ERIE COUNTY, N.Y. — The effort to reopen Orchard Park and Williamsville schools has taken another turn on Friday.
State Supreme Court Justice Emilio Colaiacovo ordered those two school districts to offer full-time instruction for middle and high schools starting May 17.
There is a catch: the positive COVID-19 data must be at or around 100 cases per 100,000 people in order for that to happen.
2 On Your Side reached out to both districts to see if they would be appealing the decision. Orchard Park did not immediately get back to us, and a spokesperson for Williamsville said, "We are ready and prepared to welcome more students back into our buildings."
On April 28, Judge Colaiacovo ruled against parents of students in those school districts who were attempting to get their kids back in school five days a week.
However, in that ruling, he also called out the state to produce evidence that schools should not be reopened.
"Healthy children, unlike adults, cannot sit at home captivated by silence or screens," Judge Colaiacovo said at the time.
"Their mental and physical well-being requires more. When that is endangered, courts, such as these, or elsewhere, must do all that they can to protect them, even if this requires eschewing the broad powers the state always asserts in times of crisis."
On April 27, Justice Colaiacovo asked the attorney representing the parents a specific set of questions about a study out of Massachusetts. Specifically, the judge asked how the study would relate to the circumstances in Erie County.
Further questioning directed at a representative from the Orchard Park Central School District centered on the relevance in following the guidelines considering other parts of the state were opening.
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