Franklin Square superintendent reacts to school closure

Franklin Square School District Superintendent Dr. Jared Bloom said he hoped he would not have to send a letter to parents informing them that schools would not reopen this year. But that’s exactly what he did on May 1, when Gov. Andrew Cuomo mandated that schools throughout the state remain closed for the remainder of the 2019 - 20 school year, and will instead continue distance learning to help stop the spread of the coronavirus.

The announcement came as Covid-19 hospitalizations and deaths continue a steady decline, but the state is still seeing nearly a thousand new cases a day, which Cuomo said was unacceptably high.

His decision affects 4.2 million students statewide in 700 public school districts, 89 SUNY and CUNY colleges, and 100 private colleges.

“While we all knew this was inevitable, it does not make it any easier for the students and staff,” Bloom wrote. “Honestly, as I sit alone in my office at Washington Street School, it is eerily quiet, but instruction is still ongoing, and we will continue to make sure our students are engaged and supported throughout the rest of the school year.”

He said district officials were already planning to move forward with the fourth phase of their distance learning program on May 4. In the first phase, the district sent out educational material packets to all students, and the second phase involved increased communication. In the third phase, the district moved forward with online lessons, and Bloom said the fourth phase would be a continuation of that, with:

• English and mathematics lessons posted online every day
• Two to three science and social studies lessons posted each week
• Physical education, library, art and music lessons posted weekly
• Small-group classes for students
• Scheduled extra-help hours
• Continued services for students with special needs

The district is also looking at long and short-term options to honor its sixth-graders, and Bloom said, “Regardless of what we do, it will be special, and we will make sure our kids know how much we love them.”

District officials do not know what will happen over the summer, however, as they are still waiting on guidance from the state.  “The safety of our students is our number one concern,” Bloom wrote in his letter, “and we will continue to work tirelessly to learn about this process.”

Anyone with questions, he said, can send them to their local Parent Teacher Association to be answered at Bloom’s Virtual Coffee with the Superintendent on May 18 at 7 p.m.

In the meantime, he said, parents, teachers, students and administrators will get through this process together, displaying a new district logo with all three school mascots together. “We are in this together, we will get through this, we support each other,” he said. “We can! We will!”

Social distancing practices, as mandated by the state, have prevented an estimated 100,000 Covid-19 cases, Cuomo said in his announcement Friday. For the first time in weeks, he said, the number of overnight deaths dropped below 300 from Thursday into Friday — from 306 to 289, a 5.5 percent decline. New hospitalizations were also down.

“Our past actions changed the path trajectory,” he said, adding today's actions will determine “the number of sick tomorrow,” — hence the need to keep school buildings closed and continue social distancing.

Now, however, state officials must determine more precisely why the state is still seeing nearly a thousand new cases a day. So the state is drilling down, looking at new cases by county.

New York County (Manhattan) had the most new cases overnight, with 167, followed by Kings (Brooklyn), Bronx, Queens and Nassau counties.

Nassau had 97 new cases, or roughly 10 percent, of the statewide total.

The state is also now looking at who is becoming infected. The governor wondered if essential workers were, or if other people were. Where are they becoming infected? At work? On public transportation?

Those are the questions the state is seeking to answer, Cuomo said.

People should continue wearing their masks in public and keep up social distancing to protect others, he said.