Canisteo-Greenwood Central School District

Here is this week's sectional schedule. Good luck to all teams! Tonight (6/7) - Baseball team @ Bloomfield Elementary School. 4:30 start Tomorrow (6/8) - Softball team @ Pembroke. 4:30 start Saturday - Boys and Girls Track Teams @ East Rochester. 5:00pm start

Well, the NY state leadership is at it again. After Friday's public announcement that "if there is any data or science that you are aware of that contradicts moving forward with approach....we plan to make this guidance effective on Monday, June 7th", CG made the plan to follow this new guidance. As of yesterday, there was no word from the NYS Dept. of Health (or the Governor) and that is why I sent my message out last evening. Even this morning I received a statement that read "Gov. Andrew Cuomo has forecasted that he plans to issue an executive order today that will change policy on whether students and staff must wear masks in public schools, according to Deputy Secretary of Education, Daniel Fuller". In the same letter it also stated "Fuller’s statement that "We expect to update the existing guidance (today)" suggests that state officials do not expect the CDC to object". Everything was pointing in the right direction that CG had made the right call by no longer requiring masks per DOH guidance. Then the Governor had his press conference today.... He ordered that students still need to mask up INSIDE schools, but said that schools can choose whether or not to require masks outside. We will definitely choose to not require masks OUTSIDE starting today and moving forward. Since the Governor announced that schools still need to have students masked INSIDE, I am sorry, but starting tomorrow, students will need to mask up again inside. Primarily, the only time our kids are masked inside is when they are moving and within 6 feet of others. We only have 5 days left in the HS and 10 days in the elementary school left and we have been doing it all year. We are so close to the end. I have to say, it was nice seeing faces today and I am glad there was a glimpse of normalcy for the kids. I am extremely frustrated with the leadership in NY and they made a mess out of this and put all Superintendents in a very vulnerable position this weekend. The Governor lied in his press conference today stating that "there was never any confusion for schools. I told them I would let them know Monday". As your Superintendent, I wanted nothing more than to once-and-for-all provide the opportunity for my parents to choose for their own children. At least I was able to do it for one day. This breaks my heart to have to retract our messaging to the kids and staff, but NY botched their announcement Friday by releasing a letter to the press and getting everyone's hopes up to only pull the rug from underneath us once again. Nothing should surprise us anymore. Apologetically, Thomas J. Crook Superintendent

Good evening, Following Friday's announcement from the State Department of Health as well as communication with the Steuben County Department of Health, the Canisteo-Greenwood will be following the department of health new regulations to highly encourage masking but not require masking starting Monday, June 7th. This was not an easy decision because of the inconsistencies between DOH and SED, but we have followed the department of health guidelines since Day 1 of this pandemic. Those same people are now telling us that it is okay to no longer require masks in schools. With this announcement will come much emotion. Some will be elated and some will not. That is OK. If there is anything to be said about this announcement is that for the first time since March 13, 2020; you are now being afforded to make your own choice on whether to wear a mask or not. I ask that whatever anyone chooses for their child, that we respect that decision. Please have a conversation with your child about respecting another's choice to either wear a mask or not. In addition, there are no guarantees that sometime this week the CDC or the DOH will reverse this decision and we must be ready for that but until we hear different, we are following the DOH guidelines like we always have. Yours in service, Thomas J. Crook Superintendent

Good evening everyone,  As you may have heard, NYDOH released a letter this afternoon to the CDC stating that as of Monday, June 7th students or staff (vaccinated or non-vaccinated) will no longer be required to wear masks. This came as a shock to all Superintendents and not much has been communicated to us. I wanted to let you know that I am aware of it and will be investigating this weekend. Once it is officially approved by the CDC, I will reach out to all of you. Stay tuned... Yours in service, Thomas J. Crook Superintendent

This is just a friendly reminder to our baseball and softball senior parents, Senior Night for baseball is tonight (Tuesday) AFTER the game and softball is tomorrow night (Wednesday).

Good afternoon, The district was informed of a positive HS student this afternoon. All the affected families (7) for quarantine have been contacted. We wish a speedy recovery to the student. We have had a slight bump in cases the past two days, but all were in contact with a previous positive outside of school. Although quarantines are an inconvenience, they are necessary to curb the spread in school. We have been successful stopping a potential spread all school year and we are less than a month away from making it to the end. Thank you for your support all year in our efforts. Yours in service, Thomas J. Crook Superintendent

Good afternoon, Today we were informed by the county health department of 3 positive students (4th, 6th, and 9th grade). Each of the families affected by quarantine requirements have been contacted. We wish these 3 students a speedy recovery. Yours in service, Thomas J. Crook Superintendent

Good morning, We would like to thank all who came out yesterday to vote for the 2021-2022 Budget and other propositions. Here are the results: Budget Vote: 172 Yes, 31 No Library Levy: 154 Yes, 49 No Bus Purchases: 171 Yes, 32 No Board Members: Marcy Bradley and Fred Thompson were both re-elected to 3-year terms Yours in service, Thomas J. Crook Superintendent

Polls are now open for the Canisteo-Greenwood Central School 2021-2022 Budget Vote! Polls are open from 10am - 8pm today at Somers Hall in Canisteo and the Greenwood Fire Hall in Greenwood.

