Update on how we announce COVID-19 cases in our District

November 29, 2020

Dear Parents and Guardians, 

I hope everyone enjoyed the long holiday weekend. As your family prepares to return to work and school this week, I wanted to alert you to a change in the way we will announce COVID-19 cases in our District moving forward.

When we have a positive case in our District, our team immediately starts to work with the Onondaga County Health Department to investigate and help with contact tracing. We provide the health department with data, such as attendance records, schedules, bus routes and more. The health department uses that information to determine quarantines. Since September, our principals and staff members have been notifying impacted families before the health department makes contact. This means you will hear from us directly if your family is impacted by a positive case of COVID-19 in our District. 

The letters that we email to the entire District are distributed to you in an effort to keep the whole District informed. We strive to always be open and transparent. However, we do realize that many of you are being overwhelmed by emails from us and your child’s teachers and principal. In an effort to reduce the number of emails you receive, we will no longer be sending individual messages when there is a positive case of COVID-19 in our District. Instead, we will post active cases to a dashboard on our District website. The chart will identify the date the positive case was confirmed, the impacted building or school, the date the student or staff member was last in attendance and details related to quarantines. We’ve added cases since November 23rd so that you can see how it works. Check it out here. 

If your child is directly impacted and needs to quarantine, you will hear from us. If a school building or multiple schools are closed to in-person instruction, you will hear from us. All major announcements will be posted on our website, social media pages and sent out via School Messenger with phone calls and emails. Our goal is to keep you informed, not to inundate you with emails. 

As we begin a new week, I would like to stress the importance of notifying your child’s school if you have recently traveled, if your family has been exposed to a case of COVID-19 outside of school, or if your child is experiencing symptoms of COVID-19. In each of these circumstances, it is important that you keep your child home until all return-to-school protocols have been met. Your child’s school can answer any questions you may have about when it is safe for your child to return.  Please respect all of our students and staff by adhering to health and safety protocols so that we can remain open for in-person instruction and minimize exposure of COVID-19.  

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday. I hope everyone was able to safely connect with their loved ones. We appreciate your support and understanding on this matter. If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to us.

Sincerely,

Joseph M. DeBarbieri, Acting Superintendent of Schools