Restoring Normalcy for K-12 Students on Long Island

Despite the high degree of uncertainty that we have faced in the pandemic, the need for in-person learning for K-12 students has never been more clearly illustrated than has it during the course of the last year. Limited live instruction, and reduced access to sports and extracurricular activities, has hindered the development of academic and cognitive skills and has impeded the social and emotional components of learning. Fortunately, due to the implementation of health and safety measures, COVID-19 transmission in schools has been virtually non-existent. Existing State, County and CDC guidelines provide for the safe 5-day, live instruction of all K-12 students. There are no separate regulations for secondary students. Nevertheless, some Long Island school districts have decided not to offer the option of 5-day, live instruction to all K-12 students out of concern for increasing quarantine numbers. So, what can be done to help ensure that students return to their deserved quality of education and normalcy?

The NYSDOH School Reopening Guidelines (“NYS Guidelines”) define “appropriate social distance” as EITHER 6 feet of distance OR the use of physical barriers and require that masks be worn at any time when “appropriate social distancing” cannot be maintained. The NYS Guidelines permit all New York school districts to offer 5-day, live instruction to all K-12 students, through the employment of all, or any portion, of these safety measures. The CDC also recently updated K-12 school guidance to permit 3-foot distancing between students in classrooms, provided masks are worn. The adoption of the CDC's reduced distancing recommendation by localities would minimize the number of healthy students and faculty members identified as "close contacts" and therefore subject to quarantine. Many Long Island school districts, including the Hauppauge School District, the Shoreham-Wading River Central School District, the Cold Spring Harbor Central School District, the Three Village Central School District, the Bethpage Union Free School District, the Massapequa School District, Carle Place Public Schools, the East Williston School District, the Hewlett-Woodmere School District and the Valley Stream East School District, to name a few, rightly offer 5-day, live instruction to all K-12 students, some having done so since September, months prior to the CDC's distancing reduction. Other Long Island school districts are in the midst of a phased return to 5-day, live instruction. Sadly, far too many school districts have neither invited all students back for 5-day live instruction nor have plans to do so, expressing concerns for potentially high quarantine numbers on account of county classification of “close contacts,” who are subject to quarantine.

The SCDHS and NCDH should align their guidelines (“County Guidelines”) with CDC Guidelines and NYS Guidelines in order to keep healthy students and faculty members in classrooms. Although the Nassau County Department of Health ("NCDH") has already given schools the green light to implement the CDC's 3-foot distancing recommendation, the The Suffolk County Department of Health Services (“SCDHS”) has not yet done so, leaving healthy Suffolk County students and staff members at a higher risk of quarantine. Additionally, SCDHS and NCDH both currently consider only whether an individual has been within 6 (in Suffolk County) or 3 feet (in Nassau County) of another who has tested positive for COVID-19 for at least ten minutes, in determining whether an individual is a “close contact.” Since County Guidelines do not consider the use of physical barriers as an alternate means of distancing, a large number of healthy students and faculty members are identified as “close contacts,” and thus subject to quarantine. Many school districts have expended time and resources installing physical barriers to ensure compliance with NYS Guidelines, and such efforts should be recognized at the county level.

Additionally, County Guidelines should be amended to provide for a shortened quarantine period for students and school faculty members upon receipt of a negative COVID-19 test result. Until April 1, NYS travel guidelines provide domestic travelers the option to end quarantine on day 4, upon receipt of a negative test result. After April 1, domestic travelers into New York will not be required to quarantine at all. Similarly, CDC Guidelines afford close contacts the option to stop quarantining after day 7, upon the receipt of a negative test result. If County Guidelines were to adopt a similar option, fewer healthy students and faculty members would be subject to unnecessarily long quarantine periods, at the expense of well-deserved, in-person learning days. The quarantining of healthy students and faculty members must be limited, to the greatest extent possible, in order to minimize interruptions to academic and extracurricular activities.

Notably, the above-suggested amendments to County Guidelines provide only a step toward normalcy in Long Island school districts. As mentioned above, all Long Island school districts are permitted to offer 5-day, live instruction to all K-12 students, with adherence to the NYS Guidelines. The possibility of quarantine is not a prohibiting factor in the potential return of all K-12 students to 5-day, live instruction. Rather, the possibility of quarantine is a risk to be considered by each student and family in determining their preferred instructional platform. School districts have correctly continued to offer the choice of remote and/or hybrid instructional platforms for students and families who are not yet ready to return to 5-day, in-person learning. However, all efforts should be made by school districts to provide the equally important, and well-deserved, choice of a full return to live instruction and to increased normalcy.