Good afternoon, Today we received word of 3 new positive cases (1 elementary and 2 high school). The elementary student was exposed to a positive family member and our contact tracing yielded 1 school quarantine. The 2 high school cases were siblings from the same household and since we were remote last week, no contact tracing was required. We wish all of them a speedy recovery. Yours in service, Thomas J. Crook Superintendent

Good afternoon, We were informed this afternoon of a positive 6th grade student. All that were involved in the district have been contacted. Due to the seating arrangements, everyone's awareness of the protocols, and vaccinations; there will be no one added to a quarantine list. We wish a speedy recovery to our student. Have a great weekend everyone. Yours in service, Thomas J. Crook Superintendent

Good morning, After monitoring our cases from last week and consulting with the county health department, the District is comfortable opening up next week for in-person instruction and resuming athletics. The high school will return to normal operations starting Monday, May 10th. We are almost to the finish line and if we just stay the course in our mitigation efforts to curb a spread, the end of June will be here in no time. There are many end-of-the-year events that we do not want our students missing out on, especially the seniors. Yours in service, Thomas J. Crook Superintendent

Good afternoon, this is just a friendly reminder to our elementary busing parents that due to the HS students being fully remote this week, the buses may be dropping off your children approximately 15-20 minutes earlier than normal. The morning timing may be a few minutes off as well. Please make sure someone is at home to help in getting your child off the bus. Thank you.

Good afternoon, Early this morning we were informed of 2 more positive HS students (7th and 12th). We have completed the contact tracing efforts and the affected families are being contacted. We wish a speedy recovery to our students. Just a reminder, all HS students will be participating in remote learning next week and must follow their bell schedule starting Monday and through Thursday. These 4 days of remote instruction and no athletics for the week will provide the district a 10-day window to curb the spread of this current outbreak of HS students. We are hoping that this short window of time will allow everyone to get healthy and non-contagious, so we can continue our in-person instruction that we have been so successful in this year. Yours in service, Thomas J. Crook Superintendent

Good afternoon, After consulting with the county health department and the school physician, the district has decided to go remote for the HIGH SCHOOL ONLY for one week. ALL HS students (including those on quarantine or temporary virtual) will be required to follow their bell schedule remotely starting Monday, May 3rd through Thursday, May 6th. Friday will be like all other Fridays this year. There will be NO ATHLETICS starting tonight and through all of next week. In addition, there will be no in-person BOCES next week. The district will continue to monitor our cases and if we feel comfortable by the end of next week, the high school will resume in-person instruction on May 10th. We apologize for any inconvenience that this may cause but due to the amount of cases this week, the number of quarantines, those out with symptoms, and the general safety of our students and staff; we feel it is best to take this preventative measure to curb the spread. We ask our parents to be conscious of gatherings by our high school students next week to assist in this mitigation. At this time, elementary students will continue to be in-person. Yours in service, Thomas J. Crook Superintendent

Good afternoon, Unfortunately I have to report to you that we have another positive 12th grade student. The contact tracing has been completed and all of the affected families have been contacted. Today's case yielded an additional 20 students and 1 staff member required to be quarantined. We wish a speedy recovery to the student. If you have been paying attention to the county numbers, many of the cases recently are hitting the Jr/Sr High school population. It is crucial that we continue to follow the recommended mitigation strategies and if symptomatic, stay home and do what is required to return (neg Covid test or an alternative diagnosis). Yours in service, Thomas J. Crook Superintendent

Good morning, Yesterday the district was informed of a positive 12th grade student. The student became symptomatic on Monday but fortunately was not in school. After contact tracing, 7 additional students were quarantined through school contact. All the families affected by the mandatory quarantine have been contacted. After this investigation, we understand that everyone is experiencing Covid fatigue, but it is important that if a student is not feeling well that he/she stays home and do what is necessary to get back into school. We have come so far this year and the last thing that we would want to see as a district is the threat of an outbreak forcing us to go remote for a couple of weeks to stop it. A small number of students quarantined is statistically better than having to stop in-person instruction for hundreds of students for 2 weeks. Please, if you are not feeling well, stay home. Yours in service, Thomas J. Crook Superintendent

Good evening, This afternoon we were informed that we have a positive 12th grade student. The student became symptomatic yesterday and was not in school today. Our tracing efforts have yielded 5 additional students required to quarantine. All affected families have been notified. This is CG's 55th case for the year and the first in several weeks. As county numbers are increasing, please remain vigilant in distancing and masking efforts. Yours in service, Thomas J. Crook Superintendent

Dear Parents, Friday, June 18th and Monday, June 21st there will be no school due to excess snow days not used for the 2020-21 school year. We are letting you know ahead of time so you can plan accordingly. Thank you!

Yesterday the district was informed that we have a positive high school student. The student became symptomatic last Friday (April 2nd), so we must go back 48 hours (3/31 and 4/1) for contact tracing purposes. There were 9 students affected by the tracing efforts. All families have been contacted that were affected by the tracing criteria. We wish a speedy recovery to the student. Yours in service, Thomas J. Crook Superintendent