Update as of April 27, 2021 – at 4:00 p.m.
Dear Elmira City School District families,
We are excited to return our students in grades Pre-K – 8 back to in-person instruction for four days beginning this Thursday, April 29, 2021. Bringing together Cohort A and Cohort B in-person students together is an exciting milestone that we’ve been anticipating with great excitement. Continuing to be vigilant with safety protocols is as important now as when the pandemic began. Please remember, if your child is not feeling well, do not send your child to school.
At-Home Health Screenings and StayWell Survey
The Staywell health surveys are an important part of our safety protocols allowing us to expand our in-person instruction. Completing the survey each day your child is in-person at school is required. We thank everyone who has been submitting surveys and/or working through the process to get the reminder emails. If you are not receiving the reminder emails, please try checking the spam/junk/clutter folders in your email. Sometimes the emails go there even if they were going to the inbox correctly before. You can also search your email folders for the sender no-reply@gstboces.org to locate the daily email.
Note that you can also access the survey without the reminder email. Go to
https://staywell.gstboces.org/ and enter your child’s login information. The login information for this survey is the same as your student’s login to Schoology. If you are having issues with submitting the survey, please contact your school immediately.
Attendance
For students and families that have chosen in-person instruction, students will be required to attend on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday of each week. As in any other school year, if a student is unable to attend in-person, an excuse will need to be submitted by the parent/guardian to the school’s main office. Students cannot choose to be a remote learner on in-person days.
There may be circumstances that make it permissible for an in-person learner to temporarily connect remotely. This could include a required quarantine, awaiting a COVID-19 test result while following the District's health screening protocol, or other medical situations as deemed appropriate by the principal. If a family is seeking temporary approval for a student to log-in remotely, please communicate with the principal as soon as possible so that we can talk through this request. We ask that you please be specific when requesting to participate remotely.
Transportation
The District has worked hard to anticipate potential transportation delays and changes with return to (4) four day a week in-person instruction. Our goal is to provide the same quality of service on Thursday April 29. To do so, we are asking all bus riders to be at their regular pick-up area (10) ten minutes early and anticipate potential delays for pick-up and drop-off. The goal is to provide safe and secure transportation to all ECSD students and staff. As students and drivers become more familiar with increased capacity on school buses, adjustments may occur in order to fully accommodate student needs as well as the health and safety for all.
Random COVID-19 Testing
Upon the start of four-day in-person instruction, the District will begin random COVID testing in our schools. We plan to only test small numbers, randomly. Permission slips that were provided during the first phase of COVID-19 testing in January will be used. The parent/guardian of students’ randomly chosen for in-school testing will be notified in advance.
If your child is symptomatic and has undergone a test for COVID-19, they must stay at home until a negative test result is officially received. Please call your child’s school to notify of a student illness, positive test result, pending test results or related absences so that we can best assist you. Our school nursing staff is very knowledgeable and ready to help you navigate the regulations and protocols related to COVID testing, COVID symptoms, quarantines, and all other COVID-related questions.
We are stronger together, and with collective effort, we will move through this pandemic safely. If you have questions, please contact your school office.
Thank you and be well,
Hillary J. Austin
Superintendent of Schools
Elmira City School District