39.0°,
Fair Back to class and to a normal school day in Glen Cove
The 2022-23 academic year, which begins Sept. 1, will be memorable for what’s missing — social distancing, masking and remote learning. There will also be no state requirements for contact tracing and daily testing.
“We’re following guidelines that were provided by the New York State Department of Health,” said Glen Cove School Superintendent Dr. Maria Rianna.
The Department of Health states that in some situations, quarantine is no longer recommended for people who are exposed to Covid-19. And if a child is exposed to Covid-19 they no longer need to quarantine unless they test positive.
Also:
Students and staff with symptoms, such as cough or fever, sore throat, vomiting or diarrhea will be sent home.
If a student or staff member has tested positive for Covid-19 and are waiting to go home, they should wear a well-fitting mask and distance from others.
For those presenting symptoms, students and staff who test positive for Covid-19 should isolate for five days, with day one as the first full day after symptom onset. Those with symptoms may go back to school if they are fever free for 24 hours without fever-reducing medication. They should wear a mask through day 10 of isolation. If Covid-19 symptoms reappear or worsen after ending isolation, they must re-start their isolation period.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that individuals wear a mask if there is exposure for 10 full days in indoor settings regardless of vaccination status, or when students or staff come to school with symptoms or develop symptoms at school. If a school is experiencing a Covid-19 outbreak, masks can be added as a prevention strategy regardless of the Covid-19 community level.
The Department of Health also states that schools should remain open for in-person teaching and learning. At Glen Cove High School, students who are isolating at home or otherwise sick will use Google Classroom, a free file-sharing program that uses Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides and Google Calendar to stay updated on assignments while recovering at home. Rianna said that the district will be using Zoom as an administrative resource for meetings, not as an instructional tool for students.
“We still have to be mindful of making sure to keep our staff, students and families safe,” Alexa Doeschner, the district’s assistant superintendent, said. “If a child has a symptom, like a fever or cough, they will be kept home so we can see how that develops. We are making sure that any sick child is not coming into the building with symptoms.”
When asked about the reaction within the school’s community to the new Department of Health guidelines, Doeschner said that scientific developments and an increased understanding of the pandemic has eased most of the anxiety.
“I think everyone has embraced the idea that we have moved forward,” she said. “We have a grasp on how to work with the Covid virus.”
A former teacher within the district, and now the newly appointed principal of the Landing Elementary School, Jacklyn Burnett, said she’s excited to return to her school this year, and so are teachers she’s interacted with throughout the summer.
“The idea of pulling a small group of students to work with them on specific skills, that was something that was very difficult, if not impossible to do during the height of the pandemic,” Burnett said.
She added that being able to work with students closely within the classroom is something that excites teachers, but it doesn’t mean that they’ve forgotten that there is still work to do in terms of meeting students’ academic, social and emotional needs. Burnett said that just because things seem like they’re returning to normal, the impact of Covid-19 will be long lasting.
“Much of the conversation is about how we will approach those student’s needs,” she said. “We don’t want to forget that this impacted students in a variety of ways and it’s not going to go away in a short amount of time.”
