BUFFALO (WBEN) - Local superintendents are generally unphased that the state is not issuing COVID-19 guidance for schools prior to the start of the academic year in September, which will allow individual districts to have more autonomy in the decision-making process.
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New York State Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker released the following statement Thursday afternoon:
"With the end of the state disaster emergency on June 25, 2021, school districts are reestablished as the controlling entity for schools. Schools and school districts should develop plans to open in-person in the fall as safely as possible, and I recommend following guidance from the CDC and local health departments."
"My reaction is that I'm pleased - it's what I've been asking for in our district for the entire course of the summer," said Niagara Falls Superintendent Mark Laurrie. "I think we're at a point in this pandemic...where school districts know best on what needs to occur in their district.
"We have the guidance; we have the science; we have the access to the Department of Health," he continued. "Each one of the 700 districts in New York State are so different - what happens in Niagara Falls is different than what happens in Barker. So, I'm pleased that we'll make the best decisions for the health and safety of our kids..."
"We've been asking since the spring time for guidance from the New York State Department of Health for September 2021," said Hamburg Superintendent Michael Cornell. "It didn't come; we were ignored, and the planning in the Hamburg Central School District and school districts across Western New York continued unabated despite the lack of guidance from the state. Here we are in August, and we find out the state isn't providing guidance, but we've more or less planned for the school year already without them, so albeit surprising, but it doesn't have a devastating impact on our planning for the school year."
Cornell also added that "one size fits all approaches for a state as large as New York State tend not to be particularly successful," but he didn't want to say whether or not having individual schools in more control over the situation will necessarily be a better thing.
"Rather I just take it for what it is, move on, and make the best decisions we can," said Cornell.
Of course, Laurrie and Cornell would have preferred this guidance, or lack thereof, come earlier in the summer as opposed to one month before doors reopen to students, and Laurrie's not quite sure the state waited so long to make this announcement.
"My only assumption, and it's strictly an assumption, is that they were waiting to see if the CDC gave some more stringent guidelines or more mandates," said Laurrie. "I know the Education Department was waiting for direction from the Governor's Office, and not to make light of what's happening there, but I think they're very busy with other matters."
But what will the school setting look like? Laurrie said he's going to base much of the fall guidance on what they practiced over the summer, where roughly 1,600 students were involved in summer programs.
"Masks indoors are strongly recommended but not mandatory," Laurrie began. "If you're on a bus, you wear a mask; if you're passing in the hall, you wear a mask - there's no hard and fast rule about three feet, six feet, 12 feet. You do your best to keep some separation.
"When you're outside, masks are urged, but you don't have to wear them," Laurrie. "We continue to urge vaccinations, but we don't mandate them; we continue to urge students to get vaccinations and make opportunities available; we continue to pursue the ability to test in local districts, and we continue to monitor what the conditions are. If, unfortunately, the conditions change for a higher infection rate, you step back and become more restrictive in those decisions. That could be a particular school where everybody must wear masks, a particular school where we go back to all remote learning, a particular school where we go back to an every other day model - those decisions should be part of a fallback plan, God forbid you have to use it, but it has to enter into your thinking."
As for Hamburg Schools, Cornell said the day-to-day will very much resemble the fall of 2019, or almost back to normal in a lot of ways.
"We're going to have full attendance in our school every day; we're going to operate substantially in the same way as we did before - lunch in cafeterias - things like that," said Cornell. "We'll be operating with three feet of physical distance where we can and maybe less in certain circumstances, more where we're able. I think it's going to look a lot like regular school and feel a lot like regular school."
As for masks, Cornell said it's probably too early to tell, saying they'd have to predict the path the virus will take between now and September, which is difficult to know at the moment.
The Williamsville Central School District released the following statement:
“The District was informed last night that the New York State Department of Health will not be providing health and safety guidance for schools operating during the COVID-19 pandemic for the 2021-2022 academic year. We will continue to plan and prepare for the upcoming school year using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Guidance for COVID-19 Prevention in K-12 Schools and the American Academy of Pediatrics COVID-19 Guidance for Safe Schools as a basis for creating an educational environment that is as healthy and safe as possible for all of our students and faculty and staff.”
A spokesperson from the Buffalo School District said Superintendent Dr. Kriner Cash will have a community-wide statement by Monday evening.