Canisteo-Greenwood Central School District

Today CG is reporting 3 positive HS students. All the contact tracing has been completed and the families affected for quarantine have been contacted. We wish all a speedy and healthy recovery. We apologize for the later notice today.

CG is reporting 1 positive case today of a HS staff member. Due to the timing of the symptoms and the staff member not being in school, no contact tracing was required. The late positive reported in yesterday's numbers but the investigation was still ongoing yielded 15 students being quarantined due to being within 6 feet for more than 15 minutes collectively throughout the day.

Good afternoon, I just wanted to send out an update regarding the recent cases here at CG. I know many are asking “what is going on”? That is a question that has ringing through my head at the end of last week and all weekend. Here are a few things that I feel would be important to bring to light. I am sure there are more, but these are the main ones. 1. Last fall, we did not have many outside activities that the students were participating in. We were coming into the school year after being off since. People were excited to be returning to in-person learning even though there were going to be guidelines (masking, distancing, etc.) Because of “higher risk” sports being cancelled, most kids went home and did not hang out with each other. Some did, but we still didn’t know too much about what covid was going to look like getting our kids back together in school. This year, the students (thankfully) can participate in the things they love to do with no outside restrictions. 2. Last fall, the district did not have the capability of doing its own testing. We didn’t for the entire year for that matter. The access to on-the-spot testing has assisted us in catching more covid cases. We are only testing staff and students that are symptomatic and are not doing any “screen testing”. Our positive tests have only come from individuals displaying symptoms and if the parents have asked to test the siblings. We feel it is the right thing to do when a parent requests to have the siblings tested. a. Please, if your child is symptomatic, we ask that you keep them home. You may call the school to schedule a rapid test, or you can take them to your primary health care physician. Every positive test, except one, the individuals had clear symptoms. 3. The delta variant is more contagious than the original strand. Many of our cases are coming from households where if one person gets covid, most in the home do as well. I asked if they were seeing this across the county and they said “yes”. These are just a few outliers that I have been contemplating and I am not trying to make excuses. Things are different than they were last school year that need to be a part of our conversations and thinking. Rest assured; the district is doing everything we can to protect all who enter our doors. We are abiding by all the regulations (acknowledging that they are stricter) and go above and beyond when we can. Just an example, last Friday Mrs. Brownell spent hours distancing in the cafeteria so that our students are now eating at 6 feet rather than the recommended 3 feet. Another example is changing our air turnover rate from 4 times per hour to 8 times per hour in the classrooms. We have also continued to use our thermal cameras which tagged a feverish student last week that ended up positive after being tested. When asking “what is going on” at the school, please know that everything we know to do is being done to stop any potential spread and we are relying on the experts to provide us the proper mitigation strategies. The frustrating part is not really knowing whether there was a transmission in school or outside of the school system. In many cases, we may never know that answer but what I do know is that school is the only place right now that has mitigation strategies mandated by the NYS Department of Health. Our students and staff are more protected here than anywhere else. I will continue to assess our situation and keep our student’s and staff’s health in the forefront of my decisions. If there is ever a time you have any questions or concerns, I ask that you reach out to me to have that conversation. Yours in service, Tom

Since last Friday, the district is reporting 6 positive student cases (2 Elem and 4 HS). All but one of the cases have been contact traced and the affected individuals for quarantine have been contacted (3). Once the last case is investigated, we will be reaching out to the families for quarantine. We wish a speed and healthy recovery to these students.

Today CG is reporting 4 positive student cases. Contact tracing has been completed and 13 students have been quarantined. We wish our students a speedy and healthy recovery. Our cases recently in the elementary school are concerning. 12 of the 18 cases reported since the beginning of the school year are elementary-aged students. I have been in contact with the county health department and we will be keeping a close eye on our cases and students in quarantine potentially becoming symptomatic. Since the pandemic has started ,we have not seen this many cases in a 7-day timeframe (16). Our main goal is to keep our students and staff safe and healthy. Yours in service, Tom Crook

Tonight's webinar regarding the new covid regulations with Mr. Crook starts in 15 minutes. https://zoom.us/j/96699666353

Good afternoon. Today CG is reporting a positive HS student. The contact tracing has been completed and 1 student was identified for quarantine. We wish the student a speedy and healthy recovery. Just a reminder, tonight at 6:30 Mr. Crook will be conducting a webinar on the new covid regulations. The link was sent out a few days ago but we will send it out again approximately 15 minutes (via text) prior to the webinar for your convenience.

The district had 4 positive student cases today (1 HS and 3 Elem). The cases yielded 15 quarantines. We wish them all a healthy and speedy recovery. As a reminder, please make sure that you are still self-screening your children before school and keeping them home if they are symptomatic.

