Central New York School Districts are preparing for a new school year as they await guidance from Onondaga County about any COVID health precautions they may need to follow. Right now, Liverpool Central Schools is preparing for 100% in person learning and have removed all plexi-glass barriers in schools. However, Superintendent Mark Potter hopes the Delta variant doesn’t mean they’ll be required to put them back up.
“We want to be confident that we can provide some snapshot of what school will look like, so people can prepare, whether it’s teachers or parents. Because we’re still gonna have obligation, I believe, to providing some remote learning option for students in which those families don’t want to participate in school – if because of a mask or if because there are not masks.”
Potter wants natural social settings and says the cafeteria looked “weird” with the plexi-glass barriers when they re-opened for full learning last April. He adds the barriers also took away from what traditional school spaces resemble for natural interactions. He wonders when the COVID vaccines will be expanded for younger students?
“We want to be confident that we can provide some snapshot of what school will look like, so people can prepare, whether it’s teachers or parents. Because we’re still gonna have obligation, I believe, to providing some remote learning option for students in which those families don’t want to participate in school – if because of a mask or if because there are not masks.”
Potter adds the emergency use authorization of COVID vaccines caused some parents to be concerned, even if they had been vaccinated themselves. The first day for Liverpool Schools is Thursday, September 9th. Potter anticipates that some families and students may still choose to utilize remote learning.