Serving Manhasset, Munsey Park, North Hills, Plandome Heights, Plandome Manor, Plandome and Flower Hill
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Friday, August 7, 2020
Vol. 8, No. 32
GOP LEGISLATORS BACK HATE-CRIME BILL FOR COPS PAGE 26
TOWN APPEALS EXTENET RULING
BILL OK OK’d ’d TO COMBAT RACIAL STEERING IN HOME SALES
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Cuomo set to rule on school openings Governor expected to decide this week on policy for return to classes BY R OB E RT PE L A E Z Gov. Andrew Cuomo was expected to decide this week whether schools throughout the state will be permitted to reopen in the fall, but he said on Monday he trusts parents more than any other affected stakeholder. “Just because the school district says, ‘You shouldn’t worry about your child’s public health,’ that’s not going to be enough,” Cuomo said. “Not in this environment. Not when you’re dealing with situations that everybody knows that nobody has the facts. Parents are going to want to understand the information for themselves.” Cuomo advised all of New York’s more than 700 school districts to safely meet with parents and create an environment where questions and concerns can be asked and answered. “Set up a discussion room now, start explaining to the par-
ents now, have those conversations now, you can’t call people into a conference room but you can invite them on to a video chat or onto a chat room, but they have questions and they need answers and time is short,” Cuomo said. “That should start now because the parents are going to make the decision.” In Great Neck, a coalition of concerned parents has already given some proof to Cuomo’s claim by creating an online petition imploring the public school district to offer their children an in-person education five days a week. “As parent advocates, we demand that the district commit to delivering a comprehensive program that includes standards to ensure that our children receive more than a half-hearted apology from the Board of Education and an empty pledge from the Superintendent for failing to provide them with an exceptional educaContinued on Page 13
PHOTO BY ED CONDON, JR.
A tree leans on a house following the wind storm Tuesday in Port Washington. See story on page 6.
Area districts submit reopening plans to state BY R O S E W E L D ON Numerous school districts in the Manhasset area have announced that they have developed models for reopening their schools in the fall which
address the effects and potential spread of the coronavirus. The districts awaited the decision of Gov. Andrew Cuomo on whether schools will follow an in-person model, a remote model or a hybrid of
the two, meaning that students will spend half of their time in the school building and the other half remotely. In all instances, students will be asked to wear a face Continued on Page 35
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