Serving Williston Park, East Williston, Mineola, Albertson and Searingtown
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Friday, August 7, 2020
Vol. 69, 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 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 JANELLE CLAUSEN
Hildebrandt’s will close in a number of months, according to a Facebook post by management. See story on page 2.
Williston area schools submit reopening options BY E LL I OT W E L D The Mineola school district has submitted a plan to deal with the coronavirus pandemic that welcomes back grades kindergarten through eight to
in-person classes. Grades nine through 12 at Mineola High School would be in school every other day and on off days will take classes virtually, according to the plan. The plan was among the
school reopening proposals submitted to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office Friday. All the districts in the state were to submit plans for fully in-person classes, a hybrid learning model and online Continued on Page 35
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