• Important School Masking Update — March 1, 2022

    Dear Members of the BCSD School Community,  

    I’m writing with yet another masking update. We have just been provided with the promised guidance from the New York State Department of Health and conferred with the Monroe County Department of Public Health to make sure that we have an understanding of the requirements for schools as we emerge from the mask mandate. If you’d like to read the entire guidance document, it can be found by clicking here. Updates to CDC guidance and community transmission level mitigation strategies can be found by clicking here.  

    Below are a few simple bullet points intended to summarize what we’ve already sent and new information we think you need to be aware of right now. As the rules shift and we become aware of additional information or questions that arise, you can expect updates to these procedures or additional clarifications in the regular weekly COVID update. It is important to note that all of the information below is based on our current low rate of transmission and positive circumstances we are seeing presently. This information could change if the circumstances change. 

    • The state’s mask mandate in schools is ending effective tomorrow (Wednesday, March 2). Students, staff, and visitors will no longer be required to wear a mask in any school setting (this includes on the school bus) unless they have tested positive and are returning after 5 days of isolation.  
    • Any individual who has tested positive and is in the school environment following five days of isolation, must wear their mask through the 10th day following the date of their initial isolation. Simply put, days 1-5, you’re home, days 6-10, you must wear a mask and will be required to eat in a distanced setting. 
    • It is also strongly recommended (not required) that individuals who have been exposed to COVID-19, in or out of school, wear a mask for 10 days following their exposure.
    • If an adult or student in your child’s class (or any of their classes at the 6-12 level) tests positive, you will be receiving a notification to that effect from school. Likewise, you will receive notification if the school identifies someone else who tested positive who has contact with your child within six feet for more than 15 minutes.
      • The notification will recommend (not require) that you utilize rapid tests being sent home with students to test your child at home once when notified and after a number of days after exposure. Details regarding this approach will be provided in the notification email you receive. 
      • This message will also recommend (not require) that students who are exposed wear a mask for a certain period of time. 
    • We will be sending tests home with students on a weekly basis while supplies continue to be provided by state and local agencies. 
    • We will continue with weekly, optional surveillance testing in each school.
    • Due to the limitations of dual platform instruction, the shortening of isolation periods over time, and our commitment to supporting absent students through Schoology and Seesaw, we will no longer be providing Zoom access to classrooms during an absence. 
    • KN-95 masks will continue to be available at school for those that need them while they are being provided by state and local agencies. It is our understanding that one individual wearing one of these masks will be well protected themselves even if individuals in contact with them are unmasked. 
    • This is a family decision that should be discussed and committed to without staff intervention. For those that would like their child to wear a mask, it will be up to families to enforce family mask wearing. In circumstances where masking is required as described above, we appreciate your support in emphasizing the importance of adhering to this requirement as a school rule. 
    • We are working hard to create an environment of mutual respect, support, and care. To that end, we are reinforcing the need to respect individual choice in this matter whenever possible and would ask you to send the same messages of respect for each other’s decisions, now that the mandate has ended. It should be just as comfortable for those that choose to wear a mask as it is for those that choose not to.  

    Thank you again for your patience and support. We’ll keep you posted! 

    Kevin   

    …every child, every day, every way
    Kevin McGowan, Ed. D. 
    Superintendent of Schools