF NEW YORK’S SCHOOLS REOPENING GUIDANCE.  I want to thank Chancellor Rosa, Interim Commissioner Tahoe, Deputy Commissioner Wilkins, the Board of Regents and all of the subject matter experts and volunteers for an exceptional and thorough analysis.  The guidance is comprehensive but also has a level of granularity that districts need regarding in-person learning, remote instruction, and blended instruction with all of the variables that support each of the delivery formats, including: individual student needs, teacher-student interactions, staff sustainability and professional support, safety, and community engagement.  This additional information must be integrated with the DOH requirements into one, comprehensive Reopening Plan.

While we now have a much better understanding of what will be required to reopen our schools, we have also been receiving feedback from many of you regarding your concerns about issues that have not been adequately addressed in either guidance package, including:

•    Funding - Everything required by the guidance costs money. We need an infusion of federal money and no state aid cuts. If we don’t get this right, the stakes are nothing short of sickness and possible death.

•    Timing - School personnel have only two weeks to meet the July 31 deadline and six weeks before the start of school. The good news is that many districts have been hard at work on planning for months, and many requirements were anticipated.

•    Health concerns of staff - Faculty and staff are concerned about their own health and that of their families. People have legitimate questions about whether an in-person work environment will be safe, and it’s difficult to provide assurances when there are so many things we don’t know about the virus and the infections are spreading rapidly in other states.

Synthesizing and aligning all of the information and requirements in both of these "reopening guidance packages" from DOH and SED to each of your unique situations could be challenging.  However, the requirements, information and expert perspectives provided by the SED and DOH guidance will ultimately support your district’s implementation of an equitable, quality, and safe learning environment for all of your students, staff, and stakeholders.
 
To help you sort all of this out, you may be interested in attending NYSSBA’s 2020 Summer Law Conference, Legal Considerations for the Reopening of Schools…Whether It Happens Statewide or Regionally, on July 21 and July 22.  This LIVE virtual two half-day conference will provide you with critical information you need to successfully reopen your schools.  Get more details and register for the conference here.
 
We will be providing you with more information and resources in the coming weeks.  In the meantime, be sure to check out our latest edition of On Board by clicking here.  In it you can read more about how districts are preparing their reopening plans, reducing liability during the COVID-19 pandemic, the influence of the Black Lives Matter movement on schools’ training programs, conducting policy reviews, and the important role of the school board president in board productivity.
 
Please let us know how you are progressing with your Reopening Plans and what we can do to assist you.  

It will be a busy two weeks before the July 31 deadline for filing plans, and implementing those plans in a matter of weeks won’t be easy.  Anything this important never is.

Be well and stay in touch.

Sincerely,

Robert S. Schneider CPA, CAE
Executive Director
New York State School Boards Association