Good evening,

There have been more changes since my last message to you on Friday concerning the Pine Bush response to the state of emergency driven by the novel coronavirus.  A clarification from the governor’s office this morning makes it clear that in order to have forgiveness for emergency days off related to the current public health crisis, school districts must have first exhausted all of their available days off (scheduled school vacations, and remaining snow days).  That means there will be no spring break as had been originally scheduled from April 6 through April 13.

I wanted to make sure everyone got this information now, because I am aware that in many instances hotels and airlines are allowing cancellations with no penalties, and I want to make sure that our staff and families are able to protect themselves from any potential financial loss due to this change in schedule.  I also expect we will lose our Memorial Day holiday on May, but we will likely get more guidance about that down the road. With all that said, it’s entirely possible that this emergency closure will be extended beyond its original two week duration, but that is something we simply do not yet know. 

 Several families have voluntarily shared information with me about family members who have self-quarantined on the advice of their physician. In addition, I am aware of at least two individuals in our district who have been placed on mandatory quarantine by the Orange County Department of Health.  At this point we still have no confirmed cases in our Pine Bush community. I would ask all families to keep us in the loop about anyone in your family who is either diagnosed, mandated to quarantines, or recommended to self-quarantined. That will allow me to continue to give general summary information to our Pine Bush families about the extent of exposure here in Pine Bush.  We are still waiting on the test results from the parent that prompted our initial close last Thursday.

Our staff will still be working on Monday to finalize our emergency distribution of food and instructional materials. I will be sending a message to all of you on Monday evening that explains those procedures in greater detail.

The impact of this pandemic is broad, and it is changing rapidly. I will continue to provide regular updates so that you can understand how we are working to serve our students and families even while we keep our schools closed and you keep your children at home.

Thanks for your help and understanding during this challenging and quickly changing situation.

 

Tim O. Mains, Pine Bush Superintendent