The Cornell School District hopes that this communication finds you and your family doing well. We are into our second week of returning from our winter break and I wanted to give an update on where we are with our COVID numbers, and what the plan is moving forward with the semester coming to an end in a few weeks.
Our families have been outstanding in regards to contacting the district to discuss any concerns they have had, and notifying us of any possible exposures and/or close contacts. All of our exposure and close contacts have been because of outside of school interactions. We do currently have some students out due to quarantine protocols or awaiting test results. This has been an ongoing and fluid situation, and we'll continue to work with families who may have to quarantine or isolate due to COVID-19 related issues. If your child does have to miss any school time because of COVID-19 related issues we ask that you work with the high school or elementary offices to arrange for any work that needs picked up, and also reach out to your child's teacher(s) about work that has been posted on their Google Classroom site.
As of today, Tuesday, January 12 we have no active student cases, and one active faculty case. So, our numbers continue to be good. Our overall numbers from the start of the year to now have been 10 student cases and 3 staff cases. Again, we have had a number of quarantines and requested COVID-19 tests out of precaution, and I'm sure those will continue, but our numbers have been great. Regardless of what our numbers have been, we understand things can change in any given day. We ask that families continue to vigilant, and be mindful of social gatherings. We will continue to enforce the wearing of masks, we will continue our social distancing practices, and ask students and staff frequently wash and sanitize hands.
The Cornell School Board recently met to discuss our current half-day, in-person rotation schedule. It was decided, due to a number of reasons, to extend this current schedule through the end of the 3rd nine-weeks, which concludes on Wednesday, March 31. The reasons being the unknown that the rest of January and February bring in terms of spread, the concern about providing a consistent academic program to our students and families that isn’t disrupted, the continued practice of the safety recommendations that have been communicated to all school districts (the 6-foot social distancing in classrooms and buses mainly), and the low case count we have experienced to name a few.
We are hopeful that we can bring our students back full-time in the spring for the 4th quarter, but we’ll have to see how things transpire in the coming months. As always, we thank all families for their continued understanding during this frustrating time. We know all families are dealing with a lot, and we all want things to go back to normal. However, we have to ensure the health and safety of students and staff members, which is always our top priority. Thank you again.
Sincerely,
Dr. Aaron Thomas
Superintendent