Teachers, districts in Williston area prepare for an unusual fall

Elliot Weld
East Williston school Superintendent Elaine Kanas said the district is still adjusting to the new pandemic protocols.

The East Williston school district will bring all of its students back to full-time in-person instruction starting Sept. 8. Superintendent Elaine Kanas said all students will be wearing masks at all times and keep six feet apart in their classrooms.

The district offered the option to students to take classes fully remotely.

“The district is finalizing the numbers in the fully remote program. The numbers presently are about 177 students,” Kanas said.

Kanas said the district athletic department is awaiting guidance from the New York State Public High School Athletic Association on fall sports.

Beginning Sept. 3, the Herricks school district will welcome students in grades K-5 back to in-person learning five days a week and students in grades 6-12 into a hybrid learning model in which they will be split into two groups, according to the district’s reopening plan.

The middle and high school cohorts will alternate days in school in a four-day school week. Siblings will be kept in the same cohort so they can attend school on the same day.

“The school district considers in-person services a priority for our youngest and high needs students,” the district reopening plan states.

Superintendent Fino Celano said approximately 25% of the student body has opted for remote learning and the district has received positive feedback from parents and staff on its plan.

The district’s website said if the state Department of Health recommends that the district changes to remote classes, it has the ability to quickly switch one class, school or the entire district over to online classes.

As the district prepares to welcome students back to in-person classes, administrators are seeking ways to reduce the number of people in the building at once and give a sense of safety to as many students, teachers and parents as possible.

About 30 teachers have opted to work completely from home, according to Herricks Teachers’ Association President Nidya Degliomini.

Degliomini said that because of the large variation in students’ class schedules in grades 6-12, teachers who work with these grades are not able to work from home. Teachers who are working with grades K-5 did have the option to teach only remotely. They will be paired up with a class of normal size consisting of children who are taking classes only from home.

Students in grades 6-12 who opted to take classes from home will live-stream into a classroom where a teacher is delivering a lesson to students.

Degliomini said some teachers who usually work with grades 6-12 wanted to work from home, citing safety concerns. Some teachers who had certification to teach the younger grades are being switched to teach those grades so they can work from home. Degliomini said those who cannot come to school due to medical concerns and are not certified to teach elementary students are working with the district on a “case by case basis.” Some are going to take a leave of absence.

Degliomini is teaching sixth-grade English language arts this year.

She said the district has done a good job of being transparent and keeping the community in the loop about the reopening plans. She said originally the district was not going to offer an option for parents to allow their child to take classes remotely. But after hearing concerns from the community, the district altered the reopening plan to include one.

Because grades 6-12 are on a cohort model, where the student body is split in half and alternates days in and out of school, Degliomini said there should be less fear about large crowds.

“If you imagine you’re in a building where there’s normally 1,000 kids, now that’s cut to 500 and then a quarter are at home so now you’re at 400,” Degliomini said.

She said the district has daily cleaning and disinfecting protocols in place, an indoor mask mandate and social distancing. Yet, she said she can’t help but have a few fears of what could go wrong. She said she worries about what would happen if someone travels somewhere where COVID-19 cases are high and comes back to school, thus exposing the population.

She worries how much cleaning will be done in classrooms between classes or what will be done with a student who acts out or refuses to wear a mask. Another concern is how the district will assist those who may have experienced trauma since the pandemic began such as losing a family member.

A spokesperson for the Mineola school district said it is still gathering data on how many students have opted for remote learning. Under the district’s plan, all students grades K-8 will be allowed to attend school in person five days per week. Grades 9-12 will be split into two cohorts and alternate days taking classes in person and remotely.

The plan states that all parents have the option to enroll their children in remote classes full-time if they have concerns related to the coronavirus. The schedule for the virtual classes will mirror the child’s regular day in school.

The plan says that at the elementary level, virtual classes will provide five hours of  instruction per day and at the secondary level, five hours and ten minutes of instruction in the four core disciplines.

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