School Reopening

York CSD School Reopening Plan (pdf)
School Reopening - Frequently Asked Questions

Please Note:

Some children may have chronic medical conditions that may cause symptoms that fit the COVID-19 screening criteria. This may result in a false positive COVID-19 screening;

If your child has a chronic medical condition that causes any of the COVID-19 screening symptoms, and thus a potential false positive COVID-19 screen:

Please have the child's primary/specialist/physician/NP/PA provide documentation of the following:

1. The chronic medical condition

2. The specific COVID-19 screening symptom(s) that the chronic medical condition causes

November 12, 2020

Dear YCS Families and Community,

The rate of COVID-19 infections is increasing rapidly in the Finger Lakes and Western NY regions. This includes Genesee, Monroe, Orleans, Wyoming and Yates counties. Many of you may have heard about the “Yellow Zones”. This is part of Governor Cuomo’s new strategy of monitoring and responding to outbreaks of new cases within a limited and definable geographic region; these are called micro-clusters. The Governor’s micro-cluster strategy uses multiple data points such as positivity rates, hospitalizations, population density, contact tracing efforts, etc. to identify a geographic area by region, county, or zip code. Once an area has been identified, the local Department of Health engages in containment efforts. This includes identifying a micro-cluster zone with a color to indicate the severity of the outbreak. For Livingston County, which is in Tier 3, the possible color coded zones are:

Yellow Zone: 7-day rolling average of positive tests above 3.5% for 10 days and 15 or more new cases per 100,000 residents on a 7-day average.

Orange Zone: 7-day rolling average of positive tests above 4.5% for 10 days and 15 or more new cases per 100,000 residents on a 7-day average.

Red Zone: 7-day rolling average of positive tests above 5.5% for 10 days and 15 or more new cases per 100,000 residents on a 7-day average.

If YCS is within a Yellow Zone micro-cluster, our school would remain open only if we could meet the weekly 20% testing requirements for students and staff who are in-person. If the 20% testing requirement for staff and students is not able to be met, we would need to move to fully remote learning for all students. If YCS is in a designated Orange or Red Zone, we would move to fully remote learning for at least 2 weeks and all staff and students must have a negative COVID-19 test result before returning to in-person learning. We would also need to continue to test 25% of students and staff each week.

Currently Livingston County has a 7-day rolling average of 1.7%. This is largely due to the protocols that we have and continue to practice. It is, and will continue to be, VERY important that we remain diligent in our practices, especially as the holidays approach. It will take everyone doing their part in order to keep our school and community safe.

Thank you for your continued efforts and support.

David Furletti
Superintendent of Schools

School Reopening Documents
Medical Exemption Statement:  Face Mask Exemption
Contact Tracing Protocols
COVID-19 Testing Protocols
Remote Learning

 Links to Community Presentations 
August 19, 2020

8:00 am Community Presentation

12:00 pm Community Presentation

6:00 pm Community Presentation

YCS Reopening Advisory Committee 
List of Committee Members and Meeting Presentations
   YCS Reopening Advisory Meeting #1

 YCS Reopening Advisory Meeting #2 

YCS Reopening Advisory Meeting #3

 YCS Reopening Advisory Meeting #4

Letter to Community:

Community Letter (PDF version)

July 28, 2020
Dear Families,

I hope you and your family are safe and healthy, and are continuing to enjoy the summer season. As we near the end of July, and school districts in our area begin to announce their reopening plans, I want to provide a brief update on where we stand with our reopening plan. The Reopening Advisory Committee has now met a couple times and continue to plan for the reopening in the fall. This committee is comprised of students, parents, staff, Board of Education and administration in order to bring a full perspective to the process. Our priorities are the health and safety of students and staff, along with creating a quality educational experience for all students. We are using the surveys from the community to give voice to your concerns while still meeting all guidelines by the NYS Dept of Health and NYS Education Department.

Here are what we know at this point:

Transportation – Buses will be limited to 11 students on a bus. All students and drivers must wear a mask and be socially distanced. Students from the same household may sit together. With this restriction, we will need to add additional start times for staff and students.

Screening - All students, staff and visitors will need to be screened prior to entering the building. No adult that has a temperature of 100.0 F or higher will be allowed in the building. Students with 100.0 F or higher will go to the Nurse’s Office.

Meals – All meals will be eaten in classrooms. Breakfast will still be available as students enter the building and lunches will be delivered to classrooms. There will still be choices, but they may be limited this year.

Classrooms – In following the guidelines set forth, all desks will be socially distanced, limiting the number of students in a single classroom to around 12 students. While at their desks, students will be able to take off their masks for instruction as long as they remain socially distanced.

