Serving New Hyde Park, Floral Park, Garden City Park, North Hills, Manhasset Hills and North New Hyde Park
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Friday, August 7, 2020
Vol. 69, No. 32
N E W H Y D E PA R K
GUIDE TO NHP & FLORAL PARK
TOWN APPEALS EXTENET RULING
BILL OK OK’d ’d TO COMBAT RACIAL STEERING IN HOME SALES
PAGES S1-S36
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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 parents 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 educational program in the spring,” the petition reads. Continued on Page 34
PHOTO BY ED CONDON, JR.
A tree leans on a house following the wind storm Tuesday in Port Washington. See story on page 6.
NHP area schools submit reopening plans BY E LL I OT W E L D Some school districts in the New Hyde Park area are determined to have all students return for in-person classes this fall, including the New Hyde Park-Garden City Park school district. Others, such as
the Herricks and Sewanhaka school districts, say they cannot safely accommodate all students for in-person classes at this time. Schools in New York state submitted reopening plans to the governor’s office Friday that were required to contain
plans for fully in-person classes, a hybrid learning model and online classes, if possible. Gov. Andrew Cuomo was to decide this week whether schools are opening in the fall. Reopening plans for districts on the North Shore genContinued on Page 35
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