Averill Park CSD Families,
Today (Friday, Dec. 18), we have made the decision to transition all of our K-5 students to remote learning for the final three instructional days leading up to our Holiday Recess, beginning Monday, Dec. 21.
This afternoon, we were notified of three new positive cases of the COVID-19 virus, including two staff members at the high school and a student at Poestenkill Elementary School. We are also aware that there is potential for more positive cases in our school community.
Despite our best efforts of directing all of our resources to keeping K-5 instruction in-person for as long as possible, the District is experiencing difficulty staffing our buildings at all levels due to wide-spread quarantines.
This decision was a hard one to make and comes after a great deal of thought and discussion. We understand that this development may put our families in a tough situation with childcare and meals. Food service will be available to all of our students during instructional days. Anyone who is in need of meals should fill out this form by 8 a.m. on Monday.
For our K-5 students, Monday will be a day of asynchronous learning, which could be independent digital activities or take-home packets and materials. It will not include live, virtual instruction. Tuesday and Wednesday will be virtual using Chromebooks and will follow this remote learning schedule. Thursday begins the holiday break. Students who are currently remote in grades 6-12 will continue learning as they have since transitioning to remote. Students who attend Questar III BOCES, Tech Valley High School and who are out-of-district special education placements will continue to attend in-person learning. New Visions is currently remote.
We hope that this transition will be temporary and at this time we plan to return our students to in-person learning after the holiday break. Any changes made to this timeline will be communicated as soon as they are made.
We would like to thank all of our students, staff members and families for the extraordinary work they have done to date throughout this school year. Our students have consistently followed all health and safety protocols, which has helped in allowing for in-person instruction for the majority of the past four months. Please continue to follow these protocols throughout the holiday recess to ensure a timely return to in-person learning.
Thank you for your continued patience and cooperation.