RVC schools to remain closed for 2019-20

Students in Rockville Centre will not return to their school buildings for the remainder of the school year, and will instead continue with distance learning to help stop the spread of the coronavirus, Governor Cuomo said Friday afternoon.

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. The school closure is extended to college campuses in addition to kindergarten through 12th grade classes across New York State.

“We are truly saddened that we cannot connect personally in our classrooms with all of our students,” Superintendent Dr. William Johnson said, “but it is imperative that we focus first and foremost on maintaining the safety of our children and our families.”

Johnson said the administration is working on ways to virtually commemorate the end-of-year celebrations, which will be developed over the next few weeks.

“While we are all disappointed by the governor's announcement today regarding school closures throughout the end of the academic year, we feel it is more important than ever to work with the district to keep a strong focus on educating our children,” Tara Hackett, president of the Rockville Centre Board of Education, said in a statement on behalf of the board. “In a time of great uncertainty for us all, we want to ensure that our students are doing well both academically and psychologically. Our priority has been, and will continue to be, on delivering strong remote learning methods to educate all students and in maintaining connectivity with them. Our hearts break for our Class of 2020 graduates at all levels, but especially our seniors, that the end of the year has taken this course. We pledge to find creative ways to give our students the celebrations and accolades they truly deserve.”

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

For the first time in weeks, 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.

The governor said social distancing practices, as mandated by the state, have prevented an estimated 100,000 Covid-19 cases, which he said would have overrun the hospitals and caused many more deaths.

“Our past actions changed the past trajectory,” he said.

Today’s actions will determine “the number of sick tomorrow,” he said — hence the need to keep school buildings closed and continue social distancing.

The governor said colleges and school districts across New York must begin developing reopening plans, which must be approved by state officials. The governor added there was no determination yet whether there would be summer school. That announcement would be made in the coming weeks.

Of the virus, the governor said, “The enemy is on the run.”

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.