WHERE WE ARE
I know everyone is waiting to find out what protocols and procedures will be in place when schools open September 1st. All summer we had expected New York State to release guidance dictating how school districts would proceed with procedures. As I communicated on Friday, we learned last week that neither the NYS Department of Health nor the Governor's Office would issue any such guidance and would leave it up to local health departments and school districts.
It is always my intention to provide the best, most accurate information possible which is why we are waiting for the Erie County Department of Health (ECDOH) to communicate its next steps. ECDOH is in the process of collaborating with local school districts and reviewing existing guidance in order to determine what those next steps will be. The information they share will inevitably inform the decisions we make. Yesterday, we also learned that the NYS Education Department (NYSED) is in the process of developing a "summary guidance document to aid schools and districts as they prepare for the 2021-2022 school year.” According to NYSED, this summary guidance document will be based on existing guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) and American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). This may impact our decisions as well. To be clear, the CDC now recommends that vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals wear masks in school. Specifically, CDC "recommends indoor masking for all individuals age 2 years and older, including students, teachers, staff, and visitors, regardless of vaccination status."
One of the most important determinations that needs to be made is whether or not masks will be required. The guidelines involving masks have changed significantly recently. If you recall, wearing masks became optional for summer programming on July 7. As cases have risen and the community has been informed more about the Delta variant, we have seen the CDC as well as other local institutions begin to change their stance on the use of masks, especially indoors. Families should understand that as a school district, we want to make sure that we have the most accurate and up-to-date information before communicating any decisions or procedures with our community. Therefore, we are hopeful that we will be able to share more information with you shortly as more information is shared with us.
As we did during the 2020-21 school year, we will host a community information session from 5 to 6 p.m. on Tuesday, August 24 to provide an overview of what we know as of that day. The format will be exactly the same as all of our previous community sessions except there will be an opportunity for parents to participate in person as well as virtually. It will be broadcasted via YouTube Live and parents can submit questions using YouTube Live Chat. We will broadcast from the Kenmore West High School auditorium and parents will also have the option of attending and submitting questions in person. As with all of our previous community sessions, you will be able to watch the recording at any time following the event. We will have leadership teams present on the day of the event answering all questions, even those that I do not address at the time of the event. After this session, a Q&A document will be created and posted to our website.
Please continue to be patient. We will share information regarding what parents can expect as soon as we can. The safety of our students, families and staff will continue to be our highest priority as we look forward to welcoming students back to school for full, 5-day, in-person instruction.
