Shelter Island Reporter editorial: Back to school

Some good news came out of Albany last week. Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) said the State will roll back many remaining COVID-19 protocols for school districts.

This time last year, as students headed back to their classrooms, a masking requirement remained in place that many parents considered unnecessary and intrusive. That policy was dropped last spring, in the final months of the school year, and this September, there will be no mask mandate.

Another important change Ms. Hochul announced is that children will no longer have to quarantine if they are exposed to a classmate who tested positive. The priority now is to keep students in classes and not banish them from school because they sat near someone who contracted COVID-19.

“The big news is no more quarantining, no more test-to-stay,” the governor said at a media briefing in New York City. “The days of sending an entire classroom home because one person was symptomatic or tested positive, those days are over.”

Under the new state policy, schools can choose to test for “close contact” activities such as sports like wrestling. That will be a local school district decision, as will the matter of how to respond if a case emerges.

Last school year, Shelter Island School, under sound leadership from Superintendent Brian Doelger, Ed.D., and informed direction from the Board of Education, got students back to school — rather than staying at home and learning from a computer screen — much quicker than most districts, which helped everyone involved in their education, including teachers, administrators and parents.

As all parents of school-age children know, replacing traditional classroom teaching with remote learning is highly controversial.

Many teachers have also deemed it unsuccessful, especially for the youngest students. In her announcement, Ms. Hochul said the interruption of traditional learning has been “devastating.” Kudos for Shelter Island for being way ahead of the curve.

Shelter Island School students are fortunate to have educational experiences created by a forward-looking administration, and teachers who work far beyond their required hours, to give every student the best opportunity to excel.

Thanks to the education students receive, they gain admission to top colleges and technical schools, preparing them to perform well in their future careers.