COVID-19 update for school reopening

Dear Maritime Families: As you might imagine, things continue to be very busy as we develop plans to reopen schools in September. On Monday, school districts across the state received guidance documents from the Board of Regents, the New York State Department of Education, and the New York State Department of Health. Based upon all of these documents, we are developing plans for in-person learning to begin in September. The Governor has stated that if a region is in Phase IV and the infection rate in that region stays below 5%, schools will reopen for in person instruction. The infection rate in Western New York is currently around 1% so we are on track for reopening. The guidance we are receiving from the NYS Department of Health will require students to wear masks or cloth face coverings when social distancing of at least 6 feet is not possible. Acceptable face coverings for Covid-19 include, but are not limited to, cloth-based face coverings and surgical masks that cover both the mouth and nose. Additionally, students must wear a face covering to ride the school bus, including NFTA busses, and wear it while entering and exiting our schools. We are also developing plans for face covering breaks for students when they are engaged in meals and classroom instruction. These face covering breaks will occur when individuals are able to socially distance and/or when there is a physical barrier available. As we work to finalize our reopening plans we will be sending more information to you via email as well as posting our plans to the District’s website. Our final plans are due to the New York State Education Department at the end of this month. Thank you for reviewing this posting and please stay tuned for more information in the days and weeks ahead.