Dear New Rochelle Families and Community:
I hope this note finds you well. I am writing to reiterate schools will be open for in-person learning on Monday, introduce our school district’s COVID-19 Test-to-Stay Program, and encourage registration for the children’s COVID-19 vaccination clinic Monday at Trinity Elementary School.
First, we thank our students, families, faculty, and staff for their perseverance and partnership during virtual learning this week. This switch from in-person learning was necessary to protect our community during the post-holiday spike in COVID cases. It also gave our school district time to develop additional COVID safety programs to help keep school buildings open for in-person learning that’s so crucial to our students’ development.
All schools will be open on Monday, January 10. We will closely monitor the impact of COVID on attendance for both students and staff. Please know we will need to make daily adjustments based on the capacity and attendance of adults supporting our schools. We also know that transportation may be impacted, and we will keep our community abreast of any transportation updates. We intend to press on and adjust as necessary. We ask for your understanding and patience as we deal with these challenges.
The Test-to-Stay Program launches with the opening of school buildings on Monday. It provides a rapid COVID-19 test for unvaccinated students and employees who have had direct contact at school with someone positive for COVID. The test is administered by a trained Test-to-Stay technician under the direction of a school nurse.
To help our community learn more about the Test-to-Stay Program, we have prepared a Q&A in partnership with our PTA leaders. We thank them for their participation and investment in our children.
We continue to urge registration for our PCR Saliva-Testing Program, which we detailed in Thursday’s letter. Online registrations surged after we streamlined the process. We added 434 new participants this week. That’s progress, but we have a long way to go! The more registrations we have, the more effective the program’s safeguards will be. Please complete the consent and authorization forms here. Students also can pick up printed consent and authorization forms when school buildings reopen next week.
Vaccinations and booster shots are additional essential safeguards for our community. Please sign up for Monday’s clinic, in partnership with the Westchester County Department of Health, at Trinity Elementary School from 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. We are seeking to set up future clinics, and will provide updates as they are scheduled.
Thank you again for your patience as we navigate an unprecedented era in our history. Stay well.
Sincerely,
