Good evening Pine Bush families and staff,

I’m calling with two important messages.  The first is an update to our plans for Return to More Learning – that’s what we’ve been calling the increase from two to four days a week of in-person or synchronous instruction. As you know, we had to pause our plans for secondary students after the state issued new guidelines last Friday night. 

After the state did an about face and told us that middle school and high school students needed to continue to maintain 6 feet of distancing in classrooms and cafeterias, we could not continue.  Our plan had been to go to 3 feet with barriers.  The CDC, whose guidance was replicated by NYS DOH, now says 3 feet will work for elementary school students, but not older students who have been shown to both more easily transmit the virus and to have more severe symptoms when they test positive. They also no longer require barriers, so we’ve left it up to our teachers to decide if they want the barriers in their rooms or not.

We can only get so many students in a classroom with six feet of distance between them. So this week we devised a plan that met the new guidelines. For high school and middle school classes with more students than a class will hold, the overflow students, on a rotating basis, will go to the auditorium and learn synchronously with the class, but remotely.  That is only for those periods and rooms where needed.

Pine Bush High School and Circleville Middle School both have auditoriums to accommodate that situation, but Crispell, does not. So the board of education at their meeting last Tuesday declared erecting a tent in Crispell’s back parking lot an emergency action, hoping to expedite the State Education Department issuing a Certificate of Occupancy for the tent.  The tent will create the additional space that Crispell needs. 

The 2,400-square-foot tent will be used for the Crispell music classes, which have already been held outdoors in the nicer weather. This will free up the two music rooms plus the gymnasium to be used at Crispell the way other Pine Bush secondary schools will using their auditoriums. The application has been made to the state and the tent is being installed tomorrow (Saturday).  We just need the C of O.

I am therefore unpausing our plans at all secondary schools in order to begin next week.  PBHS and CVMS can confidently begin four days a week next Tuesday, April 20, but Crispell will have to wait for the C of O, which still could come next Monday.  I will call parents of Crispell students as soon as we have that document in our hands, which folks at the state have promised to prioritize.  If the certificate does not arrive until Tuesday or Wednesday, I will call to let you know, and we will begin the very next day.  You should continue to rely on the bus information that was sent previously to your child’s email account.

Finally, my second message: We have been alerted that Orange County is offering the Moderna vaccine to anyone 18 or older at the Galleria Mall Center Court tomorrow from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.  Walk-Ins are welcome, but you can also make an appoint. 

Have a great weekend!

Tim O. Mains, Pine Bush Superintendent