Friday, June 26, 2020
Vol. 80, No. 26
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Syosset Schools to temperature check students in fall
TOWN POOLS OPEN
BY RIKKI MASSAND
Supervisor Joseph Saladino and Receiver of Taxes Jeff Pravato officially kick off the 2020 pool season with the Town’s lifeguard fleet. The Town of Oyster Bay opened two of its community park pools this weekend, the first to open on Long Island. Syosset-Woodbury and Tappen pools are officially open, with pools at Plainview-Old Bethpage, Marjorie Post in Massapequa and Bethpage Parks all scheduled to open June 27. “Our Town pools and beaches are a staycation destination for residents of all ages and that especially holds true this year, as many of us have had to readjust summer plans,” said Town of Oyster
Bay Supervisor Joseph Saladino. “We recognize that our local pools have become a backyard oasis for many young families and seniors, that’s why we’ve made many enhancements to them over the past few years. This summer, we’ve taken action to further ensure the health of our residents by implementing new safety protocols to ensure all who visit our facilities feel safe this summer.” The Town’s five pool locations include Syosset-Woodbury Community Park, Tappen Beach, Marjorie R. Post
Community Park in Massapequa, Plainview-Old Bethpage Community Park and Bethpage Community Park. Pool admission is limited to Town residents, however non-residents are permitted with a resident. Residents are reminded to practice social distancing throughout the facility, except when with their own household or family unit. Masks should not be worn in the water. Pool facilities will once again offer complimentary sunscreen stations courtesy of a partnerSee page 24
The Jericho Syosset News Journal is published every Friday by Litmor Publishing Corp. Periodical Postage paid at Hicksville, N.Y. 11801Telephone 931-0012 - USPS 3467-68 Postmaster: Send Address Change to: The Syosset Jericho News Journal, 821 Franklin Ave., Suite 208, Garden City, N.Y. 11530 • Meg Norris Publisher
During the Wednesday, June 17 Board of Education meeting held virtually, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Thomas Rogers updated Syosset board members on the progress in building a plan for students’ return to in-classroom instruction this fall. He noted that potential exists for teachers and students to have to “go back-and-forth” between being live in-person at schools and the virtual learning that took place since March in all schools due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “The idea of a seamless transition and a design that allows us to keep pace with our curriculum will inevitably mean our virtual learning has to improve from where it was this spring so we can accomplish our goals. The district’s subcommittee on Teaching and Learning has already broken into a number of further subcommittees around elementary, middle school-level, secondary (high school) and special education. Right now they are doing granular work but one of the challenges each subcommittee has is trying to plan without knowing what the maximum number of students that will be allowed into one location at one time will be by September -- it becomes very difficult to plan what our classrooms could look like. My worry is that we can talk about a lot of options and then a lot of them turn out to not be realistic or permissible -- that would be energy invested into options that would not pan out,” Dr. Rogers told the board last week. Schools Trustee Chris DeFilippo said many private firms, government offices and office buildings are taking temperatures of all persons entering the facility “as one barometer of the onset of a possible illness.” “If our schools open up in fall with 3,000 students, how much time would it take from the day, should we decide to take everyone’s temperature?” he asked. The school district has already acquired a stock of touchless thermometers in order to take the temperatures of students, teachers and staff at schools this fall. Rogers said there are multiple thermometers for the larger Syosset schools. “We know there is a likelihood that we will take temperatures so we were proactive about purchasing the equipment, not wanting to wait too long until there is a lot of demand and then scarcity of products. That said, all of this is speculative as avoiding that scarcity may See page 24
School board evaluates Amazon plan PAGE 6 Principal feted with retirement parade PAGE 9