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Most of Long Island’s 124 school districts reopened on Monday morning, though some faced staffing shortages that forced them to go remote for various reasons.
In Nassau County, at least three districts - Freeport, Westbury, and Hicksville - announced that they would be transitioning to their distance learning model for the first week after winter break due to the recent rise of new COVID-19 cases.
The Wyandanch, Long Beach, and Baldwin school districts also shifted some schools to remote learning as a precaution. Others across Long Island began the week on a two-hour delay.
The districts cited rising COVID-19 infection rates, and some transportation disruptions due to the outbreak of new infections. Classes are planned to resume for in-person learning on Monday, Jan. 10, though the situation remains fluid.
Officials said that teachers and teaching assistants will be delivering instruction and providing support to students electronically during the week. Learning will be synchronous and in some circumstances asynchronous.
Long Island touts the highest COVID-19 infection rate among New York's 10 regions, up near 25 percent of those tested, according to the latest update from the state Department of Health.
Over the past seven days, Long Island has seen an average of 375 new cases per day, including more than 420 in Nassau and 333 in Suffolk.
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