The Governor of New York city in the United States Andrew Cuomo has announced that schools and colleges will have to remain closed for the entire academic year. The Governor said there is not enough time to plan out a reopening routine that will keep both students and teachers safe during these times of the pandemic. Decisions concerning summer school in the state are to be announced by the end of May. This announcement was made on Friday while he also asked schools to develop a plan for reopening. “Giving the current situation, K-12 schools and college facilities will remain closed for the rest of the academic year and will continue to provide distance learning”, Cuomo said. Meal assistance, virtual learning and child care will still continue. Earlier in the week the city’s mayor announced that public school will drop traditional grading for most of their K-12 students and that virtual graduation will hold for its students. Coronavirus infection rates will remain high if schools have to reopen. In the United States, New York is one of the states with the highest case of coronavirus.
Cuomo said “you have 30 kids in a classroom but with social distancing, you can only put 10 kids in a classroom, OK, so get another two classrooms with another two teachers? I can’t”. When the global pandemic has started earlier governor Cuomo was reluctant to shut down all schools. The board association of state schools have placed a $200 billion price tag for help. Before the governor’s announcement, the mayor of New York said the Governor “understands that I fundamentally believe it is not safe to bring back New York City, public schools for this academic year period”. According to the Governor, schools have transportation issues and high density and there is a huge risk of contracting the virus unless protective measures are applied. Currently, in New York there are 700 public schools district with 4’800 schools and 2.59 students. There are also 100 private colleges with 1,800 private schools and thousands of students attending.
