Parent/Guardian Questions and Answers

Parent/Guardian Questions and Answers - Second Semester

(Questions are posted as submitted. This page will be updated as needed)

[updated April 12, 2021]:

Question: When will the district increase in-person days for students on hybrid instruction, now that the state has updated its guidance for schools?

Answer:

Late April 9, the New York State Health Department released updated guidance regarding physical distancing for schools, a full three weeks after the Centers for Disease Control released their update. This is welcome news, enabling our district to offer more in-person days of instruction per week. The district is now reviewing the state guidance to determine any needed updates in the district plan and any adjustments we will need to make in order to offer more in-person days of instruction during the ongoing pandemic. Our initial review shows that the primary changes include a recommendation of three feet of physical distancing in classrooms, in line with the CDC guidelines, and six feet of distancing for music and physical education instruction.

The other major piece in the state guidance is required stakeholder feedback prior to expanding in-person instruction. The district will be sending more information on our plan, and we will ask for feedback to meet this portion of the state requirements the week of April 12. We ask parents and guardians to look for this information and complete it as soon as possible if they have feedback.

At this time, we hope to implement the plan April 19, barring no additional requirements placed upon districts.

Question: Exactly how much would it cost, in a dollar amount, for the attorney to write their interpretation that students, faculty, and staff must adhere to the 6ft. guidance from the Health Department, except when a student must speak one on one with a teacher? (which was described, during said meeting, as classroom instruction)

Answer:

The Board of Education has legal counsel that provides opinions to the district both verbally and/or through a formal written legal review, if requested. In most cases, a district is given the same legal opinion verbally through discussion with the district. The costs for this verbal service are usually included in the district's annual retainer agreement for general discussion and counsel throughout the year. When specifically asked to give a formal written legal review of any matter the cost is based on a variety of factors such as the length of time to conduct research, gather information, discussions, documentation, as well as formulate a final legal opinion. This is usually completed based on an hourly charge for time, as well as any fees associated with the formal review. Our attorney’s hourly fee is established at $190 per hour. Therefore, the charge would be for fees and the amount of time put in by the firm to conduct the review, as well as any necessary fees associated with the review. Depending on this structure, the fee could be any range of cost depending on the extensiveness of the review. Our counsel has informed the district that the review would still reach the same verbal conclusion provided to the district at this time unless there is change in the state guidance.

Question: What was the thought behind continuing with the current hybrid schedule and not allowing Dr. Douglas to proceed with making a plan for three days of in-person instruction?

Answer:

At their March 4 meeting, the Board of Education affirmed the district’s reopening plan developed last summer. This does not mean that the board prohibited the district from exploring adjustments to improve our instructional delivery plan. In fact, the board specifically asked the district to investigate potential adjustments (such as 3/2 rotation days of cohorts for the secondary level) that could be feasible during this time, while also advocating for a change to state guidance in order to allow more days of in-person instruction.

The following questions were included on a petition submitted to the Board of Education on March 18, 2021.

Question: Why is Horseheads School District’s current educational plan not meeting the minimum of 900 instructional hours across ALL grades and modalities within the district?

Answer:

The Horseheads Central School District is meeting the minimum education timing requirements (days/hours) of the New York State Education Department.

The calculation given in the follow up letter from the petitioning group indicated that they had calculated the instructional time for students (during the day over the course of the school year) to be 775 hours of the 900-hour minimum state time requirement. However, it is important to point out this calculation does not account for asynchronous learning time, which also counts toward the total yearly instructional hours for students during the pandemic.

Making a conservative assumption that each student does a minimum of an hour a day/night asynchronous learning time, throughout the course of the school year (which most students must do far more than just an hour a day/evening), the student’s instructional time would be increased by at least 182 hours. This would result in a total yearly instructional time of at least 957 hours for the year and is beyond the state’s expectation.

In addition, the New York State Education Department (NYSED) has also instituted a waiver of the minimum hours and days of instruction for any school district in NYS during the 2019 through 2022 school years. Horseheads CSD had to apply for this waiver prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. As such the district is well positioned with the NYSED to meet any requirements regarding educational days and hours because of the changing school years, and the issues caused this year by the pandemic.

Although the school is intent on meeting the minimum instructional days and hours, the district‘s financial resources are protected from any potential loss by an approved waiver of these days/hours, if needed, by the NYSED. Therefore, the question is not based on the requirements of the state or the actual way hours and days are calculated for NYSED purposes.

Question: How will the district adjust the schedule for the last few months of the year in order to increase the instructional hours for students during virtual instruction?

Answer:

The district has been regularly adjusting the instructional format and programming since the start of the pandemic over a year ago. Throughout this school year faculty, staff, student, and families have had to adjust to ever changing situations related to COVID-19 clusters, exposures, quarantines, micro-cluster zones, testing, etc. The educational program has shifted between hybrid (in-person and remote learning) to all remote learning, and different learning structures for even different buildings at various times throughout this school year, for distinct reasons and/or state closures and reopening.

We want to thank all for assisting our instructional staff during this ever-changing time, as well as commend the staff, students, and parents for persevering through this tough time. Especially, when we are again adjusting to hopefully more in-person days, once the state gives new guidance now that the CDC has issued their guidance of 3 feet distancing. This should be the last potential shift for this school year and the remaining weeks of instruction.

Question: What is the District's plan to return to in-person education and when will it be made public or available to Horseheads District parents for review?

Answer:

The district’s plan has always been to return to more daily in-person instruction, when the state allows for it in its guidance. As such, the planning by the district is in place to maximize any new guidance from the state while not abandoning our students and families who have chosen 100% remote instruction for this year. As such, the district has already released its tentative plan for increasing instruction according to the CDC guidance which was just released. However, this plan may have to be adjusted based on what NYSDOH puts into place. When that happens, the district will adjust it plan, as swiftly as possible, and communicate any start date out to our community. The current plan and any potential updates are the basis for what the district is doing this year. The plan is not subject to further review, as it continues to meet all the parameters within the district’s initial plan which was developed by our community stakeholder groups and modified by the district as appropriate during the pandemic to comply with state guidance.

Question: We hereby request the School Board and the Superintendent obtain the written opinion of the Horseheads School District attorneys regarding the 6-foot interpretation guidelines. This request was put on the public board meeting on Thursday, March 4, 2021, and three board members spoke up and indicated this wasn't necessary. It is incredulous that the board that oversees not only the education of all of the students in our district but also the welfare of our teachers is failing to act on any and all possibilities to bring our community, teachers, students, staff and administrators back into a healthy, prospering teaching environment.

Answer:

The Board of Education has had several verbal reviews of the 6’ interpretation made available to them, via the direct request of the superintendent and his reporting to the BOE, as well as multiple other check-ins with district counsel by other members of the administrative team. Additionally, privileged communication of this interpretation has been provided to the board in a written form. The conclusion of the formal written legal opinion yields no changes to the current operations of the district. Additionally, the action of the full Board is clear from their meeting that they did not need any further written opinion from district counsel. They (the board) of course do look after the education and welfare of the district, as a Board, and must adhere to all regulations, orders, and laws of the State of New York when carrying out their duties. They cannot just do what they or the public want and put aside their legal obligations as suggested.

Question: We are asking the HH school board to reassess the current hybrid and remote models in order to rework any areas that are failing to meet our district standards as this will assist our district in recovering from the impact of the pandemic.

The district must develop a plan NOW regarding how to return to full in-person education as soon as possible, within existing guidelines.

Answer:

The Horseheads CSD Board of Education affirmed the district direction by Board vote on March 4, 2021, stating that the district will continue its current plan approved by the state and in compliance with guidance. The BOE has also given direction to seek modifications as appropriate for all moving forward as stated in a previous question. The district is currently awaiting revised state guidance to update the social distancing requirement. We are advocating for this change at the state level.

The district cannot increase in-person learning more than it has at this time as a result of guidance and legal counsel for de-densification at 6-foot requirements. Our plan to increase in-person learning is only viable if the state aligns with the new CDC guidance released on March 19, 2021.

