NYSED "cancels" sping break state-wide as well as end-of-year exams

The New York State Education Building in Albany, the state capital. It is home to the State Education Department. (PHOTO: NYSED via Twitter)

(MOUNT VERNON, N.Y. / The Journal) — As the United States surpasses 10,000 deaths and 300,000 confirmed cases, New York State is now the epicenter of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. To ensure the practice of social distancing, which stops the spread of virus-carrying pathogens by staying 6 feet away from others, schools statewide have been closed due to mandates by Governor Andrew Cuomo (D), which have recently been extended to April 29th. Furthermore, on Monday, April 6th, the New York State Education Department (NYSED) canceled the administration of the June 2020 High School Regents Exams after canceling the 2020 administration of the New York State English Language and Mathematics Tests (for students in grades 3-8) and the New York State Science Test (for elementary-level students in grade 4 & intermediate-level students in grade 8) on Monday, March 20th.

The questions that have the school community asking is why do schools have to remain open (virtually through districts' remote or distance learning protocols) during Spring Break and what lies ahead for the students of New York State after the brunt of the pandemic? Well, both of those questions have been answered with reactions varying between the dismay at not having a week off during a crisis and the once-in-a-lifetime relief of not stressing to pass exams.

Governor Cuomo's executive orders basically say that any school district that is closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic (which is all of them, because of the statewide mandate) will still get their funding from Albany for the school year, provided that they use all available time to continue operations (i.e. remote or distance learning). In a memorandum on the Governor's executive orders, NYSED writes "such school district or charter school has exhausted and/or will exhaust any available time, including snow days and vacation days". The memo goes on to say that "Districts must continue to provide remote instruction for students, meals for students, and child care for essential workers every weekday between April 1, 2020 and April 14, 2020, even if the district is scheduled to be on spring break during that time." (These rules have been extended to Wednesday, April 29th because of Executive Order 202.14 which amends the initial closures set forth by Executive Orders 202.11 and 202.4.) Simply put, spring break is effectively canceled or else districts don't get their funding.

By now, the teachers' union for the Mount Vernon City School District (MVCSD), the Mount Vernon Federation of Teachers (MVFT) has probably worked out a relationship with the MVCSD to continue work during the planned Spring Break holiday which was from Monday, April 6th to Monday, April 14th; however, we have not heard from the MVFT publicly and we are in the midst of reaching out to their building representatives here at the STEAM Academy.

We have heard from both school students and faculty who have expressed thanks for less stress during this already difficult time; a day after the NYSED canceled the administration of the June Regents, they released a statement and a Frequently Asked Questions document to give guidance on how students will pass courses that were scheduled to have a Regents Exam as well as how current high school seniors will graduate. All students are now required to pass their Regents course to earn credit instead of the usual requirement of still earning credit if a student failed a Regents course and passed the exam. However, if a student fails a Regents course but takes and passes the summer credit recovery program, they will still earn the credit.

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