Dear Cohoes Families,
Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Friday that in-person instruction is permitted in all regions of New York state for the start of the 2020-21 school year based on current COVID-19 infection rates, while also outlining new requirements related to school reopening plans.
The Governor stated that if there are spikes in virus transmission, or other developments that could change the ability of schools to reopen, decisions about the extent to which school takes place in-person or remotely will be made by individual school districts based on local conditions.
As for reopening plans, the Governor announced additional guidance pertaining specifically to remote learning, COVID-19 testing and contact tracing. Please see the Health & Safety section of our reopening plan for information on COVID-19 testing and contact tracing. More details on remote learning will be provided to our school community next week.
The Governor is also requiring schools to hold at least three information sessions for parents and members of the community, as well as one specifically for staff, to ask questions and learn more about our reopening plan. We are finalizing dates and times for more virtual information sessions.
Over the course of the last several weeks, our Reopening Committee has been working to formulate a plan for reopening school in September. These plans were created based on guidelines from federal and state agencies, as well as feedback from community stakeholders during our virtual panel discussions on July 27 and 28. Our discussion with parents is available on our YouTube channel and our complete reopening plan can be found on our website.
Anyone with questions or concerns about our reopening plan is encouraged to contact feedback@cohoes.org.
We know that there is a lot of uncertainty and stress surrounding the reopening of our schools. We will continue to work hard to ensure that our plan is as safe and educationally sound as possible.
Thank you for your continued support.
Dr. Jennifer Spring
Superintendent