Dear City School District of New Rochelle Community,
As you probably know, masking in public schools is now optional. This week, we received new guidance from the state removing the universal masking requirement for public schools, along with mask-optional FAQs.
The City School District of New Rochelle has moved to a “Mask-Optional” protocol as part of our COVID-19 Safety Plan. The school district Protocol Team is closely reviewing the New York State Department of Health guidance to determine the secondary effects of the Mask-Optional protocol on our COVID-19 Safety Plan. We will meet with the COVID Advisory Committee on Friday afternoon to collect thoughts and recommendations. Once this process is complete, the District COVID Safety Plan will be updated, and we will immediately share it with the community.
The Masking-Optional protocol applies to all classroom, school buses and vans, and common-area spaces. However, Westchester County’s Bee-Line buses still require masks while waiting for, boarding, and riding the Bee-Line bus.
The school district has also discontinued our COVID-19-related “No Visitor'' policy during school hours. Principals will continue to schedule appointments during the school day at their discretion. School events, parent-teacher conferences, and parent teacher association (PTA) meetings may take place either in-person or virtually.
All volunteers continue to be required to follow the same protocols as school district staff. All buildings require visitors to sign in and each building maintains a log with the date, time, contact information, and places each person visited to help with modified contact tracing, if necessary. The school district is still not permitting facilities usage for groups not associated with or serving the City School District of New Rochelle students in an approved school district program.
Sincerely,