Question: The Board should continuously be seeking an understanding from teachers, students, and parents on how the current platform and processes are functioning.

What are the successes?
What are the failures?

What are the areas that need to be reworked?

the Board has failed to take any action to improve the current learning model.
Parents have been asking the Board to proactively establish future learning plans since December of 2020 and have seen no actions taken.
The Board should be proactively providing teachers and parents projected plans for what education in the Horseheads District will look like for 3-days a week in-person, 4-days a week in-person and ultimately the return to full in-person learning.

Answer:

The district has been answering these questions throughout and monitoring and adjusting as we progress throughout the pandemic. Please read over previous questions and answers.

The following questions were asked at the March 18 Board of Education meeting.

Question: What you are doing to make the rest of this school year and next year different. I read daily in the news outlets that schools throughout New York State are returning to school 5-days a week. Have you contacted these schools to find out how they are doing this?

Answer:

This school year is different and the next is unknown at this point. The district has been requesting information from the state for planning next year's educational format. Currently, we can only plan for a five-day in-person education format for next year, until such time that NYSED and NYSDOH indicates its requirements for schools for the 2021-2022 school year.

News outlets may be reporting other schools are returning for 5 days a week. However, it is important to note that these news stories do not give actual context in their reporting. No school the size of Horseheads, Elmira, or Corning is opening 5 days a week for students.

The speaker said that she teaches at a school that is open five days a week. This particular school is in one of the smallest school districts in the area and state. The student class size typically found in these smaller schools, when spaced 6 feet apart, allows these schools to have 5 day a week classes and still meet the social distancing limits of the state. This means these smaller schools could educate at 6 feet apart every day whether they are in a pandemic or not. This is not possible for larger schools like Horseheads when there is a required need to de-densify an entire school building/district.

Yes, some schools in NYS (mostly smaller schools or schools that have extra rooms and/or staff) are starting to go back 5 days a week with 6-foot distancing, but they are schools that are smaller in size and have additional educational space. Again, larger schools the size of Elmira, Corning, and Horseheads are not able to do this.

Question: What is the amount of time the state requires students to be learning each year? What do you plan to do for the students who have not hit this mark?

Answer:

As stated above, the district is meeting the requirements of the New York State Education Department.

Question: I would like to understand how Wednesdays are counting as a school day right now. Wednesday instruction for us is 2 hours or less and then they are free to go. Wednesdays should be a full school day. Studies are now showing that students on average could lose 5 to 9 months of learning by the end of June 2021

Answer:

As stated above, the district is meeting the requirements of the New York State Education Department. This is accomplished in a variety of ways including in-person synchronous and asynchronous time, remote learning synchronous and asynchronous time, time associated with the instructional program throughout the entire week and weekend, both during school hours and outside of school hours. All time combines to meet the states requirements.

Question: Why are we not reevaluating the plan that was created in August? As a teacher, I am constantly being asked to "pivot". Why isn't the district pivoting when things are no longer working?

Answer:

As stated in a previous answer, the district has regularly adjusted and pivoted throughout this pandemic time from the beginning. Our teachers and staff have many distinct types of educational situations and settings to address. We believe our staff are doing remarkably well with all the nuances that have been thrown at them and the students/families they serve. To say things are not working is a narrow view according to the perspective of one or a specific group. The district has heard from many others throughout the community stating that they are thankful for the way things are working for their students as well as trying to keep all as safe as possible. Our staff members are working hard to find ways to work for our varying needs. Unfortunately, like all districts during this time, we have those who are not attending, participating, submitting work, /or communicating with their teachers or administration. These students are the primary ones who will see zeros and/or failures during this time. Teachers have worked diligently to instruct and assist all those who are willing to try their best under these difficult challenges.

Question:

What if these were your children? What would you tell him to do? Would you continue to wait for someone else to make the decision for you?

Answer:

Several on the Board, as well as the superintendent, have children in our schools. Each parent must assist them as best they can during this time. Parents need to work positively with their student, staff, and administration. They need to communicate with them, as appropriate, to assist their student(s). We should help them to openly and actively participate as fully as possible, and most importantly, do their best and do not give up. That is what we believe all should be told, as well as your students every day.

Districts have had to make many decisions and plans during this pandemic. The district cannot just do what it wants to in this situation. The district must follow state regulations, guidance, best practices, law, and orders. We do not wish to wait for decisions to be made, but we must follow the decisions that are made by the state whether others believe we should or not.

Question: I recognize that not all parents want their children in-person. So, what is the plan?

Answer:

The district's plan is to address all formats of learning required of the district which it can feasibly and safely put into place. Our plan is on the website and we are following it, this was recently reaffirmed by the BOE that the district will follow the state approved plan. The district has been making modifications to it, as appropriate under the new CDC guidance, but the district still must wait on the state to give final direction and future guidance.

Question: When will you even survey the families what we want? You might be surprised to find there to be some real feasibility when it comes to what you can offer the families that do want to return to in-person learning.

Answer:

The district uses surveys when appropriate and needed. Once we had information from the CDC, the district conducted a survey to determine parent/guardian input on more in-person learning. The survey gave information to the district that was exactly what the district had anticipated - that the majority of students on hybrid instruction would participate in more days of in-person learning if the state updates its guidance to allow the district to offer this.

Question: Dr. Douglas, will you guys collectively continue to email the Governor and others, especially our local county leaders? BOE, are you collaborating with other BOE's in the state and contacting the Governor's office jointly, and often, as in several times a week. Are you guys putting pressure on the local health department and Chris Moss to advocate for schools opening for more in-person days and to change the 6ft guideline to 3ft and if so, what has been done or said?

Answer:

The district administration and BOE, along with our staff, have been continually working to bring about change at the local and state levels throughout this entire pandemic. All are committed to continuing this effort, as well as to get students back to school full time in person. We appreciate the many parents who have assisted in the effort by contacting the state. The district also appreciates the work of our local leaders and state officials for their support and continued advocacy. All have been very public and vocal through their roles and connections to try and get the state to move as fast as it can. However, the power and ultimate decision-making rests with the Governor and his health director, Dr. Howard Zucker.

Question: Has someone from the superintendent’s office or a BOE member contacted Onondaga to find out how they are doing what they are doing? According to the County executive's office, Dr. Gupta, the head of their county health department, made the decision to reduce the number of feet required in a classroom if they are using barriers.

Answer:

Yes, we have contacted school leaders and colleagues in the areas where schools may be moving to 3-foot distancing. Each has its own context of what and when something like that could happen. Specifically, each of these areas would be acting against state health department guidance. However, it has been re-affirmed to Chemung County school districts that localities and local health departments do not have the legal authority to override the state. We all must be cautious about what we read in news outlets to make sure we have a full understanding of the circumstances described and whether or not they apply to our district’s situation.

Chemung County leadership has regularly informed Chemung County districts that at this time, it does not have the authority to permit school districts to move to 3-foot social distancing.

Many school superintendents in Onondaga County indicated that they would only go forward with the 3-foot guidance if it were put in writing by the County Executive and County Health Director. Currently, the County Executive’s plan has not been approved by the state, even though he has been telling the region he is going ahead with it. Our district has just learned that some large school districts in Onondaga County are moving forward with the executive’s plan based on the County Health Director’s approval. We will have to learn the outcome of this non-compliant action with the state guidance.

The district will be monitoring this situation and has informed the Chemung County Officials of this pending issue. The district has also indicated that if Onondaga County can proceed, as mentioned, without the state stepping in to enforce their regulations, Horseheads CSD would be requesting the same approval from Chemung County leadership as soon as possible.

We either must wait for state guidance changes or the implementation process in Onondoga County to occur to finally establish an answer for the district to move forward.

Question: Are we sending out surveys like Corning is and planning for a 4 day in person school week? If we are not, then why?

Answer:

The district was planning to survey families to determine if our projections would change in any dramatic way if guidance were updated and we could accommodate more days of in-person instruction per week. We needed to find out more specifics either from the federal government or the state to finalize the survey. The CDC issued its updated guidance on a Friday afternoon, and the district sent its survey to families the following Monday to determine interest in more in person learning.

