UPDATED: RI School Year Now Extended Thru June 25, Raimondo Says Testing "Not Where It Needs to Be"

UPDATED: RI School Year Now Extended Thru June 25, Raimondo Says Testing "Not Where It Needs to Be"

Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo elaborated during her weekly coronavirus press conference on Wednesday on her school opening delay, including key dates and timeline. 

With schools now slated to start on September 14, Raimondo said the school year will now extend to June 25 -- with three additional professional development days, meaning the school year will be 177 days. 

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"Is the school ready to open under the new protocols? To that end I want to thank administrators who have been working hard to make sure schools are ready to open," said Raimondo. "It’s a herculean task — a lot of work and detail. Have you made facilities upgrades for better air flow? Have you readjusted traffic flow — are there special precautions in place for at-risk faculty and at-risk students?"

Raimondo said that people have asked her about schools reopening in Rhode Island, after photos from states such as Georgia showed students in close proximity -- with some of those schools now switching to distance learning. 

"[People say], have you seen those pictures of the schools in Georgia in the weeks of opening? No one’s wearing masks, no social distancing," said Raimondo. "That’s not Rhode Island — we’re in a much better place in Rhode island. That’s what we don’t want to do. We won’t open schools until they’re safe. That’s why we’re making so hard to make sure the precautions are in place here."

"We’re pushing back the start date of public schools and statewide calendar by two weeks — kids will begin school year on September 14," said Raimondo. "We’re doing this because it gives schools a little more time to be ready, to make sure they have enough PPE and masks, so that they have a way to keep windows open or have airflow, get kids to and from schools safely."

"[That] allows us to set aside 3 professional development days for teachers — September 9 through 11 — to learn how to educate in the midst of this crisis, to learn the new safety protocols," said Raimondo. "I think this is extremely important and allow teachers to be better educators for your students."

"We’re adjusting the last day to June 25 to have at least 177 days," she said. 

New Announcement Date, Transportation, Testing

"Full in person vs. partially in person [learning] — I said we’d make that decision Aug 16; now we’ll be making that decision the week of August 31," said Raimondo. "You know how we’re going to decide [based on the metrics]. Everything depends on the data, and is your particular school ready, and is the state ready [for testing]."

Raimond said transportation still needs to be ironed out. 

"Most kids get to school on a bus, most busses are crowded. It’s not simple — you can’t just put the same number of kids on the bus and hope for the best," said Raimondo. "We want to push a little more to come up for more creative options — children walking to school, biking to school, scootering to school — different forms of busses, vans — lots of schools are thinking about staggered start times."

"Testing is absolutely key. The reasons we’re keeping them in pods of 30, so if someone gets the virus, we can quickly test and isolate/quarantine," said Raimondo. " We’re not there yet (with the goal of test results in 48-72 hours). We need to be able to do rapid testing."

"We’ve secured 8 rapid testing machines," said Raimondo of joining a ten state collaborative to procure the equipment. "We have the capacity of 700 of these tests a day."

Social Gatherings 

"I want people to remember the limit is 15.  We’re not where we need to be. We have to get kids back to school," said Raimondo. 

Raimondo spoke to the enforcement task force recently set up -- and how she said the state will more strongly enforce if need be. 

"The unit receive about 400 calls," said Raimondo since last week. "We went out to investigate 76 of those calls and found 4 violators — house party, street party. Those parties were broken up without incident. If if happens again at those locations, everyone gets a $500 fine."

"[People ask] how come social gatherings are 15 but you’re allowing wedding and catered gatherings, pods of 30 [in schools]," said Raimondo. "A school environment where there’s a seating chart, wearing a mask, is a relatively controlled environment. Social gatherings are the issue — crowded together at a beach, party, street party, park, no mask wearing, close together — it’s really important in those instances we have a cap of 15."

"We need to better job of contact tracing," said Raimondo. "I’m asking you if you get the call [from the Department of Health], please answer the call. Don’t be afraid, the info’s going nowhere."

"Don’t leave your house if you’re sick. This past week when we looked through the data - and the people who tested positive — half of them had gone to work sick," said Raimondo.