URGENT
December 1, 2020
Dear Parents:
As we mentioned in yesterday's Monday Message, we have been anticipating changes from the Governor's Office regarding COVID testing in schools. While we do not yet have written clarification from the State on the new guidelines, we have been trying to move forward with options for the testing of our school community.
Should a testing partnership be secured this week, we could potentially renew in person instruction Monday, December 7. However, there is important information we need to make families aware of.
There are 12 days of school until Christmas Break from December 7-December 22. Due to the NYS and CDC required mandates that are still in effect, any return to in-person instruction would be under the Hybrid Model. The calendar would equate to 6 days of in person instruction for Cohort A and 4 days of in person instruction for Cohort B. Wednesdays would remain a mix of synchronous and asynchronous instruction. Only students who had been in the Distance Learning cohort prior to November 20 would remain Distance Learners, as the Hybrid model cannot support an influx of Distance Learners, especially over this short period of time.
Should the school continue under the fully remote Distance Learning model during the December 7-22 period of time, the synchronous full day live instruction would continue, along with the Wednesdays of synchronous/asynchronous instruction. This equates to 10 days of full day virtual Distance Learning and 2 Wednesdays of synchronous/asynchronous instruction for all students.
Furthermore, in order to re-open, St. Mark School would need 70 students (20% of in-person student population) to get COVID tested between December 7 and 22. We are still working to determine if the testing would be on or off site. In order to gain feedback from parents and to remain consistent with our communication, we would like your input in the following survey.
