New Paltz school officials are preparing for a school year that will be closer to the old normal than either of the past two. All children will be expected to attend in person, five days a week; there will be no remote or hybrid options provided. If a surge of cases is experienced, all instruction will be virtual, but state officials are not requiring any plans for kids who are kept home at other times. Everyone in the buildings will have to keep their faces covered and keep three feet apart from one another, and the deep cleaning that’s been done midweek is going to be shifted to the evening hours instead. While there has never been any official guidance requiring Plexiglas partitions, some of the hundreds purchased for classroom use will be placed in the cafeterias — but students will not be forced to sit in what some parents and teachers have described as “fishbowls” that make seeing and hearing difficult.
With hybrid and remote options being discontinued, delivery of meals for children who are learning from home will also be off the table. The superintendent said that providing such a service was challenging due to a “crisis in staffing food service” positions. Every type of service provided is complicated by this pandemic; when someone is exposed to this coronavirus, then a substitute must be brought in to do that job and those are in short supply.
Superintendent Angela Urbina-Medina explained the current plans at the August 4 school board meeting. While these details provide some clarity, the superintendent noted that there is a “lack of guidance” about many of the particulars. It’s also understood that the rules could be changed based on the number of cases reported.
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