Monroe County officials continue to maintain that they have no authority to fully open schools with three-foot distancing between students.
County Executive Adam Bello says the current state guidance for Monroe County and Rochester is six-foot-distancing between students, and Monroe County has no actual power to change that. School districts including Spencerport and Rush Henrietta were looking to fully reopen schools, but were dissuaded by the Health Department.
Bello says Monroe County is willing to spend what it takes for testing equipment or anything else needed to get students back to full-time classroom instruction. He says the county is doing nothing to hinder it.
Some counties, notably Onondaga, have told their school districts to implement the CDC's new three-foot rule for their schools. Monroe County Executive Bello says the state's guidance hasn't changed and there are not different rules in different counties.