With phase four underway, parents and students are awaiting whether schools will be back open this fall. Gov. Andrew Cuomo set a deadline for when they will finally know.

Cuomo made it clear that he was at odds with President Donald Trump when it comes to school reopening. Trump tweeted Tuesday, "SCHOOL'S MUST REOPEN THIS FALL" and threatened Wednesday to cut off federal school funds for those who don't.

"Look, this is getting a little old as far as I'm concerned," said Cuomo. "We will open the schools if it is safe to open the schools. School reopenings are a state decision, period. That is the law and that is the way we're going to proceed. It's not up to the president of the United States."

On Wednesday at the White House, Vice President Mike Pence softened his tone on the matter.

"We're absolutely determined to work with a partnership of our states to give the guidance, for states and communities to be able to safely reopen our schools," said Pence.

In New York, Cuomo said he will make his decision on the coming school year between Aug. 1-7. Meanwhile, Long Island school districts are actively preparing reopening plans to submit to the state this month.

Dr. William Johnson, who retired as the superintendent of Rockville Centre schools, is now the state's monitor to oversee the reopening of the Hempstead schools. A few months ago he thought schools would have to stagger the school days, but he has changed his tune as coronavirus numbers have dipped.

"I believe we're on the right path to reopen schools as we normally would in any other school year," says Johnson. "I don't know if we're going to have to go into some radical scheduling at this point, which quite frankly creates more problems than it resolves and I don't think it gets to the health issues."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is set to update its guidelines for school reopening next week.