Question: I spoke with a parent who has children in the Elmira District and she said her kids get progress reports every week. Could we do the same?

Answer:

Parents can check the progress of their child through the SchoolTool Parent Portal tool daily throughout the entire school year. Schools have communicated this to parents. If you are having difficulties, a parent can talk with the teacher, administrator, and/or our technical support staff to assist. Our district and staff are always available to address concerns or have conversations, which is not always available in a weekly paper report. Please try accessing the Parent Portal for your student’s information. The district has used this resource both pre-pandemic and during the pandemic to keep all updated as much as possible daily.

Question: Virtual learning has made it easy for students to say to themselves and parents ... l'm tired, I don't feel like going to school today, I'll just go virtual. Even if they would rather go to school. Children are depressed and have gone from loving school, to wanting to just sleep all the time. How will these issues be addressed?

Answer:

This is not a major issue when students are in school as you have indicated, kids want to be here. However, when this is happening at home, we urge parents to assist the school staff so that their students are actively engaged when they are out of the presence of their teacher who would normally keep them on task in the classroom. In this situation, the district and staff look to the parent/guardian/caretaker to assist in keeping the student active in their learning process and on task. This is an issue during this time that districts look to the adults at home or at caregiver to address this with their students. The district does recognize that many parents work, and that there isn’t always an ‘adult at home’ depending on the age of a student. The district encourages parents to talk to their child’s school principal, counselor, caregiver, and/or teachers for assistance if students are not engaging.

Question: When will Wednesday become a normal school day whether it is virtual or in-person?

Answer:

Wednesdays are scheduled days for asynchronous work, small-group instruction with teachers, as well as days specifically for our remote students to have dedicated time with their teachers. This is something that all hybrid students receive at least two times a week under this pandemic setting. Even if the district moves to four days a week in person, the Wednesday time will be needed more for our remote students, as they are important learners and a part of our school community.

Question: Does the district have data to support that remote kids are using this day to connect with teachers? How many children are taking advantage of this time? What is the percentage?

Answer:

The data shows that our teachers, staff and students regularly access this time. It is expected that all parents ensure their students are online when assigned by their instructor if possible. However, the district and our staff recognize that this is not always the case for every family. Parents can adjust their students’ time as it fits into their pandemic schedule and/or specific situation. The district does its best to have opportunities for all throughout everyone's schedules both synchronous and asynchronous time for learning.

Question: Students are not getting the instruction time they should be in the current hybrid model. My sophomore, when in school, has class for 80 minutes per class. However, I find on his remote days, he spends as much time on his PlayStation as he does on ltslearning. Why are these classes not being taught to the fully allotted time?

Answer:

This question has been addressed in varying ways above regarding instructional time. Specifically, instructional time is supported in a variety of ways during the pandemic. Students have instruction which will be offered as in person synchornous and asynchronous time, remote learning synchronous and asynchronous time, time associated with the instructional program throughout the entire week and weekend, and both during school hours and outside of school hours. All this time is combined to form the instructional program for all during the pandemic. Students and families will need to work out the at home expectations for their learning setting as it is outside of the normal educational structure that all are familiar with when we are not in a pandemic.

If parents are having difficulties with home settings, please reach out to the staff, counselors, and administrators to see if we can assist you in the home setting while we are governed by the state's pandemic regulations.

Additional questions:

Question: I spoke at the last school board meeting almost 2 weeks ago. I noticed that the video is not posted yet. When will this be posted?

Many of the parents who spoke, me included, asked specific questions. I checked the question and answer page on the district website and don't see updated answers to those questions yet.

Also, Chemung County Legislator Christopher Moss posted this article today. This article states that, "while the current state guidelines do allow districts to bring kids back with 3-feet of social distancing, plastic barriers must be used". Is this true?

Answer:

The video of the March 18 meeting has been posted to the Board of Education page at this link: HCSD Board of Education. Please go to the website to access the district’s video’s as the information is specific to Horseheads and regularly stored at this site and not just on various media platforms.

The district is working on all the questions. We will post responses when the questions are completed and reviewed. There are many other tasks, during any given day and/or weekend, that are also being addressed regularly in the district. First and foremost, we are trying to work on advocacy and the instructional plan to provide more in-person days of instruction per week once the state gives its guidance.

It looks as if County Executive Chris Moss simply posted an article from another area for others to be aware of the advocacy. The district has checked with him regarding his position. This has not been part of our discussions at county meetings as no local official has the authority to override the Governor or his state health department. The article is also not in line with the guidance directly from the State Department of Health and our district’s legal counsel. Therefore, any statement coming from anywhere other than the Governor, State Health Department, State Education Department and/or our legal team is just that, a statement. The district needs to be given specific instructions/guidance from the state, as we cannot just take information from media and/or social media as the proven course of action.

[posted March 11, 2021]:

Question: Has the District looked into the option of barriers in schools? Has each building come up with a count of which classrooms would need barriers? How many barriers total per building? Is there a line item in the proposed budget in case this mandate does not change for the 2021/2022 school year? Can parent organizations help raise the money to purchase the barriers? If these questions cannot be answered yet, can the district develop a plan to begin phasing in the use of barriers to start bringing some grade levels back to school 5 days per week? A suggestion seen in other districts is to start with the elementary schools and work through the district from there.

Answer:

Barriers in Schools

The district has investigated barriers from the outset of the pandemic and was advised by counsel that this does not eliminate the need for six feet of distancing for de-densification of schools. While the six-foot distancing requirement remains, the barriers would provide an additional bit of safety. With guidance from state and local health authorities, the district has taken the position of best practices that masking would be 100% during the school hours, except during appropriate mask breaks throughout the day and during lunches.

Estimated Numbers of Barriers

If the district were to purchase barriers as an added layer of safety, one barrier for every classroom seat in the district would be needed. This would amount to roughly 3300 seats in the hybrid model, or approximately 6600 seats if all students return. At the elementary level, keep in mind that this includes all classroom teachers as well as art, music, library, reading, resource room, etc. At the secondary level, students travel to several classrooms throughout the day, each seat requiring a barrier. In addition, barriers would have to be utilized in lunchrooms across the district to handle full student capacity in our schools. This is not as simple as one barrier for each student. Each student area must be outfitted and regularly disinfected for student and staff use.

There are low-cost barrier options at about $20-$30; however, these barriers are not as substantial as the higher-cost versions and may not stand up to daily disinfecting and use. This type of barrier would need to be replaced regularly throughout a school year due to wear and daily cleaning, which would be a continued cost to the district.

Higher-cost barriers are $150-$175 each, which poses a significant cost impact. These barriers would need to be secured to surfaces in order to prevent potential injuries to others. They would likely not need to be replaced throughout a school year, unless the barrier is damaged.

Another option would be if the state would redefine barriers as safety glasses, goggles, or face shields with continued mask use. These items would have a per unit cost of $3 to $15 for each student. This type of “barrier” could easily travel with every student. We would ask families to assist with daily cleaning and disinfecting of these items. This type of barrier, if the state allows, would be more cost-efficient and need replacing only if damaged or lost. We encourage our parents to advocate for this change to state guidance with this last option for our district.

Budget for Barriers

The district would use funds from the district budget to acquire the needed materials for any items to reopen our schools fully once guidance from the state is either modified and/or changed.

Parent Organization Fundraising for Barriers

We appreciate parents' willingness to assist the district and we are grateful. However, it is not necessary at this time. The district would use funds in the budget approved by our community to meet this need if the state were to require barriers and allow us to decrease social distancing.

Similar to when the district purchased a substantial number of technology devices for students during this past year, the district would utilize current funds for mandated needs. If barriers were to be required for the state to reduce distancing, the district would make barriers happen. Currently, this it is not the case. Additionally, there is significant lead time for any mass purchase of these barrier items. Therefore, the earlier the guidance comes from the state, the easier it will be for districts to plan and acquire the needed materials for safety and best practices to return our students fully to school.

Bringing students back 5days/week with Barriers

This question is answered above.

Question: What is your student no show rate on their scheduled in-person day?

Answer:

There are various ways for students to connect and be present during this school year. Our daily attendance rates represent students that connect both remotely and in-person. If a family chose in-person hybrid instruction, there is a seat for that student on their in-person days.

The rate of students attending their scheduled hybrid day has not been consistent from day to day or week to week for a variety of pandemic-related reasons. Students may be out of school for contact tracing, quarantine, or other reason. For instance, many families chose to keep their children on remote instruction when our county infection rates were high. This is the reason the guidance encouraged districts to remain flexible when considering student attendance.

Question: How many surveys have been sent to parents regarding their education preference?

Answer:

This question about surveys has been answered in the Q&A.

Question: Why are my kids online less than 2 hours per day? Why are my kids not learning in conjunction with the kids in class on days they are virtual? Why aren’t the teachers engaged in face-to-face learning with ALL children for the entire school day regardless of modality?

Answer:

Our instructional plan for the district’s students was developed by a community stakeholder group as required by the state. We are the only district in the Southern Tier to involve all stakeholder groups in the plan development process. These individuals worked diligently during the height of the pandemic to create, discuss, and coalesce around an instructional plan for the district to move forward for the best of all our Horseheads families and not any one segment of the district. This plan was presented to the Board of Education in August with consensus to move forward and reaffirmed as the plan that the district will continue to follow, according to state guidance, in early March. The district is advocating for changes to the state's guidance, as well as looking at enhancements to the core instructional time.

Question: Why can I watch my nephews wrestle full contact, but I have to explain to my kids that they can’t go to school and sit in a classroom with their peers 5 days a week?

Answer:

This is the same question we are asking the governor and state department of health. It is our hope that the guidance will be updated to allow us to bring students into the classroom more days per week.

We are following guidance from the state regarding instruction, sports, gatherings, etc. This guidance gives counties flexibility in some areas, such as athletic contests, but not all. The county is allowing two spectators per athlete.

Revised Spectator and Athletic Information

Additional Athletic Information for seasons and competitions

(subject to adjustments, as needed, by district, county, and state)

Spectators at Practices and/or Contests

Low and Moderate risk sports can have no more than two spectators per athlete (indoors and outdoors) by order of Chemung County depending on the site and/or restrictions placed upon sports by the state, counties, and/or Board of Education.

High Risk sports, as of February 18, 2021, Chemung County Schools have been cleared to have no more than two spectators per athlete (indoors and outdoors) by order of Chemung County depending on the site and/or restrictions placed upon sports by the state, counties, and/or Board of Education.

Indoor events:

The Horseheads Central School District will allow limited home team spectators only at home athletic events:

Only home team spectators will be allowed for home competitions when feasible. This is due to COVID-19 guidelines and/or capacity limits for safety and to keep our sports programs open.

Competition capacity limited for each sports venue will be set by the athletic director.

All spectators will be required to follow health screening protocols and temperature checks to attend any competition.

There may be indoor events that have no spectators, only one spectator, or a maximum of two spectators per family. (This will be set ahead of the competition by the athletic office and communicated via coaches.)

Senior Night events will also be limited indoors. The district will reserve these events for spectators of the seniors’ families only in order to honor their high school career.

Away indoor athletic events are governed by the away school. If spectators are allowed, all spectators are required to follow the away schools' procedures and/or protocols. (families should check with the coach prior to any away competition for away school districts rules and/or limitations prior to attending any event.)

Any non-compliance with school district rules, protocols, and/or safety procedures may result in a person's removal from the school event(s).

Outdoor Events:

The Horseheads Central School District will allow outdoor spectators for both home and visiting athletic team events:

Spectators will be allowed for outdoor competitions when feasible. This is due to COVID-19 guidelines and/or capacity limits for safety and to keep our sports programs open.

Competition capacity limited for each sports venue will be set by the athletic director.

All spectators will be required to follow health screening protocols and temperature checks to attend any competition.

The away team school district is required to provide an individual supervisor/administrator to complete their visitor's check-in, screening, supervision, departure, and/or contract tracing.

There may be outdoor events that have no spectators, only one spectator, or a maximum of two spectators per family (both home and/or away teams). (This will be set ahead of the competition by the athletic office and communicated via coaches.)

Outdoor Senior Night events will also be limited, if needed. The district will reserve the right to have these events for spectators of the seniors’ families only, to honor their high school career. Final decisions on senior night attendees will be established by the Athletic Director.

Away outdoor athletic events are governed by the away school. If spectators are allowed, all spectators are required to follow the away schools' procedures and/or protocols. (Families should check with the coach prior to any away competition for away school districts rules and/or limitations prior to attending any event.)

The Horseheads Central School District will also send an individual supervisor/administrator to complete their visitor's check-in, screening, supervision, departure, and/or contract tracing for these outdoor away events.

Any non-compliance with school district rules, protocols, and/or safety procedures may result in a person's removal from the school event(s).

Click here for the district’s Return to Play Plan for High-Risk Sports.

[posted February 2021]:

Question: Can you please explain why spectators are not allowed to watch their kids compete? 1 parent for each child competing would not cause harm to anyone and all regs can be followed. I am sure most parents would even give up their spot for a parent of a Senior.

Answer:

Low and Moderate risk sports can have spectators depending on the site and restrictions placed upon sports by the state, counties, or Board of Education.

High Risk sports, as of February 18, 2021, has been cleared by Chemung County to have no more than two spectators per athlete.

Additionally, spectators may be limited* for any event based on location, county of the event, and/or space limitations set by the District Athletic Director for the event to proceed in a safe and orderly manner.

*Additional Athletic Information for seasons and competitions

(subject to adjustments, as needed, by district and state)

Spectators at Practices and/or Contests

The Horseheads Central School District will allow only limited spectators at home athletic events:

Spectators will be only allowed at home competitions when feasible. This is due to COVID-19 guidelines and/or capacity limits for safety and to keep our sports programs open.

Competition capacity limited for each sports venue will be set by the athletic director.

All spectators will be required to follow health screening protocols and temperature checks to attend any competition.

There may be events that have no spectators, only one spectator, or a maximum of two spectators per family. (This will be set ahead of the competition by the athletic office and communicated via coaches.)

Senior Night events will also be limited. The district will reserve these events for spectators of the seniors’ families only to honor their high school career.

Away athletic events are governed by the away school. If spectators are allowed, all spectators are required to follow the away schools' procedures and/or protocols. (families should check with the coach prior to any away competition for away school districts rules and/or limitations prior to attending any event.)

Any non-compliance with school district rules, protocols, and/or safety procedures may result in a person's removal from the school event(s).

Question: Cuomo opened Arenas for thousands to watch.

Answer:

Governor Cuomo has opened large venues of 10,000 seating capacity or more only, requiring that all attendees undergo the 72 Hour PCR COVID-19 test, along with other stipulations. Unfortunately, he has not changed any other guidance at this time for other entities such as schools and municipalities. The district must await further guidance from the Governor.

Question: Why is the district not allowing spectators outside for outdoor sports? What is the science behind this decision? You can most definitely social distance, wear a mask and there are no issues with “ventilation”

Answer:

The district has not stated that spectators are not allowed for outdoor sports. At this time, the district has not addressed outside sports as we are in the Winter Season, which is indoors. Chemung County and the Department of Health will provide guidance on this question once we get to outdoor seasons and the snow melts. The district will then share information on this question once we receive final guidance from the appropriate authorities. Additionally, the Board of Education has also established set limits on spectators for any events, out of an abundance of caution and safety, to make sure COVID-19 infection spread is minimized as much as possible in order to allow athletes to have as much as possible a complete season during this pandemic time.

Question: We are happy the kids are getting somewhat of a season but it is my understanding that this was a district decision and no Cuomo has opened this up to all. Can you clarify?

Answer:

On January 22, Governor Cuomo announced in his regular press conference that state-deemed high-risk sports can resume February 1, 2021 as long as districts work with local authorities to make sure activities are as safe as possible. On January 27, Chemung County Executive Chris Moss announced his approval for these sports to begin. The district shared its plan after getting the go-ahead from Chemung County.

The district is following state, local, and board guidance for its athletic activities. The Board has provided the direction for spectators for the near future as indicated above. The district will review the issue of the number of spectators at events, when it is appropriate for the given situation in the district and varying outside events on school property. We have always tried to do this monitoring of events since we opened in order to assist our students and families in having as full of a season/activity as possible under the current pandemic situation. As we have already previously stated, the district has made special arrangements for senior nights, and we will do our best to allow home spectators at all levels.

As also stated earlier, Governor Cuomo has only opened large venues of 10,000 seating capacity or more only, requiring that all attendees undergo the 72 Hour PCR COVID-19 test, along with other stipulations. He has not changed any other guidance at this time for other entities such as schools and municipalities. As the district must await further guidance from the Governor, we suggest that individuals advocate to the Governor their thoughts on the need to loosen requirements, recommendations, and best practices for schools so that districts may also reasonably address school events.

Question: There was a recent letter from the State Education Department stating that “COVID-19 testing may not be a condition for in-person learning or participation in sports.” Will the district be updating their policy on testing for students and athletes based on this latest directive?

Answer:

The letter from SED came out just a few days prior to the writing of this information. It is memo to the field on the status of COVID-19 testing of students in schools and athletics. However, the letter does not specifically address COVID-19 testing for high-risk sports programs. The district had taken the same position communicated in the letter prior to the release of formal SED letter to the field. We shared the information with families in our February 5 district update (See below):

COVID-19 Testing:

As we reported last week, the state has removed the orange zone designation for our area, and therefore we are no longer required by the state to test students and staff in the six schools formerly in the orange zone. However, we plan to work with the county and continue testing in our schools (with the exception of Big Flats) to continue the best practice endorsed by the County Health Department as an additional level of safety for our community. Testing is also recommended for our in-season student-athletes as part of the state and county’s approval of high-risk sports.

If your child is on hybrid instruction (and is not an athlete) in any of the six schools formerly in the orange zone and you no longer want your child tested, please contact your child’s building principal via email.

Please be aware that if the state again designates our area to be in a micro-cluster zone of yellow or orange, we would be required once again to test students and staff in the identified schools. Your original consent submitted to the district would then still be in effect. If at that time you do not want your child tested, you would have the opportunity to change your child’s format to 100% remote. Again, this would occur only if the state designates schools to be in a micro-cluster zone.

Note that as a condition of implementing sports considered high risk in the region, Chemung County required us to submit a detailed plan that included testing protocols for high-risk athletes in order for the county to authorize these sports to open for a season. The district will comply with our county-approved plan for these sports and test student-athletes in high risk sports so that we can offer these opportunities to our students. At this time, we have not been told how to interpret this new SED memo regarding high-risk athletics. State and county health departments supersede SED guidance in the interest of public health. We are asking this question on testing for high risk sports at our next health department call. The district will update all, as appropriate, once we get information, clarification, and guidance from the regional team. The State Education department has also now issued an amendment to their earlier letter to the field that recognizes the right for local counties’ health departments to place additional requirements upon schools in the interest of public health.

Question: Do you see the district opening up to 5 days if the mandatory 6 ft. is lifted? Will there be an option for remote if Cuomo says schools can go back to 5 days in person? Can we get to a 3 day a week in person schedule for remainder of year? Rotation?

Answer:

5 Days, Social Distancing, and Remote Model

The district would prefer nothing better than to return students to in person learning five days a week. However, please note that districts must adhere to the requirements and best practices put into place by the Governor of New York State, as well as the state department of health.

In order for any chance to make this type of transition, all districts will need updated guidance from the Governor of New York State and the state department of health to make possible the return to five days of in-person learning. Additionally, the same type of specific guidance adjustments would also be needed to assist all districts on any requirements for remote instructional options going forward in schools.

3/2 Day a Week (rotation)

The district is currently having discussions at various levels regarding any potential changes to daily schedules as stated above in previous questions. This may be more feasible at the secondary level which requires minimal changes in supervisory coverage at home for our younger students (PreK-6).

Question: Where are we with percentage of teachers vaccinated?

Answer:

This question is really about our entire staff and not just teachers. Vaccinations in the district are adhering to the required 1B phasing established by the Governor. To date, the district is progressing ahead of other districts in the area with its vaccination efforts for staff who wish to be vaccinated. Please understand that this is not a requirement for schools to reopen, but rather an additional safety consideration for those staff members that wish this option. Currently, a vast majority of individuals in the district have opted to be vaccinated during this phasing opportunity for educational staff members.

The district will continue its work on vaccinations for all staff over the next month, to ensure everyone that wishes a vaccination could receive one as soon as practical. These efforts will aid the district in its ability to hopefully fully reopen to in person learning, once we receive new reopening metrics for New York State schools from the Governor of New York State and the State Department of Health who control this reopening process.

Question: If the state mandates the 6ft going into next year, what is the districts plan of action? Many people I spoke to believe this will no longer be an issue due to vaccines but do we have a plan if it is?

Answer:

The district is hopeful that the question posed above, regarding social distancing at 6 feet, is not the case for the 2021-2022 school year. We are anxiously awaiting guidance for planning purposes of next school year from Governor Cuomo and the State Department of Health as it relates to future learning expectations for NYS schools. Although vaccines do not eliminate the danger of COVID-19, the district is hopeful that the many positives in the area (vaccinations, masking, personal hygiene, lower positivity rates, etc.) that are occurring across the state will lead to guidance being forthcoming sooner, rather than later, on the matter of social distancing for schools. As the district must await further guidance from the Governor, we suggest that individuals advocate to the Governor’s office and other elected leaders for immediate attention to the issue of announcing, as soon as possible, new regulations, guidance, and best practice matrices for schools to be able to fully reopen for 5 days a week, in person learning. Districts and school communities cannot have another year of last-minute announcements and planning opportunities from the Governor for our school districts.

Question: What about the teachers who say they still don't feel comfortable coming back even though they are vaccinated? Will they be teaching remote?

Answer:

Our teachers and staff have been working hard to educate and maintain a safe educational environment for all our students and community members, as best we can, during this challenging time. The district’s staff is preparing and looking forward to the day that we are all in person every day of the week for both our students and community. The district staff also looks forward to the time when remote learning is only a last resort option for any educational opportunity, rather than a primary source for our students during this pandemic. We all agree that 5 days a week in-person learning is the best form of education for our students. We look forward to returning to this model as soon as Governor Cuomo adjusts his regulations and best practices for schools, who have challenges with social distancing space and or staffing needs that would be required for school to safely operate during this pandemic.

Question: Adding additional days/changing the hybrid schedule. Is it possible to add an additional day in the hybrid schedule- example Cohort A M, W, F and Cohort B T, TH and then it changes the next two weeks? Or many districts are utilizing the Cohort A- one full week, Cohort B one full week schedule. This permits for more time for teachers to get acclimated in a week as well. Many parents expressed concerns over Wednesdays and their seeming ineffectiveness, as some students are receiving little to no instruction or reduced instruction time. We understand logistically these may present challenges, but it seems many parents want to see more in person instruction. Perhaps a survey could be sent out to parents regarding this, like the one sent out in September. Parents of Cohort B students are also concerned about the lack of equity for their students as Cohort A students have received more days of in person instruction than Cohort B- what is the plan to level this out for their students? Pre-K – 4 have been equally impacted by this discrepancy.

Answer:

Adding a Day or Changing our Schedule Mid-Year

This is not a simple change. There are a variety of issues and problems with a mid-year change for the entire school district. Specifically, the school day schedule is very rigid in a regular school year. The schedule is even more rigid in the current situation because we must offer a variety of educational options to our community, and these must be safely provided according to state guidance. Additionally, the district took great strides to involve all stakeholder groups into the initial planning of our educational options and schedules during the summer.

This question poses structural changes that have already been considered by the stakeholder groups. The options were selected by stakeholder groups as the best way to proceed for various reasons of operational success. The district utilized stakeholder input and discussions to settle upon the structure for the entire school year in order to provide consistency during this pandemic for families. It is important to note that most, if not all, large school districts in the area and across the state are also offering a similar two day a week in-person rotation and three day a week remote structure (with one fully remote day a week, basically on Wednesday).

This consistent structure needed to be set as early as possible to afford the community the opportunity to secure childcare coverage for different family situations. As such, to make any dramatic change now would put our district, as well as others in the area, into a childcare crisis. This is because changes to our schedules that divert from schedules in similar schools in the area will have a staffing impact on each individual school district’s work force. It would lead to some staffing losses in districts in the middle of the school year that would negatively influence student learning.

Therefore, there is not a lot of flexibility for adding a day of in-person instruction or changing the established educational structure established in the middle of the school year.

However, we are currently having discussions at various levels regarding the Wednesday structure to see if we can make any adjustments to improve our educational delivery at specific levels.

Wednesdays

At the PK-6 level, Wednesdays were designed to focus on 100% remote students (students who are not physically in classrooms). The goal is to give them the extra supports they need, as well as to provide an opportunity for teachers to connect with hybrid students who may be struggling. This Wednesday time also allows for conversation between teachers and students on a more personal level. Students can share things with their teacher or classmates that they don’t have time to share during the rest of the week’s class time. While this question looks at the concerns from some parents feeling that Wednesdays are not engaging enough, the district has also heard from many other parents who have the opposite view, concerned that Wednesdays are too engaging and students need a break from all the screen time.

Here are some educational activities occurring on Wednesdays:

Whole class social emotional learning experiences during the extended morning meeting.
Teachers can work with individuals or groups to complete assessments or assignments at the ability level of that group.
Building-wide events on Wednesday assemblies are for culture and community building.
Students are being provided with independent lessons and activities for these days which would need to be done in a school setting. It helps maximize putting these activities on Wednesdays rather than putting into each cohort’s in-person work.
ENL (English as a New Language) schedules are built around Wednesdays as a huge intervention day as are many other related services.

RTI (Response to Intervention) teachers can meet with their students without taking them out of their in-person classrooms or away from their online lessons on the other days of the week.
This is a time when staff can provide office hours and one-on-one support to students, since they do not have students in session all day. (Teachers are using this time and more to give that support to all their students, if needed). Additionally, as kids are working on their assignments, questions come up that they did not think of during the lesson. Wednesdays give students the chance to request a one-on-one meeting with their teacher to get individualized help.
Time on Wednesdays gives students the chance to get caught up on assignments they have missed or have not finished. This is also time for students to engage in and/or digest content in ways that work best for them.
Wednesdays provides teachers the time needed to meet as a grade level to provide consistency of curriculum content, timing, and overall assessment across each of the grade levels and prepare at home learning materials to prepare students to be successful the following week. (This includes developing schedules and educational home packets for hybrid and remote students.

Any change to the master schedule would have a large ripple effect on all other areas of the educational day.

Cohort B

It is important to understand that all students are expected to receive 180 days of instruction through the various instructional formats used by schools. Meeting the 180 days of instruction is the district’s priority for the school calendar. The school calendar was developed for the school year to assist families in planning in-person cohort days, as well as to try as much as possible to balance the number of days for in-person learning. Initially there were a few days different between Cohort A and B that naturally occurred from the format of the calendar. The Remote Cohort was given less contact time than that of the other two cohorts, as remote learning was taking place every day.

The district will review the issue of balancing the in-person days. If a change to our school calendar does not upset the district’s learning model at specific levels, we will determine if we can make the change. The district will look at this issue only after the winter months have concluded. If any adjustments are to be made, the district will communicate any decision with significant advanced notice so all families can adjust their normal routines.

Question: What is the district’s plan to phase back into a 5 day a week in person instruction model? Parents would like clarification on the state guidelines for this- is this possible in the orange zone? Is the district following state guidelines with decision making to return to school or implementing its own guidelines going above and beyond the state? Our initial closure in October was district imposed- not state mandated and that is in issue of concern for many.

Answer:

5 Days a Week Instruction

The district recognizes that every family would like to have all student back to school, in person, every day. The faculty, staff, and administration join in this wish to have students back each day. However, this is unable to happen at the current time, whether the district is in an orange, yellow, or no zone designation, until the Governor changes the Department of Health and State Education Department guidance for educational operations. The district cannot meet the requirements of distancing if all students are in buildings.

The district is hopeful that with the current rollout of vaccination options, the Governor will provide guidance on the full reopening of schools as well as a projected date. However, the district cannot provide information on this until it is discussed at the state level.

Please feel free to advocate for any future opening of schools with the Governor's Office, as well as with any of our state elected officials. The district is currently advocating for discussions to begin on returning to five days in school when safe to do so.

Following State Guidelines:

The district has been following state guidelines regarding the return to school protocols established by the state and the Department of Health. The district was prepared to return to school on October 26, 2020 and did so in the areas that could be opened according to the Governor’s newly-announced Orange Zone Designation for much of the district on October 23, 2020. This designation is currently still in place. Once the district was able to secure the materials, resources, and staffing to start the reopening process, the district reopened as soon as we could according to a phased-in approach around the holiday season with COVID-19 surge concerns. It is important to remind others that schools around us are still not fully reopened.

Closure in October:

The move to remote in October was necessitated primarily from the district’s inability to maintain staffing levels throughout the school district at the time. Additionally, Covid-19 exposure issues in the district and throughout the county were at the highest levels until the recent holiday break. The Governor designated the orange zone due to the county’s infection rate – just as we were able to return to appropriate staffing levels. While parents asking this question have concerns about the timing, there were also many parents who supported this action taken during a major cluster outbreak since the start of school. This shows that the pandemic situation is difficult to manage when opinions are varied.

Question: You have mentioned that busing is going to be a hurdle when trying to get more students into the school for in person instruction. Is it possible to also survey parents on this and find out what alternate transportation accommodations they could possibly make, if it could provide an opportunity for more in person instruction for their students? The survey sent out at the end of summer did not ask parents to opt-in/opt-out of busing. Many parents used this to “reserve” a spot on the bus route (s) for their children yet if asked, they would provide transportation if it meant their children could return to school earlier and more frequently.

Answer:

The transportation of students is a major challenge this year with state requirements for social distancing and mask wearing. Specifically, districts are expected to socially distance the seating of students on buses to six feet apart for any student who does not wear a mask. This limits the number of students who are able to be on a bus to six, along with the bus driver. Because this would be too restrictive for school districts, the state has recommended that all students wear a mask, stagger seating, and keep family members seated together, allowing the distance to be cut in half to increase bus capacity. This limits the number of students who are able to ride a standard bus to about half of a bus’s regular capacity (approximately 22). To assist the Transportation Department with meeting requirements, parents/guardians were surveyed during the summer (the educational delivery choice survey). Many parents/guardians opted to transport their students to and/or from school each day. The district appreciates their help during this time as it helps all receive transportation to and from school safely.

We recognize that some families ask for transportation as a backup if they are unable to get their students to school each day. They have that right to do so if they notify the district, which some have. As such, the district must reserve a seat on the bus for that student by state regulations. However, the district has not seen this to be the case for many families in the district. Therefore, there are many families throughout the entire district that the district must still transport to and from school each day. Even with this decreased ridership during COVID-19, the district has just enough bus runs to meet the needs of the community. Additionally, our transportation program is challenged by the overall lack of substitute drivers for the school year.

We appreciate the steadfast determination of our bus drivers in looking out for our students. Several drivers make it possible for families who need assistance with meals by maintaining our Wednesday meal deliveries to homes. They are truly frontline workers who make a difference for our community. Because of their functions, the district has had difficulty filling substitutes for many runs and have had to temporarily cancel certain runs for a brief time on one day, a few days, a week, or even two weeks for COVID-19 related issues or other illnesses. Therefore, the bus runs that we can maintain with the rules and requirements of the state during COVID-19 allow the district to operate the best we can under the circumstances.

It is important to note that bus runs would not drive the decision to allow more students to return daily to school as asked in the question above because other mandatory state requirements still guide what our large school district can offer until changed by Governor Cuomo.

Question: Mental Health. What Social/Emotional supports are currently in place for children? If hybrid/remote learning is continuing through this school year- what can additionally be added. Some schools are offering Lunch Bunch type programs, but many parents do not think additional forced screen time is the answer and aren’t sure if their students would willingly participate. Parents are also concerned about the emotional deficiencies that are a result of lack of socialization between students/teachers/school support staff.

Answer:

Our school psychologists, social workers, social work assistants, counselors, principals, and all our employees are aware of the pandemic’s impact on the social emotional health of students. The impact extends to our staff, families, and community. Like parents, the district is concerned about fewer opportunities for socialization and connection between students, teachers, and support staff.

As we developed our plan for the 2020-21 school year, we engaged an entire team of stakeholders to discuss how to address the social and emotional needs of our students. Staff members participated in training at the beginning of the year, and we are providing additional training and discussion opportunities throughout the year on topics including relationship skills and social awareness, self-awareness and self-management, and strategies for disengaged students. Our teachers are making themselves available for students as they always have, often staying online after class or setting up a time to connect outside of class, especially on Wednesdays throughout the day for those who need assistance.

Our schools have been offering various small group and virtual activities to help our students with social emotional needs and opportunities to connect. The staff in our schools have worked hard to develop and implement activities to show our care and concern for our students, and to maintain and increase school spirit and morale. In-person activities such as “lunch bunch” and other programs are limited to small groups due to safety protocols, but they are occurring in our schools both virtually and in-person. Our school personnel are working hard to meet the social and emotional needs of our students. It is a collaborative effort; schools are not the only place where students get emotional support for socialization, and we must work together to effectively identify and meet the needs of our students both during school and outside school hours. Unfortunately, all our norms for this socialization have temporarily been changed due to COVID-19. We all must work to assist in meeting the social needs of these children as best we can during this challenging time.

We encourage parents/guardians to reach out to teachers or principals, as well as community organizations, for more information as we all work on meeting the social/emotional needs of our students.

Question: Screen time. How can we reduce or improve the time students are spending on screens? Many parents have expressed concerns over the amount of daily screen time- this varies by grade level. Some parents were reporting their students are on their screens up to 10 hours a day- with virtual classes and then additional work. Additionally, much of this time can be distracted screen time- spending time on multiple screens with their laptops/computers/phones/TV’s etc. Parents (and teachers) have reported vision and headache issues as a result.

Answer:

We are all concerned about the societal issue of screen time; it was an issue prior to the pandemic and of course a greater issue now. With parents choosing remote for safety, medical, or other reasons, there will always be students requiring to connect via a screen. During instructional time, teachers are building in breaks and encouraging students to move away from the screen when possible and making sure they are physically moving throughout the day. We ask parents/guardians to encourage their children to do the same when at home and finished with instruction, and to talk with children about screen usage outside schoolwork, monitoring this use if possible. If there is a continued excessive amount of screen time, a parent needs to check in with either the student's teacher or building administrator to discuss the issue and see if there is a mutual way of addressing the concern as we are in an educational format that will require a certain amount of screen time. Please remember that parents and guardians can minimize this time at home and work with teachers on maximizing the learning time needed for education. There are also items such as blue/yellow light glasses that can help lessen the effects of more screen usage on the eyes.

Here are some resources for information on screen time:

Screen time and children: How to guide your child (Mayo Clinic)

Screen Time Limits By Age: Guidelines and Suggestions (theconfidencemag.com)

Screen time guidelines by age (eyepromise.com)

Question: What will the district policy be on the COVID vaccination?

Answer:

All COVID–19 vaccines are currently approved under “Emergency Use Authorization” only. Therefore, the district has been informed by the New York State Department of Health that these COVID–19 vaccines are currently not allowed to be mandated for use. As a result, there is currently no official district policy or regulation on a COVID-19 vaccination for students. The Horseheads Central School District will follow the regulations and/or laws put into place regarding COVID-19 vaccinations in the future as they relate to public educational institutions.

Question: Attendance. what is the district policy on attendance? There seems to be some confusion on live instruction attendance vs. School Tool/ Official School record attendance? Parents expressed concern on their children being marked absent if unable to attend live instruction but watch the instruction later in the evening. Many parents expressed frustration at the lack of understanding/ acknowledgement/empathy of parents who are working outside the home.

Answer:

Our schools have shared information on attendance during remote and hybrid instruction. We have stressed that students should attend all the live sessions that they can. This helps address the interaction concern as well as attendance. Students are marked ‘absent’ in the moment of a live class, but if they access itslearning before midnight that day, the absence is moved to ‘present.’

Students can also connect with their teacher during office hours offered by the teacher either in their routine or established through the student or parent requesting time with their teacher. If students or parents/ guardians have questions about attendance, they can always reach out to their teacher or school office for clarity.

Question: High School final exams. The question was raised, and many parents engaged with this question- how/ why are high school students still being given final exams that will be approximately 10-20% of their grade? How are remote students being monitored for these exams vs. hybrid students who will take them in person? Given the current climate and all the different variables that are coming into play- is this the best and most accurate way to gauge their knowledge? NYSED has cancelled Regents exams- why is Horseheads not cancelling finals? A suggestion was made that perhaps projects, speeches, presentations or videos depicting their understanding of course content may be a more accurate method of assessment.

Answer:

In the awarding of credit for a course, there has always been a culminating event to measure students’ learning. This practice will continue, but with a reduction of the value of the final from 20% of the final grade to 10% for first semester courses (second semester will follow the same course of action if Regents exams are canceled).

Current grading procedures will have teachers rely more on the interactions throughout the semester, with knowledge building throughout the length of the course. Depending upon the course, there will be authentic assessments as in the past: projects, presentations, portfolios, etc. Teachers have been using a variety of methods for measuring students’ knowledge and skills in assigned quizzes, tests, homework, and classwork throughout this year. Our secondary teachers have been discussing the finals for their courses with their students. We encourage any student who has questions to reach out to their teachers.

Question: Extracurricular/Athletics. What is the plan to bring these back safely, as soon as permitted by NYS? A few surrounding districts (although they were in a different colored Zone) have been running some of their programming safely and successfully since Sept, again when permitted by NYS. Many parents feel their children are at a disadvantage.

Answer:

The district’s plan has and always will be to follow the guidance from the state, section, and league athletic associations, as well as the Governor’s directions for athletic participation. Our section and league moved the start of all three seasons until after January 4, 2021. This move was made by the entire section to gain greater clarity from state agencies and officials on safety issues, as well as to try to make sure all sports could have a season, even if shorter than usual.

The district began allowable sports on January 4, as promised, according to the state's guidelines on risk levels. We intend to continue this athletic and extracurricular implementation as safely as possible and according to the established guidelines and recommendations, for the rest of the year and if the Governor, section, and leagues allow schools to continue. Unfortunately, the Governor has specifically restricted certain sports deemed high-risk since the start of the school year.

High Risk Sports, as designated by the state:

Winter (January 4): Basketball (Boys/Girls), Wrestling, Competitive Cheerleading

Fall 2 (March 1): Football, Volleyball

Spring (April 19): Lacrosse (Boys) Unified Basketball

The Governor has held his position on this restriction of high-risk sports and as such, these sports are not allowed to compete at this time. The district is currently holding in-season conditioning sessions, or ‘open gyms’, for each of the restricted programs, as well as off-season workouts according to our past procedures, so student athletes can stay in shape and work out with their teams. Of course, these sessions and workouts will follow state guidelines and safety protocols.

Districts outside of our county and/or section have been allowed to have this non-contact off season practice sessions prior to January 4, 2021. This is because these districts (Corning, Ithaca, and others) are located in areas that were not put into a restricted zone designation by Governor Cuomo. This restricted zone designation by the governor did not allow the school district to offer any of these in season and/or off-season sessions until just recently (January 4, 2021). The district was prepared to offer these opportunities to our students back in October 2020 when all schools were scheduled to reopen from the 12-day move to remote learning due to a staffing shortage and COVID-19 outbreak earlier that month. Unfortunately, this was when the Governor designated nearly the entire county as an Orange zone and restricted operations just when we were ready to restart instructional, athletic, and extracurricular programs. Our district and our students had no other option to participate until the state changed their guidance for designated micro-cluster zones.

Please see the information below for more information on athletics.

Additional Athletic Information for seasons and competitions

(subject to adjustments, as needed, by district and state)

Spectators at Practices and/or Contests

The Horseheads Central School District will allow only limited spectators at home athletic events:

Spectators will be only allowed at home competitions when feasible. This is due to COVID-19 guidelines and/or capacity limits for safety and to keep our sports programs open.

Competition capacity limited for each sports venue will be set by the athletic director.

All spectators will be required to follow health screening protocols and temperature checks to attend any competition.

There may be events that have no spectators, only one spectator, or a maximum of two spectators per family. (This will be set ahead of the competition by the athletic office and communicated via coaches.)

Senior Night events will also be limited. The district will reserve these events for spectators of the seniors’ families only in order to honor their high school career.

Away athletic events are governed by the away school. If spectators are allowed, all spectators are required to follow the away schools' procedures and/or protocols. (families should check with the coach prior to any away competition for away school districts rules and/or limitations prior to attending any event.)

Any non-compliance with school district rules, protocols, and/or safety procedures may result in a person's removal from the school event(s).

Masking Requirements

The district will compete in athletic competitions that are allowed by the state, section, and/or league. Our school athletic teams will compete in events with masking requirements for competition according to New York State guidelines. Students in the Horseheads Central School District will be required to wear a face mask during practices and competitions. The wearing of the face mask is defined as follows: a mask is to be secured to the head and covering the area of the bridge of the nose, over the mouth, and under the chin. Students must wear an appropriate mask to participate on school property. Only a confirmed medical reason, verified and supported by the school district’s physician, will allow a student athlete to compete without a mask.

When it comes to competing against other teams, the Horseheads Central School District athletic teams will only compete against other sports teams who will also wear face masks during the entire competition. These masking requirements will apply to all 2021 league, non-league, sectional, and state level contests. In the event an opponent is not willing to appropriately wear a mask during competition, in either non-league, league, sectional, and/or state events, the coach of any Horseheads athletic team is to inform the athletic director and game officials of the safety issue and remove the team from the situation and return to school. The athletic director and coach will confirm masking compliance and intentions of away schools prior to competition dates.

Question: What is the cutoff date for remote students wanting switch to hybrid? Parents would like clarification on when and how they make the switch.

Answer:

We have told parents/guardians of students on remote instruction that at the end of the first semester, or midway through the year in January, we would revisit the idea to determine if moves from remote to hybrid instruction are feasible. To determine this, we need to know how many of our remote families would like their child to move to hybrid instruction.

The district sent a questionnaire to parents/guardians of remote students only the week of January 11 asking if they would like their child to move to hybrid instruction for the second semester. This information will assist the district in determining if we can maintain current class sizes and safety protocols in the event many families wish to make the move to hybrid instruction for their children. There are also mandatory busing issues the district must consider as we work to meet parent/guardian requests to return students to the district’s in-person hybrid instructional schedule. We will let remote parents/guardians know if we can accommodate these moves, as well as any other information needed to continue the learning model developed used by our district stakeholder team for this year.

Question: What are the results of both surveys done by the district? Is it possible to do another survey to include hybrid at 2 days a week, hybrid at 3 days-2 days rotating, 5 days a week in person and 100% remote? Parents are looking for choice.

Answer:

The district’s decisions on instructional delivery were made in the summer based on extensive guidance from the state an in line with safety parameters set by the state health and education departments. A committee of stakeholder representatives, from across the district, analyzed and discussed several different models as mentioned above and made recommendations to the district based on instruction, social emotional, transportation, food service, and daycare needs.

The first survey completed in August was created to gather information from parents/guardians on a variety of topics. It was to gather relevant information on how families were choosing their educational modality, given the recommendations of our representative stakeholder groups utilized to formulate the district's plan. The survey was not a decision-making tool for any district actions and should not be interpreted as representative of the entire district's positions by families.

Specifically, the survey only represented 62% of potential respondents and there were also duplicate responses submitted by many, which may skew any potential results. Additionally, the survey was not to be utilized to derive new systems of instructional delivery. The survey results have been available on the district plan section of the district website since the start of the school year.

The survey the district conducted for specific parental selection of educational programming and other choice options is not for public dissemination. It was for operational needs and contains personally identifiable information and would not be provided for public review.

Question: What is the district’s plan for providing public forum on the Board of Education meetings, as required by law?

Answer:

While school board meetings must be open to the public, there is no requirement that school boards allow members of the public to speak. The Commissioner of Education encourages boards to allow members of the public to speak whenever possible, and as such the district has long maintained a comments and questions section on each board meeting agenda. COVID-19 has shifted standard operations throughout the past year and as a result, the Board and administration have continuously tried to adjust to the needs of this ever-changing pandemic environment.

The Board of Education is revamping its Public Comment section for the upcoming January meeting, via the district’s remote broadcasting of monthly board meetings. During the pandemic, the Horseheads Board of Education has allowed public comment at meetings through Board Policy 2370 as best it could. The COVID-19 procedure of submitting a comment or question to the district prior to any scheduled meeting of the Board has been announced publicly to the community at each board meeting since March. In addition, all meetings of the Board of Education (BOE) during remote meeting times have been recorded and posted for transparency of the Horseheads Central School District.

Beginning in January, the public will be able to personally participate in the comments section of district’s BOE meetings following board procedure.

For those who wish to make a comment at the board meeting, this will be accomplished by the following procedure:

Arriving at 5:50 pm at the designated location for the stated board meeting.
Checking in, completing health screening, and following all school safety protocols (Individuals should be aware that failure to meet the health screening requirements or adhere to safety protocols will restrict the individual from entering and/or remaining on school property and speaking to the Board of Education.)
Using the established socially distanced, remote computer connection to participate.
Following Board of Education Policy 2370 for Public Participation at Board Meetings
Adhering to participation time limits.
Checking out and leaving premises upon completion of participation

Please check the Board of Education Meeting section on the district website for location, time, and check in procedures for speaking at the any future Board of Education meetings. Final information on these details will be posted at the same time the monthly Board of Education Agenda is made public.

If you have questions you'd like answered here, please contact the district at hcsdinfo@horseheadsdistrict.com.

School Contact Information:

Horseheads High School - Principal Kris Earl, kearl@horseheadsdistrict.com, 795-2500
Horseheads Middle School - Principal Ron Holloway, rholloway@horseheadsdistrict.com, 739-6357
Horseheads Intermediate School - Principal Michael Bostwick, mbostwick@horseheadsdistrict.com, 739-6366
Big Flats Elementary School - Principal Elizabeth Scaptura, escaptura@horseheadsdistrict.com, 739-6373
Center Street Elementary School - Principal Patricia Sotero, psotero@horseheadsdistrict.com, 795-2580
Gardner Road Elementary School - Principal Patrick Patterson, ppatterson@horseheadsdistrict.com, 739-6347
Ridge Road Elementary School - Principal Anne-Marie Bailey, ambailey@horseheadsdistrict.com, 739-6351

For assistance with technology, please submit a Technology Assistance Request Form or call 607-481-2850 and leave a detailed message. A technician will respond as soon as possible.

Click here to return to the District Plan page.

More Information...

Your School Principal, or

Horseheads Central School District

143 Hibbard Road
Horseheads, NY 14845

Dr. Thomas J. Douglas
Superintendent of Schools

(607)739-5601

• Explore • Empower • Excel