Superintendent DeBarbieri's announcements for January 5, 2024

January 5, 2024

Dear Parents, Guardians and Staff, 

I hope everyone is settling back into your routines. January is a busy month as we prepare for the end of the second marking period, Regents exams, concerts, festivals, tournaments and more. Go Bees!

I have a few announcements to share with you this week:

Welcome New Board Members:

The Board of Education appointed Thomas Bull and Jeremy Cali to the vacant board seats at the special board meeting on Wednesday, January 3, 2024. Thomas Bull is an educator with more than 30 years of experience at all levels. Jeremy Cali is a criminal, civil, and corporate lawyer who has been litigating cases for more than 17 years. Read more about them on our website. 

Survey Feedback from Elementary Families:

On Thursday, Elementary school parents and guardians received a poll in ParentSquare regarding Fall 2024 Parent/Teacher Conference half days. Thank you to everyone who has completed the poll and provided feedback. If you haven’t had a chance to participate in the poll, it will be open until 4 p.m. on Monday. We greatly appreciate the feedback.

I understand half days can be difficult for families of elementary students. I wanted to take a moment to address some of the common responses that we received. Parents requested that we combine two half days for a full day off. The school district calendar must meet minimum days of attendance regulations set by the New York State Department of Education (NYSED) and contractual obligations with our bargaining units. Currently, those guidelines require us to include five half days in our school year calendar. We use those half days for parent-teacher conferences - four in the fall and one in the spring. The half day parent-teacher conferences are permissible by the NYSED. That stated, we will not be able to eliminate half days for the 2024-2025 school year. 

Your feedback is very important to us and I’ll be sharing the information we collected with this poll with the appropriate stakeholders as we make important school calendar and other decisions in the future.  

Health Reminders:

With a spike in cases of COVID, Flu, RSV and other viruses, we wanted to send families some important health reminders:

• If your child is symptomatic, do not send the child to school. If the child has or has had a fever in the last 24 hours the child must remain home until fever free for 24 hours without the use of fever reducing medication. Report all absences to the school attendance office.

• There is no longer a universal masking mandate. Masks are not required in any of our schools, district buildings, or on school buses. If a student or staff member wears a mask, whether by choice, expectation, or requirement, they will be allowed to do so. It is expected that each individual’s right to mask or not is free from stigmatization, bullying, or being made to feel uncomfortable.

• If your child tests positive for COVID-19 isolation is required for 5 days following the start of symptoms. Report all absences to the school attendance office. The child can return to school on day 6 if symptoms are improving and the child has been fever free for 24 hours without the use of fever reducing medication. A mask should be worn on days 6-10.   CDC Isolation and Precautions for People with COVID-19

• At-home test kits are available at any school building for your convenience.

January Calendar Reminders:

• There is no school for students and district offices are closed on Monday, January 15th to observe the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday. 

• The Marking Period ends on Friday, January 26th.

• The next Community Cafe will be held at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, January 31st in the cafeteria at C.W. Baker High School. The topic is on “Funding Improvements and Building the Future.”

Great Season:

Congratulations to all of our Winter I modified athletes on a great season. The Winter II modified season starts on Monday! Please check Aktivate/Schedule Galaxy for practice and tryout information. Go Bees!

Sincerely,

Dr. Joseph M. DeBarbieri
Superintendent of Schools