Coronavirus Update: March 9, 2020

Dear Community Members,

Over the past week I have been working closely with our District Health Coordinator, Dina Murphy, our administrators and building principals to help us plan for a range of contingencies and situations related to the COVID–19 outbreak. To reiterate, there are currently no confirmed cases of COVID–19 in our schools, but given the complexities of the situation we need to plan for a variety of scenarios. 

Servicing Students with Medical Conditions
If you have a child who has a documented compromised immune system or has been previously identified in our student health system for related health conditions, please note that elementary teachers will post daily assignments and related instructional materials on their parent Google Classroom page or send a classroom email with information about assignments and materials. For secondary level students, subject teachers will post daily instructional information on their Google Classroom student page. Absences will be excused, and the school will work with families to provide support to the student outside of the classroom.

Cancellation of Large-Group Gatherings/Outside Visitors to Our Schools
Our schools will remain closed beginning at 6:30 pm each evening and on weekends for the foreseeable future in order to continue the cleaning and disinfection of our school buildings. Until further notice, parent volunteers should not report to school buildings. Additionally, we will be cancelling all previously scheduled large-group gatherings and limiting operation of our schools to daily classroom instruction during the course of regular school days. Cancellations will be listed on our District website.  We are currently evaluating all planned local and out-of-state trips and will report back on any cancellations in the coming days. 

NY State Department of Health Continues to Lead Coronavirus Efforts
My meeting this morning with Westchester County Executive George Latimer and area superintendents helped underscore our understanding that the NY State Department of Health (DOH) is the main lead behind information and school closure determinations related to COVID-19 here in Westchester. We will continue to work in concert with our municipalities, monitoring the situation daily and taking guidance from the DOH.

Governor Cuomo Announces This Morning a 24-hour Shutdown Rule for Schools Where Student Tests Positive for Coronavirus
"For all schools, we're going to set a policy that if a student tests positive in a school, that school is closed for an initial 24 hour period, so that we can do an assessment of the situation and the facts and then make the determination going forward given the facts in that particular school district," Cuomo said at a morning press conference. He said the 24-hour period would be used to clean the school facilities, begin investigating the individual case and determine whether an extended closure is necessary,

 

Please ensure that your emergency contact information is up to date.  If we are advised to close a school(s), the announcement will be made quickly and with short notice. We recognize that will put a further strain on families and urge you to have a plan in place for any needed childcare..

 

Planning for a Prolonged Closure

We continue to work with instructional technology coaches, teachers, and administrators to develop an e-learning framework in the event of a prolonged school closure and plan to provide updates on our progress over the next several days. 

 

It is important to remember that emails from the District, along with the COVID–19 page on our website, provide the most accurate and timely information available. We will continue to provide updates as more details become available, and as always, I thank you for your partnership and support. 

 

Respectfully,

 

Dr. Robert I. Shaps
Superintendent of Schools

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