NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. (WBEN) - Niagara Falls City School Superintendent Mark Laurrie could hardly hold back his excitement when he was asked about the return of elementary students to five-day, in-person learning. "It's like the first day of school, almost. It's a really great day and a long time coming."
On February 26, the CDC came out with new distancing rules and about 50 days later, the New York State Health Department approved the rules, allowing elementary students to return to classrooms with three feet of distancing.
However, the 7 day Covid transmission rate precludes the full return of middle or high school students. The only way secondary schools can move from six feet of distancing to three feet, is if the transmission threshold is less than 100 cases per 100 thousand residents.
Laurrie, is not expecting that to happen anytime soon. "As of last week, we were about three times that. We were at 321 per 100,000 residents in Niagara County."
The Superintendent is hoping that the return of elementary students goes smoothly, allowing the state to change guidance before the end of the school year for middle and high school students.
It haunts Laurrie that not all kids can return to school. "It really does because I believe we can do it. I believe strongly that the transmission is not happening in schools. We're a fully masked district and can provide spacing."
Laurrie thinks it's time to make the full move to in-person learning for everyone. Behind the scenes, he's talking continuously with Niagara County Public Health Director, Dan Stapleton as well as the Erie Niagara School Superintendents Association. In addition, local School Boards and the public are pushing for full time in-person learning.
"We need to allow more local decision making, especially when it comes to education." Laurrie says when one decision is made for 635 school districts, you're going to have a lot of mixed-messaging and consternation. "Give it back to local districts. We're not afraid to make decisions based on what's best for our kids."
