A COMMUNITY-WIDE EFFORT
All across the District, students have been back in school every day learning, growing, having fun and reconnecting with staff and classmates. We should be proud of how we’ve been able to bring our students back to school safely 5 days per week. It was and continues to be a community-wide effort. Continuing to do our part to ensure the safety procedures are always followed in schools is paramount. We will continue to reiterate mitigation strategies and layers of prevention of the spread of COVID-19 that enable us to keep our schools open for in-person instruction.
One such mitigation strategy is maximizing ventilation. The CDC identifies good ventilation as a step that can reduce the number of virus particles in the air and reduce the likelihood of spreading the virus. Specifically, the CDC recommends bringing in as much outdoor air as possible and maximizing ventilation. This is something our buildings have been doing throughout the pandemic. All of our buildings exceed the current NYS requirement for air exchange (100 cubic feet of air per minute per student). Currently, our buildings are operating with 100% outdoor air. This means no air is recirculated, reducing the likelihood of exposure to virus particles.
Another mitigation strategy, which we will discuss more in depth next week, is testing. As you may know, New York State has announced that unvaccinated staff will be required to undergo weekly COVID-19 testing. We are working in partnership with our bargaining units to determine the best course of action to meet this requirement. We are also moving forward with two other types of testing that we have discussed in recent weeks: surveillance testing and proximal testing. We will share information on how families are able to sign up to have their children participate in this voluntary testing by middle of next week.
As was the case last year, the learning is in the doing. We will continue to learn, reflect and adjust as the year moves forward. Once again, thank you to our entire community for working together to consistently seek solutions to the ongoing challenges of the COVID-19 virus.
Free/Reduced-Price Meal Applications
Even though breakfast/lunch is currently free for all students, it is extremely important that families complete and return the Free and Reduced Price School Meal Application. This form is provided to families at the start of each school year and can be found on our Food Service website at www.ktufsd.org/FoodService. Completing this form ensures that eligible children will receive free/reduced-price meals should they no longer be free for all students. Also, the number of students eligible for free/reduced-price meals impacts funding the school district receives which has a significant impact on student programming.
Additionally, some families are currently receiving a second Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) benefit which is based on free/reduced price meal eligibility. It is important to understand that this eligibility derived from the completion of the forms from last school year, so completing this form now will not impact whether you receive this benefit now. However, completing this year’s application will determine eligibility for future benefits.
Please note that school districts are not in any way involved in the distribution of the P-EBT benefit. New York State has information on its website regarding this program which you can find here:
