April 15, 2021
Dear Galway Families,
On March 18, 2021, I joined with 30 other WSWHE BOCES Chief School Officers to urge Dr. Howard Zucker, Commissioner of the New York Department of Health, to revise the NYSDOH’s requirements for in-person learning in relation to COVID-19. The joint letter stated that “students are struggling and need to attend school on a daily basis” and requested that districts be allowed “to work with local county health departments to develop revised minimum requirements/protocols...that would allow all students back to school on a daily basis.”
While the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) revised its guidance to allow students to be as little as three feet apart from each other (with certain exceptions) on March 19, we lacked guidance from NYSDOH until late Friday, April 9. With the revised NYSDOH guidance, Galway CSD is now proposing that we bring some hybrid students back to in-person learning four days per week.
The NYSDOH guidance states:
In counties with high risk of transmission, elementary schools can maintain physical distancing of at least three feet between students in classrooms and cohorting is recommended when possible. However, in middle and high schools three feet between students in classrooms is recommended only when schools can use cohorting. When schools cannot maintain cohorting, middle and high schools must maintain physical distancing of at least six feet between students in classrooms.
Saratoga County currently has a high rate of transmission, so cohorting is key to in-person learning.
After reviewing several options, the District has determined that we cannot maintain cohorting at the Senior High School. However, the layout of the buildings makes it possible to maintain cohorting at the Junior High School. As a result, we are proposing that students in grades 7 and 8 return to in-person learning four days a week starting April 26, 2021. Daily health screening, temperature checks, physical distancing, and mask wearing will still be in place for all students, faculty, staff, and visitors entering the building. Six feet will still be maintained when students eat meals or snacks, and two areas have been designated for 7th and 8th grade lunch. We do not anticipate any impact on busing students to or from school.
The district will hold a virtual community meeting on Monday, April 19, 2021 at 6:30 p.m. to review the proposed plan to bring 7th and 8th graders back to in-person learning and answer any questions you may have. The link for this meeting is below.
We are excited for this first small step toward normalcy and hold out hope for the day when all our students can be back on campus.
Thank you,
Dr. Brita Donovan