Instructional Models – Districts are required to build instructional models that include:

• In-person instruction (our traditional model) where all teaching and learning happens in person

• Hybrid model that combines time in the classroom and remote instruction

• Remote learning where all instruction and learning occurs online

We know that with the restrictions and limitations placed on transportation and classrooms, that we cannot bring all students, PreK – 12, in five days a week. So we, as a committee, have been exploring what a hybrid might look like for YCS.

By the end of this week, we will have a draft of what that schedule might look like. We will need your help and input in order to determine if that plan will work. The balance between transportation and class sizes is critical and we all need to work together to make sure that we are able to provide the best experience and opportunities for all of our students.

Thank you for your patience as we work through this process. At times it may appear that the progress is slow, but there are many questions that need to be answered in order to keep all of our students and staff safe. Information about the Reopening Advisory Committee and reopening guidelines may be found on our website www.yorkcsd.org.

Sincerely,

David Furletti
Superintendent of Schools

July 2020 - YCS Stakeholder Input Survey Results (PDF Version)

July 16, 2020 Community Letter (PDF Version)

July 16, 2020

York CSD Community:

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all students, teachers, family and community members who took the time to complete our school reopening survey. The survey results are now available on our website at www.yorkcsd.org. This feedback has been incredibly helpful in better understanding the hopes and concerns of our learning community.

Additionally, we have recently received guidance from the New York State Department of Education, Governor Cuomo’s office and the Center for Disease Control on how to safely reopen schools for our students and staff.

The following is what we know so far about what our school day will look like when we return based on the guidance documents:

· Masks and Social Distancing - Masks and social distancing will be in effect on the bus and in the school building. However, students will be allowed to remove their face covering during meals, instruction, and for short breaks so long as they maintain appropriate social distance.

· Cohorts - All students will be assigned to a “cohort.” A cohort is a pre-assigned, reasonable sized group of students that will stay together for the majority of the day to limit potential exposure to the COVID-19 virus.

· Transportation - Students must wear a mask and must maintain appropriate social distancing, unless they are members of the same household. To reduce density on buses, CDC guidelines limit the number of students riding on a school bus to approximately 11 students per run. (See upcoming survey information below)

· Screening - Temperature checks of students, faculty, staff and visitors will be conducted at each entrance. If a student has a temperature exceeding 100.0℉ degrees, that student will go directly to a dedicated area prior to being sent home. Additionally, all employees will be completing a daily screening questionnaire prior to reporting to the building.

· Breakfast and Lunch - Breakfast and lunch will be provided daily. In order to maintain proper social distancing and avoid intermingling of cohorts, students will be eating in their classroom.

In order to be best prepared for returning to school in the fall, our Reopening Plan will take into account three possible learning models:

· In-person (traditional school model with CDC guidelines for social distancing)

· Remote (instruction provided virtually)

· Hybrid (combination of in-person and remote learning)

To help our district make the decision on which of these learning models to implement, we need a better picture of how many of our students will physically be in the building if we are able to reopen with an in-person model. Additionally, we will need to know which families are able to drop off and pick up your child on a daily basis. The District is asking families to complete a survey that addresses these two components. (We understand that your circumstances may change between now and September. We are simply looking to get a general idea of in-person class sizes and transportation needs.)  Please complete the survey no later than Wednesday, July 22.

The survey can be found at https://forms.gle/sn8waNSE1CQNYqKv8

As we begin to draft our School Reopening Plan, we have formed a PreK - 12 School Reopening Advisory Committee comprised of community and school stakeholders. One important task of this committee will be to communicate the progress being made on our School Reopening Plan.

For the most current guidance from the State Education Department and Department of Health can be found on our website and using the following links:

NYS Education Department Presentation to the Board of Regents

NYS Department of Health Guidance

Thank you for your continued support,

David M. Furletti

Survey Information:

To help our district make the decision on which of these learning models to implement, we need a better picture of how many of our students will physically be in the building if we are able to reopen with an in-person model. Additionally, we will need to know which families are able to drop off and pick up your child on a daily basis. The District is asking families to complete a survey that addresses these two components. (We understand that your circumstances may change between now and September. We are simply looking to get a general idea of in-person class sizes and transportation needs.)

Parents: Please complete the Learning Model and Transportation Survey no later than Wednesday, July 22.


Full Letter to York CSD Community - July 16, 2020 can be accessed here.

Thank you students, teachers, family and community members for taking the time to complete our school reopening survey. The survey results are now available. This feedback has been incredibly helpful in better understanding the hopes and concerns of our learning community.

YCS Stakeholder Input Survey Results