‘Walking into a lot of unknowns’

Long Beach parents unsure how schools will look in the fall

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Amanda Moore, a single mother of two boys and a co-owner of Long Beach-based Wolf & Wing Interior Design, had to make adjustments back in March, when the coronavirus pandemic forced schools to close, leaving many students at the mercy of an unproven online learning model.

Moore’s 15- year-old son, whom she declined to name, will be a sophomore at Long Beach High School. Moore said she had to make an extra effort to help him during the pandemic.

“As a single mom and a business owner, there’s not a whole lot of extra time as it is, so I had to quickly figure out what he needed and how I was going to take the time every day to help him,” she said. “Most of the time it was just that I needed to motivate him, and I needed to keep him on schedule and to check on him.”

When Moore realized that the pandemic would drag on, she made adjustments to help her son stay on top of his schoolwork, while also taking care of her younger son, who attended day care.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced last week that schools in New York state can open in September, thanks to the state’s low Covid-19 infection rate. With the guidance of a reopening task force — made up of administrators, parents, teachers and students — the Long Beach School District released its reopening plan, giving many parents the option of in-school learning, remote learning or a hybrid model.

Middle and high school students will follow the hybrid plan, switching between remote learning and in-school classes every other day. Elementary school students have the option of attending classes in person every day. Parents who choose to opt out of in-person learning must let the district know this week, schoolofficials said.

Moore said she had mixed feelings about allowing her son to go back to school, and about the hybrid model. “I want all the kids to be healthy and safe, and I want all the teachers to be healthy and safe,” she said. “But I really do think a kid like mine learns best in person. I think we’re walking into a lot of unknowns.”

Moore said she was concerned not only about how her son might suffer academically, but also about the social implications of students wearing masks, having to keep their distance from one another and being unable to see their friends who are on a different schedule. She also questions the safety of prolonged mask wearing for children, even though the district plans “masks breaks” throughout the school day.

During the spring, when her boys were home full time, she said, they developed a schedule, but she worries about having to do that all over again if the schools have to shut down again. “We don’t need any more unknowns at this point in the year,” Moore said.

Cory McLaughlin, president of Lido Elementary’s PTA and co-president of the Central Council PTA, said she would not send her 8-year-old son, Max, back to Lido Elementary next month. McLaughlin, 48, said that as an older parent, she is taking more precautions.

“I do trust the district is doing the best they can under the situation,” she said. “I know they’ve been working really hard in making arrangements and preparations, but that’s just not a risk I’m personally willing to take for our family.”

McLaughlin, who was a member of the reopening task force, added that her son might struggle in the remote learning model, but she hopes things will get back to normal soon so he can catch up. “My son does not thrive in an online learning environment,” she said. “. . . I feel like he can get over quicker missing his friends and missing school than losing a parent.”

Like Moore, McLaughlin lamented the restrictions on students’ social interactions, and said that her son’s favorite time in school before the pandemic was recess, which won’t be the same.

“Yes, I definitely think it’ll take a toll, but I don’t think it will be a lasting toll,” she said. “I think kids are very resilient, and they bounce back. I think it’ll be somewhat traumatic for some of the younger kids to go back to a building where everyone’s in a mask and they’re in one room all day. It feels like a lose-lose.”

McLaughlin said she would feel more comfortable sending Max back to school when there was an effective vaccine.

District Superintendent Dr. Jennifer Gallagher said that the district has been working hard for months to make it possible to bring students back to school safely, and added that Cuomo made the right decision. “I believe that the governor’s decision is the correct one, in that the infection rate in this area is very low right now, and the vast majority of students, teachers, and parents would prefer for students to be back in school as much as possible,” Gallagher wrote in an email.

“The tricky part,” she added, “is to do so in a way that ensures safety precautions for students and staff, works for working families, and provides a high quality instructional model in both in-person and remote settings.”

Board of Education President Tina Posterli said she also agreed with Cuomo’s decision, and that the district’s plan followed the state’s guidance, focusing on health, safety and equity. “It is a living document,” Posterli wrote in an email, “with many facets that can change at any point based on the infection rates in our district, meaning it can change to an all-remote implementation in the worst case scenario, or to all in person should a vaccine or other effective modality become available in the spring.”

Posterli said she hoped the district would be able to hold events like the prom and graduation in person next year.

She also said that she had concerns about her daughter, a 2019 graduate of Long Beach High School, starting her sophomore year at college. But she lauded the district’s efforts, and said she would have “no qualms” about sending her daughter to a Long Beach school under the plan the district created.

Sam Pinto, a school board trustee who has two children attending district schools, echoed Posterli’s sentiments, and noted that the district was focused not only on making in-person instruction safe, but also on optimizing the virtual class structure in case the district needed to go fully remote again.

Pinto also stressed the need for social interaction. “I think safe interaction is important for their emotional and social growth,” he said of the students.