BUFFALO (WBEN) - As more and more Americans continue to get vaccinated and COVID infection rates drop around the country, many are wondering when schools will completely return to normal.
A good portion Western New York Schools have been operating with a hybrid model that combines a couple days of in-person learning with a couple days of remote instruction. Of course, the goal is to get back to a full-time in-person curriculum as quick as possible.
However, Niagara Falls Superintendent Mark Laurrie and Hamburg Superintendent Michael Cornell both say it's not that simple or easy to overhaul a learning model in the middle of the school year.
"I would think if we looked to make another wholesale move to bring to bring kids back, and we may, we would do it after the spring recess, possibly for the last 10 weeks of school," said Laurrie. "I would tell you going into next year, without knowing, it would be my absolute hope and belief that we would not be in a remote or hybrid model, and that we would be coming back to school at least four or five days a week.
We're on the precipice, in my opinion, of a real mental health and learning pandemic that is not going to cost the human lives, but it's going to take a good three years to recover from the loss of learning," Laurrie continued. "The sooner we can get kids back, the better it will be."
Laurrie is also begging for clear guidance from the state regarding safety protocols, and he also noted that this is a critical time to figure out what the rest of the school year will look like.
"I think we're at the point in the school year now where we have to make a decision," he said. "Where are we going to ride, no matter what the staus of the vaccination is, where are we going to ride for the last for or five months, and we just need clear direction."
In mid-July of last year, the NYS Education Department and Department of Health both issued guidance on how schools could safely return to school in September, which included the provision of requiring six feet of distance between students and staff. As of now, the only way schools are allowed to remain open is if they continue to ensure that six feet of distance, among other safety protocols.
"Our guidance, which has been out since last summer, remains unchanged and provides flexibility for school districts to engage their community of educators, families, students, and local department of health and development a local plan to operate schools safely with a combination of social distancing and masking," the state health department said. "Everyone needs to remember that this pandemic is not over - we all must continue to follow science by wearing face coverings, practicing social distancing, washing our hands, and following thorough cleaning and disinfection protocols. School districts across the state have successfully and safely reopened following these parameters."
According to Cornell, the process of bringing kids back to school five days a week can only become a possibility when the NYS Education Department and Department of Health give them the green light to do that. As of Thursday afternoon, Cornell said there hasn't been any communication on that front.
When asked if he anticipates schools reopening to students five days per week at some point this school year, Cornell essentially said it's not his role predict the future.
"As I've told you many times, predicting and trying to guess what's going to happen next in the COVID era is risky business," said Cornell. "My job as a school superintendent and my role as the president of the Erie Niagara Superintendent's Association is to not predict, but to try to help our organizations be ready for anything that might come next."
