The Rome City School District is opting for a fully virtual learning plan for the first 6 weeks of school.

In a letter sent to parents, Superintendent Peter Blake listed several reasons the district decided to delay welcoming students back into their buildings, including:

  • Asymptomatic cases and the lack of ability to detect positive cases in our schools.
  • Quarantine and contact tracing requirements, including the burden that the Department of Health requirements will place on a family if someone is suspected of an illness or actually becomes ill.
  • Testing requirements and potential cost.

Blake also referenced the increased costs for staffing classrooms, cleaning facilities, and busing students under social distancing requirements, as well as scheduling difficulties.

Enter your number to get our free mobile app

As a result, Rome has decided to "continue with remote learning through the first six (6) weeks of the 2020-2021 school year, at which point we will either continue this way or begin to reintroduce students back into our facilities." The district will re-evaluate in early October, and "decide how learning will look in late October/early November."

Several school districts in Central New York have announced their intentions to utilize a hybrid learning plan for the 2020-2021 school year, after Governor Cuomo gave the okay last week for schools to reopen for instruction in the fall.



 

Beware of These 50 Jobs That Might Vanish in the Next 50 Years

More From 96.1 The Eagle