August 12, 2021
Dear Families:
With the school year quickly approaching, I would like to provide you with an update on where we are in our reopening planning process. As we mentioned last week, we do not anticipate receiving any formal guidance from the New York State Department of Health or the Governor’s office. However, we have recently been informed that we will receive guidance from the New York State Education Department, the governing authority of public schools like ours.
While we await this final guidance, please review the following basic information regarding our current plans with the understanding that a more detailed plan will follow:
- All Troy CSD students in Grades Pre-K – 12 will attend in-person learning.
- All students and staff will be masked at all times while indoors as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatricians. Mask breaks will be provided.
- All individuals will be socially distanced at least three feet, wherever possible.
- A fully remote learning option will only be available to those students for whom it has been deemed medically necessary. (Please see below for additional information.)
- We continue to strongly encourage individuals that are 12 and older to be vaccinated.
- We will continue our layered mitigation approaches including masks, social distancing, cleaning and sanitizing, ventilating classrooms, and more.
It became more evident than ever last year that students need to be in school for both academic purposes and for their social-emotional health. With that in mind, our goal is to bring our students and staff back in person and to have a school year that is as close to normal as possible, with the notable addition of masks and other mitigation measures.
Remote Learning for students with medical conditions
The Troy City School District will likely be participating in a fully remote program for students in Grades K – 12 for whom it has been deemed medically necessary (proper documentation from your child’s doctor is required). These programs will be run by NERIC/Capital Region BOCES and/or Questar III BOCES . These programs will require a full-year commitment and will be taught by teachers outside of the district.
If your child will require remote learning due to a medical condition, we ask that you please complete the 2021-2022 Remote Learning Preliminary Survey as soon as possible. If your child does not require remote learning, you do not need to complete this form.
Please note, this survey is for preliminary planning purposes and does not officially register your child for remote learning. Additional information and details on how to register will be forthcoming.
More information to follow
We understand that you have many more questions regarding transportation, after-school programs and clubs, sports and more. We expect to finalize our detailed plan in the coming weeks. This plan will be available on our website at www.troycsd.org/covid19.
Please understand that these preliminary plans are subject to change based on guidelines set forth for schools by the CDC, NYSED and the Rensselaer County Department of Health (DOH). We are closely monitoring this situation and working with DOH as the health of our students and staff continues to be our top priority.
We are looking forward to a successful year. I continue to be impressed by and proud of the cooperation from our entire school community including staff, parents, and the students themselves. I know that we can count on you again this year to help keep our students as safe as possible so that they can learn and achieve to their highest potential. We continue to be in this together.
Sincerely,
John Carmello
Superintendent of Schools