Superintendent’s Community Update, April 16, 2021

Dear Hastings Families, Faculty and Staff,

Although there was one positive COVID case in the high school this week, the first week of all-in person learning since March of last year went well. Today, a total of 1,426 students were in school and 141 learned from home. Because of administrators, faculty, staff, families, and students, we made it to Friday without having to go remote or back to the hybrid model. Thank you for your continued vigilance and attention to our important safety protocols. 

Melissa Szymanski, Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction, and I happened to be visiting classrooms on Monday when the positive case was reported and was in the actual classroom watching an incredible lesson. Because we are fully vaccinated and meet the other requirements, we have immunity. This is the case for faculty and staff who have been fully vaccinated. However, this does not mean we don’t worry about coming in contact with a positive case. We all wear masks, wash our hands regularly, follow physical distance requirements, and stay home if we have COVID symptoms. 

It is important for families to continue to complete the daily COVID health questionnaire, monitor your child’s symptoms, and follow testing guidelines. If your child is awaiting the results of a COVID test, please keep them home. If a family member develops COVID symptoms, please keep your child at home. Sending them to school will lead to further transmission and the need for individuals not fully vaccinated or vaccinated at all to be quarantined. 

The New York State Department of Health memo issued late last Friday has raised some concerns. Every week, the Westchester County districts have a virtual meeting with County Executive George Latimer and the Westchester County Department of Health to learn about anything that may impact the schools and work through challenges associated with conducting in-person learning. We now look to them for guidance on whether or not we may remain in the all-in person learning model or retreat to the hybrid model for the middle and high school. As you may recall, when we reopened in September in the hybrid model, the Governor stated that a COVID infection rate of 5% or lower in the region would allow districts to reopen. In November, a microcluster initiative was introduced with three color zones (red, orange, and yellow) to determine whether schools remained open based upon the regional infection rate. Districts need help in determining which metric we will use to decide when we should revert to the hybrid model. Based upon this local dashboard, there are thirteen positive cases in Hastings as of April 15th. If this is the appropriate metric, we should stay the course. This COVID tracker data indicates the county’s infection rate is just below 5%. We will stay the course until further clarification is provided by the Westchester County Department of Health. As you know, the reasons our schools had to go into remote instruction was due to contact tracing, sanitization and disinfection of a specific school due to a positive case, and quarantines.  Since September, we have not closed our schools because of a higher local or regional infection rate. This is the goal until June 25. 

Another important decision has to be made relative to the new guidance from the New York State Department of Health. Before we reduce the physical distance in classrooms from six feet between children to three feet, we must obtain community, faculty, administrator, and staff input to assess the “community’s risk tolerance”. In Wednesday’s community update found here, I shared a survey. If you haven’t completed it, please do so before the survey closes on Monday morning. A discussion about the results will take place at the April 20th Board meeting and the results will be placed on our website. 

On March 25th, school administrators released their school reopening presentation, the updated school reopening plan, and an FAQ document. This information can be found here as well as on our website.  

Before spring break, I notified everyone that on April 19th we would start using the BinaxNow rapid test as part of our COVID mitigation strategy. The program is voluntary and we planned to test 5% of the student body each week in each school. As of yesterday, only 45 consent forms have been returned for all three schools. This is not sufficient for surveillance testing. As a result, we are not moving forward with the COVID surveillance testing program. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the Health (Nurse’s) Office of your child’s school which is below.

  • Hillside:  Gina Kowalski RN - kowalskig@hohschools.org &  Patricia Feeney RN - feeneyp@hohschools.org
  • Farragut Middle School/Hastings High School: Joanne Cipollina RN - cipollinaj@hohschools.org & Donna Morin Doyle RN - doyled@hohschools.org 

It was great to welcome children back to school for all in-person learning this week. The key to future success is for everyone to continue to follow the safety practices we’ve adopted. Please keep your child at home if you answer yes to any questions on the daily COVID health questionnaire found here. Thank you again for all you are doing to support our schools and keep us safe.

I hope you have an enjoyable weekend. 

Sincerely, 

Valerie Henning-Piedmonte, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools