Canisteo-Greenwood Central School District

Good evening. We are sorry for the late notice but the Steuben County Health Department has just informed us that we are clear to open tomorrow. We will resume all normal FRIDAY operations. Students are home virtually, all normal Friday staff are asked to report, CTE BOCES students will attend in-person, and athletics will resume as scheduled.

Good morning, this is Tom Crook, Superintendent of Canisteo-Greenwood Central School. This morning we learned that a HS student has tested positive for Covid 19. The county health department has been notified and their contact tracing will begin. Please understand that the district is only closed to allow time for the health department to do their tracing. As soon as we hear from the health department that they have completed their tracing and it is safe to open, the district will open and resume normal operations. All short-term closures such as this, students are to be treating these days as they would a Friday, where they check on their electronic platforms for any work or activities assigned by the teacher. HS students are to continue checking Teams and will NOT follow a bell schedule until directed by the Principal. BOCES students will only report virtually to their classes.

Good afternoon. We are reaching out to you with a recent development. We just learned that one of our staff members has tested positive for COVID-19. We are working with the Steuben County Health Department and have decided, based on our COVID plan, the District will be closed to students and staff on Thursday, October 15th until further notice. We will be assisting the Steuben County Department of Health with their contact tracing tomorrow and will continue to keep you updated as information becomes available. Sincerely, Thomas J. Crook Superintendent

Due to the recent spike in Steuben County, on a Zoom session this afternoon, the health department is recommending that school board meetings be held through Zoom. Therefore, tonight's scheduled meeting will be through Zoom at 6pm. Thank you for your understanding. https://zoom.us/j/91219288607

The boy's Varsity soccer game is now live on the website. Go to cgcsd.org and click Live Coverage in the top right corner.

Dear Parents of CG Students, You may have recently received a Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) 2020 Card in the mail. The child whose name is on the P-EBT Card is automatically eligible for and receiving up to $420 in benefits because they were eligible for free lunches at school. The benefits are to be used to buy food to make up for free meals that they would have received at school, had schools not closed this past spring due to the pandemic. Please read carefully and follow the included instructions to activate your card. Do not throw away the card. Keep it for any future benefits your child may receive. For more information, visit our CG website under COVID-19 updates.

Girl's game is streaming live on the district Facebook page

We are experiencing technical difficulties with streaming to the website at this time. The server is recognizing the stream however it is not making to the website. We have calls out and hopefully we can get it fixed. The game is being recorded. Our apologies.

With games starting this evening, we wanted to discuss spectators and social distancing. When you get to the bleachers, you will see some marked spots with red tape. Please only sit on the bleachers that are marked and make sure to have 3 spots between '"groups". If you are choosing to stand by the fence, please make sure to have a section between you and another group (alternate sections). Once you are seated and/or distanced, you can unmask. Enjoy the games!

Several changes to this week's athletic schedules. To stay up to date- please use the rSchool website/app. You can register to be notified every time a change is made to any particular schedule. Here's the rSchool link: https://www.sectionvny.org/public/genie/783/school/6005/

Want to quickly know what's for lunch ? Download our CGCSD app and it's right at your fingertips. Want to know what's happening at your child's/grandchildren's school? Download the app, select your preferred school and receive push notifications with important announcements. Try it today!

I know there has been a little confusion about the new chart that came out a few weeks ago, especially around symptoms and when a student can return. After talking with Darlene at the County Health Department and making my questions as simple as possible, here is the answer that I received and what CG will go by (based off Department of Health Guidance and Darlene's blessing). IF the student's symptom never involved a fever, he/she CAN RETURN PRIOR TO 72 HOURS if: they have an alternative diagnosis from the Dr. or a negative COVID test, and their symptoms have been resolved (can be with medicine). IF the student's symptom involved a fever, he/she can only return with an alternative diagnosis from the Dr. or a negative COVID test and must have been 72 hours fever free WITHOUT THE USE OF MEDICINE. So, with this being said, the only time a student is staying home for 72 hours is if a fever was involved in the symptoms (or they have not been to the doctor). Other than that, the Doctor's alternative diagnosis or a negative COVID test and symptom resolution is all we need for a student to return to school.

