Deer Park School District Releases Potential Reopening Plan

DEER PARK, NY — The Deer Park school district recently released a potential plan for reopening schools in the fall. In July, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that New York schools can reopen only if coronavirus infection rates fall below strict benchmarks to be set early this month.

The "formula" that Cuomo spelled out allows school openings in regions that are in Phase Four and have an infection rate under 5 percent. An "emergency" stop to openings will take place if infections rise above 9 percent, he said. He also officially stated last week that all schools in the state are currently allowed to reopen in the fall.

Deer Park school officials presented a possible plan, posted on the school district website, to give residents insight into what schools might look like during the pandemic. Under the potential plan, officials say that the schools will offer a hybrid learning plan, combining both in-person and remote learning.

"The district has considered all measures for in-person learning for our elementary students. We examined our space within each building and our projected enrollments," the plan reads. "With the guidelines outlined in the NYSED and NYSDOH documents and adhering to social distancing requirements, our district will not be able to provide in-person instruction for all our elementary students on a daily basis."

For elementary schools, officials presented two potential plans.

One plan would include students being grouped into two separate groups — Gray and Maroon. The Gray group will attend school on Mondays and Tuesdays and synchronous virtual small group math and reading instruction on Thursdays and Fridays. The Maroon group will attend school on Thursdays and Fridays and virtual small group math and reading instruction on Mondays and Tuesdays. All students assigned to each teacher will meet with their teacher during a designated time remotely on Wednesdays. If there’s a 4 day week, then school officials will adjust Wednesday and make it an in-school day for the group that would miss a day of live instruction.

Sample schedule:

Another potential plan would include students attending school live/in-person a total of 4 days a week and continue with their work through independent learning activities and asynchronous instruction on the fifth day. All PreK-5 students will be assigned one classroom teacher four days of the week for in-school instruction. Each student will be assigned a group number that determines the day of the week they stay home. One-fifth of the students in each class will stay home one day a week to further reduce class size. When students are in school, teachers will provide guidelines and instructions for work to be completed on the at-home day. Small group targeted instruction will be scheduled for ENL and Special Education students on a daily basis.

Sample schedule:

Similarly, secondary school students will follow the same model as the first elementary school plan, splitting students into two separate groups — Gray and Maroon. The Gray group will attend school on Mondays and Tuesdays and synchronous virtual small group math and reading instruction on Thursdays and Fridays. The Maroon group will attend school on Thursdays and Fridays and virtual small group math and reading instruction on Mondays and Tuesdays. All students assigned to each teacher will meet with their teacher during a designated time remotely on Wednesdays. If there’s a 4 day week, then school officials will adjust Wednesday and make it an in-school day for the group that would miss a day of live instruction.

Click here to check out the full plan on the Deer Park school district website.