Two Onondaga County school districts are in the new coronavirus orange zone requiring them to go remote, according to a map released by the governor’s office Monday.
The Syracuse City School District and Lyncourt district are within the orange zone boundary line. It’s not clear yet exactly what city schools are in the zone; Lyncourt only has one school building.
The new rules take effect for schools on Thursday, which is Thanksgiving.
School districts in the orange district are required to go remote for four days, but Syracuse City Mayor Ben Walsh said since that includes the Thanksgiving holiday and the weekend, city schools can reopen Monday as long as testing can be done.
Lyncourt School Superintendent James Austin said he is deciding what to do next, but waiting for more guidance from the county and state. Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard has reached out to the city school district.
There is some confusion over whether the Solvay school district or parts of the district are in the orange zone. Solvay superintendent Jay Tinklepaugh said Monday the district is trying to figure it out. The district on its website today said it was in the yellow zone. Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon Monday at his briefing listed Solvay was one of three districts in the orange zone. Update Tuesday: Solvay schools not in the orange zone.
Schools in orange zones must switch to remote learning for four days, although they can restart in-person classes after cleaning and meeting testing requirements.
The new orange zone announced by Gov. Andrew Cuomo today includes parts of Syracuse, Solvay, DeWitt and Lyncourt. The orange zone also adds restrictions to houses of worship, gatherings of people, gyms, barbers, salons and restaurants.
It has not been announced when the restrictions go into effect. Last week, when Cuomo announced on Wednesday that Erie County was in an orange zone the restrictions took effect on that Friday.
School district officials across Central New York were scrambling to try to figure out exactly what schools were in the orange and yellow zones.
Several CNY school districts that were not in the yellow zone have now been added, according to today’s map: Jamesville-DeWitt, Fayetteville-Manlius and West Genesee school districts. It’s not clear yet if all the schools in the districts are included in the zone.
The zone designations also affect private schools. Christian Brothers Academy, for example, is in the yellow zone, district officials confirmed.
Eight school districts or parts of districts were previously included in the yellow zone: Syracuse, Baldwinsville, East Syracuse Minoa, Liverpool, Lyncourt, North Syracuse, Solvay and Westhill.
Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon said today that Liverpool schools, and part of North Syracuse, Baldwinsville and East Syracuse Minoa schools have completed their yellow-zone testing requirement. They don’t have to test again in those schools because their positivity rates were so low.
Who is in the zone and who is not is important because schools in the yellow zone must start testing 20% of in-person students and staff in their buildings every week if they want to continue in-person classes, according to the state.
Seven Onondaga County districts are not in any coronavirus zone: Onondaga Central, Marcellus, Jordan-Elbridge, LaFayette, Fabius-Pompey, Tully and Skaneateles are outside of the zone, according to the map and several school superintendents.
Elizabeth Doran covers education, suburban government and development, breaking news and more. Got a tip, comment or story idea? Contact her anytime at 315-470-3012 or email edoran@syracuse.com