Elementary Fall Picture Day is Wednesday, October 7, 2020. This year's picture day orders will be available online only. Interstate studio can accept electronic check, debit card, credit card or PayPal. Please visit inter-state.com/order to order pictures. Use Order Code 51171SB.

Athletics Clarification As I am sure you have seen across social media, there has been a lot of talk about sports this fall and what it may look like. I just wanted to take a few minutes to provide some insight as to what is happening, at least for our CG athletes. Masks – the Steuben County Athletic Association has agreed to have ALL athletes masked during contests. With the recent uptick in cases in Steuben County, we felt that it would be best to protect our students and districts. Our students have been fairly isolated with their peers but now we are going to be sending them out to other communities. The last thing the district wants is for us to have followed all of the rules during the school day in order to keep the spread down and keep our schools open (masking, distancing, sanitizing), but then after 3 pm send our athletes to other communities unmasked. I want nothing more to give our students as many opportunities as possible and start to get back to some normalcy, but our priority is to keep our schools open. Requiring our athletes to “mask up” during contests is a reasonable expectation to have our students playing sports again, and at the same time keeping our schools open. In addition: - We are asking our athletes to find a face-covering that is tolerable. The athlete does not need to wear a mask per se, but an approved face-covering. - The district has ordered “sports masks” for all of our fall athletes. The masks are designed to maximize athletic performance but at the same time minimize the health risk of COVID 19. - Athletes are not required to wear them during intense training (as long as they are 12 feet apart). They are not wearing them 100% of the time. Coaches have been providing mask breaks for the athletes. - On the sidelines, athletes will have the opportunity to take the mask off (as long as they are 6 feet apart). Spectators – When the New York Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHAA) put out their guidance for sports, they stated that there could be 2 spectators/athlete. They provided this guidance without conferencing with the New York State Health Department. We have to remember, the overall governing body for COVID regulations is the health department. Currently in our region, all non-essential gatherings are limited to 50 people and this is what we have to abide by. With many teams having close to 20 athletes, that would give us approximately 40 spectators for ONE team. Instead of schools trying to figure out how many visiting spectators we could allow and it being different at every school, the Steuben County Athletic Association has made the determination to have only HOME spectators at games. We are still limiting access to 2 spectators/athlete. In addition: - CG will be using our streaming equipment to broadcast games live. A link will be on our website and anyone (including away fans) can access the live stream so they can watch their athlete. - The Steuben County Health Department has reached out to the state to ask to amend the current 50 person limit for gatherings. We are hoping this will change soon. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to me. Thomas J. Crook Superintendent

Canisteo-Greenwood Emergency Early Release Day has been scheduled for Thursday, October 8, 2020. All students and staff will be dismissed 15 minutes earlier. Parents please plan accordingly.

Breakfast and lunch menus can now be found on the app. Just pick which school you are looking for and press "dining". What an easy way to find out what is for breakfast and lunch that day on the fly!

We are excited to offer our new app that can be downloaded from either the Google or Apple app store. With this app, you will have the most up-to-date information without having to dig through the website or rely on social media. We will be able to communicate with you directly through the live feed and push notifications.

Welcome Back Students, Faculty and Staff. We missed you!

Section V to move forward with low-moderate sports starting September 21st.

NEW UPDATE: If your child is absent from school, we ask that you please call the office that day. With the COVID regulations, we cannot allow the student to return to school until we know the reason why they are out. Even if you are taking them to an appointment, please call us and let us know because until we have the conversation with a parent, we have no idea why your child is out. For the elementary school, please dial ext. 1401. For the high school, ext. 2400 Thank you for your patience and consideration.