NEW ROCHELLE, NY — The New Rochelle FUSE school union is calling for a mitigation pause before students return to school after the end of the Christmas break.
“The City School District of New Rochelle says it has a plan to reopen and that the plan has not changed,” said FUSE President Mary Breslin. “Unfortunately, the circumstances surrounding that plan have changed. Despite today’s announcement of a 13,000-record high positive cases in New York, and the reopening of the Javits Center for hospital beds, the plan remains unaltered.”
Westchester County Executive Latimer and New York State Senator Shelley Mayer both directly advocated for a mitigation pause. Yet, they were both rebuffed by the school board and Superintendent Marrero, Breslin added.
“Successful plans are responsive to facts and reality. That may be why over twenty-five Westchester districts have responded to these facts and have scheduled a holiday pause. However, New Rochelle, second only to Yonkers in positive cases, has not altered its reopening plan.”
The New Rochelle Federation of United School Employees has issued the following statement:
The New Rochelle Federation of United School Employees (New Rochelle FUSE) is committed to providing the students we serve with a safe and healthy learning environment. Nothing could be more important than ensuring every student in our schools is safe. That is why we strongly support a five-day holiday pause, which would provide time for students and staff unknowingly exposed over the holiday break to develop symptoms without coming into schools and creating exponential spread. Currently, New Rochelle students are expected to return to schools on January 4 in a hybrid model (A/B cohorts with two days of live instruction). Therefore, a five-day pause translates to only two additional days of remote learning. However, this provides seven days for symptoms to manifest.
New Rochelle is second only to Yonkers in positive cases. Without this brief pause, the City School District of New Rochelle creates circumstances for repeated closures due to infections and recurring quarantines. Using simple science and logic, the five-day mitigation pause, combined with rigorous, on-site random testing, will provide a safe and sustainable reopening for all.
Why are they reopening the javits centre when they didn’t use the beds last time? There is also over 100 beds at the Westchester County Center that never got used.
Goes to show you that the government is clueless.