Today, Canisteo-Greenwood received word of a positive HS staff member. The member became symptomatic over the weekend and has not been in the building this week. Due to staff vaccinations, there are no quarantines to report to the county. We wish our staff member a healthy recovery.

Please join Mr. Crook this Thursday at 6:30pm for a webinar regarding the new covid regulations. Since the regulations are different from last school year, Mr. Crook wishes to clarify those changes in hopes to avoid any confusion as CG begins to see positive cases. https://zoom.us/j/96699666353

Since last Friday, CG has received word of 5 positive covid cases (2 staff and 3 students). Contact tracing has been completed for 4 of the cases and anyone affected for quarantine have been contacted. The 5th case was just reported and contact tracing has started. We wish all a healthy recovery.

Just a friendly reminder to our parents/guardians about the district supplying masks to our students. When the state announced they were requiring masks to start the school year, we immediately ordered more disposable masks. We have a good supply available and student can get a new one any time.

We apologize. The "opt in our out" text will start Monday and the first time you receive a text.

Due to the new social distancing and masking guidelines, our Board of Education meetings will be held in the HS Auditorium until further notice.

Due to a change in the carrier that we use for our mass notifications, the next time you receive a SMS text from the school, it will ask if you want to either "opt in" or "opt out" of receiving our messages through text messaging. Depending on your preference, if receiving texts are the easiest for you, please make sure to "opt in". If you do not want to receive texts, you may "opt out" and you will continue to receive our messages through our other forms (Facebook, Live Feed, Push Notification from the App, or email). We occasionally do voicemails but we find that written messages seem to be the most effective for our community members. We will be sending a message out this afternoon regarding the change in location for Monday's BOE meeting but wanted to let you know what you will see the first time receiving a text.

Good afternoon, Earlier today we had a report of two positive cases at CG. One was a teacher who did not have any contact with students today, and a student who had tested positive late last week but their information was inadvertently sent to a neighboring district. Neither of the cases will result in quarantines for any students for staff. We wish both a speedy recovery. Just a reminder, the quarantine requirement is "within 6 feet for more than 15 minutes collectively". However, this year (FOR STUDENTS ONLY), if the positive student and close contact were both properly wearing masks, we will not be required to report the close contact student for contact tracing. The other time an individual will avoid quarantine is being vaccinated (if unsymptomatic). Yours in service, Tom

Good afternoon, After participating in two calls today regarding Friday's NYSDOH announcement regarding universal masking requirements in schools, starting September 1st at CG, all individuals will be required to wear a mask in our school buildings. We will be working on scheduling mask breaks for our staff and students and will make sure that we find unique and appropriate ways to not have our staff and students masked all day long. There is some light at the end of the tunnel with the Governor saying today that she understands that this cannot be in stone and will make modifications as the virus subsides in certain regions. Tomorrow's Open House in the Elementary and HS are going as scheduled and these new requirements apply. We are asking that anyone that plans on attending wear a mask in the buildings and limit their duration in one particular location to less than 10 minutes. The Elementary Open House is open to students with the last name A-M from 4:30 - 5:00pm and last name N-Z will be from 5:00 - 5:30pm. The HS Open House is open to incoming 7th grade students and any new HS students to the district. Due to construction, we are asking that all participants enter the Academy Street door closest to the Fitness Center. I thank you for your continued support and understanding during these trying and confusing times. Yours in service, Thomas J. Crook

Return to School Plan Update: Last week I sent out an email to all of the parents and staff regarding our draft return to school plan. The very next day the new Governor made an announcement supporting universal masking and then Friday evening, the NYS Department of Health put out a statement that masks will be required for staff and students in school regardless of vaccination status. Also in Friday's announcement, there were some references to distancing that were contradictory to what has been communicated to schools this summer. This caused a lot of confusion and frustration for Superintendents into the weekend and still today. I have a call tomorrow morning at 10:30 in hopes to get some clarification. Once I have answers, I will communicate to all of you what the masking protocols will be at the beginning of the year. Please know that I will do everything in my power to make sure that if masks are required by NYSDOH, that we look at all the accepted solutions so our staff and students are not in masks all day long (outdoors, breaks, etc.) indoors. I will also be communicating our Open House protocols for Wednesday night based on what tomorrow's conversation brings. Yours in service, Thomas J. Crook Superintendent

The SchoolTool Parent/Student Portal is now open for students to view their schedules for this coming school year.

If any fall athlete parents are having difficulties logging into Operoo, please contact Trixie McMindes at tmcmindes@cgcsd.org or at 698-4225 ext. 2415. She will be able to assist you.