Sayville School District Releases Potential Reopening Plan

SAYVILLE, NY — The Sayville 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.

In addition, Cuomo said each school district must host three online discussion session opportunities for parents with questions by Friday.

The Sayville 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 provided a hybrid learning plan, combining both in-person and remote learning as well as a plan for full in-school learning and remote learning.

The school districts will be hosting a reopening roundtable conducted via Zoom, which will open to the public, on Wednesday starting at 7 p.m. Click here register for the webinar.

According to the Sayville plan, which has been posted to the school district website, the district will be having students from Kindergarten to grade 5 return to school full time while students in grades 6 through 12 will be returning under a hybrid model.

For the elementary school students, all students will return for a full day, with new guidelines. Classroom furniture will be reduced to allow for 6-feet of distance between the desks. The district will also use the larger areas of the schools such as the cafeteria, gym and library as classrooms to accommodate social distancing. Lunch will be served in the classrooms and there will still be recess but with one class in a designated area at a time.

Students in grades 6 through 12, will be separated into two groups. One group will go to school on Mondays and Thursdays and the other group will go to school on Tuesdays and Fridays. On days where students aren't in class, they will be expected to log into each class at the scheduled time to work on assignments. On Wednesdays, all students will log in for class meetings and individual checks. In schools, students will be required to wear masks and follow social distancing guidelines.

If a case of COVID-19 is reported in the schools, the district has laid out a plan for remote learning in the case of a school closure.

Click here to read the full plan on the school district website.

What do you think of the plan? Let us know in the comments