Ulster County has developed a countywide Rapid Response plan to support local school districts as they begin reopening this fall.
County Executive Pat Ryan spoke with school superintendents from all nine
districts within Ulster County to discuss the five-part plan.
Guidelines have been set for screening and testing for
COVID-19, investigating positive cases through contact tracing, offering
support for school-specific isolation plans, maintaining communication between
the County and each school district, and providing PPE for students and
faculty.
Ulster County will provide nearly 30,000 masks for students
and staff at school districts that plan to open. The County will also provide
public health nurses on standby to advise the school districts and to respond
to potential clusters and other health-related scenarios. Plans call for
testing all school staff prior to schools' reopening for in-person instruction.
“As a parent, I understand the anxiety and concern that so
many parents, teachers, and students are feeling right now about reopening
schools,” County Executive Ryan said. “My top priority is to ensure the health
and safety of our residents and we are 100% committed to working with our
school districts to ensure a safe environment. Our team is prepared to provide
any and all resources to our schools and we will closely monitor the public
health situation in order to proactively respond to any potential public health
scenario.”
Four of the county's nine school districts reported to Hudson
Valley One with their plans for reopening, or in one case, not reopening.
The Kingston City School District has devised a hybrid plan,
with pre-K through sixth grades learning onsite but spread across several
school buildings to facilitate social distancing. Grades 7 through 12 will be
learning remotely, except for English language learners and students with
special needs. About 20 percent of the parents who responded to a survey said
they would be having their children learn remotely regardless of the school
district's plans.
The Saugerties Central School District recently decided to
begin with completely remote learning for the first month, before instituting
its hybrid plan, which involves splitting all its students into two cohorts.
Each group will learn in person two days a week and remotely three days a week.
All students will learn remotely on Wednesdays. Efforts will be made to put
siblings into the same cohort, and students with special needs and English
language learners will get extra in-person schooling.
At Onteora Central School District, K-6 will attend school
in person, while 7-12 will be split into four cohorts getting in-person
instruction one day a week and remote instruction the other four, with
Wednesdays all-remote. Parents may opt for full-time remote learning for their
children, with the eligibility to change on a quarterly basis.
The New Paltz Central School District has been considering a
complex hybrid plan, but the school board voted on August 7 to delay the
opening of school due to “significant delays in the supply chains preventing
our ability to acquire many of the necessary elements needed for a safe
reopening.”
Consult school district websites for updates on opening
plans.