Long Beach schools to remain closed for 2019-20

Students in kindergarten through 12th grade and college will not return to their schools in New York for the rest of the 2019-20 school year and will instead continue with distance learning to help stop the spread of the coronavirus, Governor Cuomo said Friday afternoon.

In a statement, Long Beach Superintendent of Schools Dr. Jennifer Gallagher sympathized with the students, but acknowledged that Cuomo made the right decision.

“While I completely agree with his decision (I don't see any safe way to reopen schools right now), and I sort of expected the news was coming, I actually got choked up when he said it,” Gallagher said. “Maybe it's because I miss being in our schools and seeing our students.”

With students not returning to the classroom and forced to quarantine, Gallagher emphasized the need to focus on student’s mental health. She advised parents to take breaks and to go for walks to help deal with stress.

On April 27, Gallagher said high school administrators met with senior class and PTA representatives to discuss graduation, prom, and senior activities. A few ideas Gallagher mentioned in her statement were a virtual Senior Scholarship Night and possibly pushing back prom into the later summer, but before students go away to college.

For graduation, Gallagher said the district is planning on holding 10-minute appointment where students can go to a decorated middle school complex and accept their diplomas. Additionally, a graduation video, using photos and video clips of high school seniors, will premiere on June 26, the day graduation was scheduled for.

“This is still just a framework; we will be meeting over the next week or so to finalize plans,” Gallagher said. “We are working on virtual moving up ceremonies for grades 5 and 8 as well. Even in these challenging times, we will make sure that we support all our children, and especially give the Class of 2020 a celebration to remember!”

Cuomo’s 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 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.