POB School District Refutes Cuomo: We Submitted Reopening Plan

PLAINVIEW, NY — After Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office on Monday released a list of more than 100 school districts that it said never submitted a reopening plan, the Plainview-Old Bethpage Central School District got a surprising — and unwelcome — wake-up call. The district was listed as having never submitted a plan to reopen schools to staff and students in the fall, as required by the state. At a news conference, the governor issued a stern warning to all the districts: submit a plan by Friday, or don't open.

But the announcement was news to Mary O'Meara, the district's new superintendent who recently took over the position following the departure of Lora Lewis. She told Patch in a brief phone interview Monday the district submitted two plans: one to the health department and another to the education department.

"We submitted both, we have confirmation from both," she said. "I spoke with the commissioner of the department of health's office about a half hour ago, and she confirmed they're receiving many phone calls similar to ours that we have confirmed receipt of our plan."

She called the governor's list "inaccurate," noting Malverne and Syosset had also submitted and appeared on the list.

The health department informed the districts it was having a problem and was in the process of fixing the glitch, O'Meara said.

After submitting the reopening plan, O'Meara said district's were told to assume their plans, which were submitted electronically, were approved unless they were told otherwise.

"We check regularly on our portal to make sure we haven't had our plan kicked back with additional revisions," she said. "As of today, our plan is approved without any revisions."

But in a statement to media outlets Monday, Rich Azzopardi, senior advisor to the governor, said unequivocally the list of districts that failed to file a plan with the state Health Department was indeed accurate.

"Despite clear guidance provided to these schools, which included a link to the DOH portal, some districts in follow-up calls said they filed with the State Education Department - which is not an executive agency - but didn't file with DOH," Azzopardi said. "Others filled out an affirmation certifying that they would be abiding by the state's reopening guidance, but didn't actually submit their plan, something many of these districts are now rectifying."

Click here to see the district's presentation of its reopening plan.