New York Governor Expects Decision on School Openings Soon

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo says he expects to have an announcement in the next day or so on whether or not schools in the state will be allowed to reopen after being taught through distance learning for the past month and a half.

The Governor says as the state works toward reopening business, consideration has to be made for working families that don’t have someone to watch young children while their caregivers are at their jobs.

Cuomo says discussions are underway concerning whether the current school year can pick up and regarding the possibility of summer school to make up for lost weeks. 

Besides child care issues, Cuomo says the state is learning where it could do better in other systems related to education as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Cuomo says the state jumped into distance learning “feet first” having not prepared schools, teachers, students, parents and technical systems and support for large-scale online learning until it was forced to by the pandemic.

He says a lot is to be learned about how the system can be made better and become a better option.  The lessons learned can be used not only in future “normal” operations, but if and when there is another spike in COVID-19 or another health or other emergency.