The reopening of New York state’s schools will be tied to and look similar to its economic reopening.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that the state will use a formula to determine if schools will reopen during a press briefing Monday.

The formula notes that schools will be able to reopen if their region is in Phase Four — the last phase of economic opening. The COVID-19 infection rate must be below 5% based on a 14-day average. However, if the infection rate is above 9% on a seven-day average after Aug. 1, schools will close.

The final formula decision will be made the week of Aug. 1-7 once schools submit their reopening plans following the framework established the New York State Department of Education, who presented their guidance to the state’s board of regents during the latter’s meeting on Monday morning.

The Western New York Region, which includes Chautauqua County, is currently in Phase Four.

Schools will need to follow guidelines — using the department of education’s guidance issued on Monday — once they receive the “green light” to open.

Face coverings are strongly recommended at all times, according to a slide during the briefing, and districts should be able to provide mask breaks for students when they are able to socially distance.

Masks will be required on buses and students should social distance. Food service should provide meals in a combination of classrooms and cafeteria if social distancing is not possible in the cafeteria alone. Schools should develop a plan for before and after care and any extracurricular activity must follow state procedures.

The guidance also addressed topics related to restructuring space to maximize in-class instruction, screening and tracing, as well as cleaning and disinfecting.

“Everybody wants to reopen schools, but you only reopen if it’s safe to reopen, and that’s determined by the data,” Cuomo said during the briefing. “You don’t hold your finger up and feel the wind, you don’t have an inspiration, you don’t have a dream, you don’t have an emotion — look at the data.”

He added, “If you have the virus under control, reopen. If you don’t have the virus under control, then you can’t reopen. We’re not going to use our children as the litmus test and we’re not going to going to put our children in a place where their health is endangered. It’s that simple. Common sense and intelligence can still determine what we do, even in this crazy environment. We’re not going to use our children as guinea pigs.”

REACTION FROM LOCAL SUPERINTENDENTS

Monday’s news came as very little surprise to several superintendents across Chautauqua County.

Most, if not all, have already begun putting the state’s anticipated guidance into action.

“Probably over a month ago, we formed several committees here within the different to start looking at reopenings, the health concerns with our nursing staff and the medical community and the instructional part of it with staff and teachers,” said Michael Mansfield, Dunkirk City School district superintendent. “We have a nice organization together to go forward.”

Dr. Colleen Taggerty, who was named the Fredonia Central School’s interim superintendent last month, agreed with Mansfield’s assessment.

“What it did was confirm that we will have something certain in the first week of August and also put everyone on notice that if in fact there’s a resurgence, we might not be reopening,” she said. “It’s something that we not have to keep in the back of our mind.”

She also agreed that a lot of work has been done regionally to help set the groundwork.

“The task force that has been set up has a good handle on everything that’s coming out, whether it’s through the CDC or the health organizations,” Taggerty, who retired as Olean City School district superintendent in 2017. “They’re paying attention to everything and our hope is that the state guidance in conjunction with the governor and the template that’s coming out, that this committee has put together will help finalize things and we’ll be able to sit and fill it in based on what works or us.”

She added, “We’re in a good spot with the leadership that has already been in place.”

Mansfield added, “We continue to monitor some of the data coming out from other districts coming out. We’ve been preparing and researching getting ready for this time. That’s where we are right now … we’re ready and mobilized to move forward.”

Still, questions loom.

“I think we’re going to be looking really for help and guidance on transporting students on our buses,” Mansfield noted, explaining that despite guidance being given on how buses should be cleaned and social distance should be maintained, no specific guidance has been relayed to districts about how to go about doing so.

“We’re just looking for firmer guidelines on what we’re going to do on the number of students on a bus and entering the bus,” he added.

Added Taggerty, “I think the biggest thing is asking our communities, our parents, our families for their patience and understanding as we move into this next phase. Whether it’s a partial reopening, full reopening, we will need help and support in making that happen.”

That support will be needed, they noted, with an especially tight deadline.

“Even though we’ve been preparing, we’re ready to push hard these next two-and-a-half weeks to have our plans in by the end of the month,” Mansfield said. “I don’t think that will be the end of it, we can submit our plans, but there is going to be a great deal of work to do as we work on those type of details that will come out of our plans that to reopen.”