Dear Resident,

As you may be aware, Governor Cuomo announced this past week that on July 13, schools would be receiving guidance on what will be expected when drafting and submitting plans to reopen in September.   He will be making a decision whether we can reopen our buildings in early August.  Please know that our leadership team has been meeting on a regular basis and have gathered a great deal of information from other states, regional schools, staff and community in preparation for the guidance document next week.

Over the past week, we gathered survey information from over 600 members of our school community.   A summary of the key findings can be found here.   This past week, we held a focus group meeting with approximately 50 participants.  We shared the survey findings, expanded on the common themes and gathered a great deal of information that will inform our plan.  Thank you to all those who completed the survey and participated in our focus group discussions.

It is the intent of our reopening plan to have our students re enter our buildings in September and adhere to the safety guidelines being recommended by the NYS Department of Health.  We plan to offer a comprehensive extracurricular and interscholastic program for our students as well.   

It is important to note that our desire to reopen our schools with a full set of opportunities for our students hinges on any future Governor’s Executive Order(s) and regional Department of Health guidance.  With that in mind, we will be developing contingency plans to offer instruction to our students in alternative means in the event the COVID-19 pandemic prohibits the school buildings to open.  These plans will include a great deal of the elements we received in our community survey and focus group discussions.

These are challenging times for each of us.  I strongly encourage the entire community to remain vigilant in their use of personal protections -- wash your hands often, wear a face covering, maintain physical distancing and avoid close groups of people.  Together we will beat COVID-19.

As always, I hope that you will make an effort to reach out directly or follow me on Twitter @DrStopinski

Sincerely,
Dr. Hank Stopinski

Superintendent of Schools