COVID-19/Coronavirus School Closure Information and Resources
Instructional Plan: During this period of extended closure, Southern Cayuga CSD will continue to provide instruction through online instruction and instructional packets that were mailed to homes. Our teachers and students in grades 7-12 are well prepared to utilize their chrome books for online learning through Google Classroom and Google Docs. In anticipation of a potential closure, the district sent home chrome books with all students in grade 3-12 last Friday. Students in primary grades will receive instructional packets in the mail.
If internet access is unavailable, the district has set up additional wifi hot spots on the exterior of the building near the district office/ag wing of the campus. Just drive up, log in, and download to Google Docs. If that doesn’t work for you, please let us know and we’ll send packets of materials.
Our teaching staff is available each school day; if you have a question, please do not hesitate to reach them via email. During the next week, all classroom and course teachers should be reaching out to students and families. Many of our secondary courses will continue to operate via Google Classroom.
Meal Plan: The Southern Cayuga Central School District will be offering free grab and go breakfast and lunch to all students who need it beginning March 18 on a daily basis. These meals will be available between the hours of 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM at the high school loading dock for pick up. There will be signs to guide you where to go and someone to greet you at your vehicle. Please do not exit your vehicle as the meals will be delivered to you. There will be free wifi access for students in the vicinity of the meal pickup point to allow students to download classroom information if needed.
Please contact Loretta Van Horn at 315-364-8711 x. 1103 or at vanhornl@southerncayuga.org with questions or concerns.
Facilities: Our school building will be closed to all staff, students, and community during the closure. The entire district will be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected during this time, and we need to limit individuals in these areas in order to do so. The closure includes all school buildings, grounds, and playgrounds.
Medicine: Our nursing staff will be in the school buildings on Monday March 16th during regular hours so you can pick up your child’s medicine. If you cannot make it during time, please contact your school’s principal to arrange an alternate pick up time.
Support: We understand that this may be a challenging time for our students, and some of them may want to speak to a counselor or need some additional support. Please feel free to reach out to your students building principal and they will coordinate couseling to meet the needs of our students.
March 14, 2020
Dear Southern Cayuga Families,
As governments, businesses, sports, and other social groupings curtail events in an effort to contain the coronavirus and reduce the potential for individuals to be exposed, schools have been working diligently with state and local officials to do their part in keeping students and staff safe. Unfortunately, the time has come to close school. Effective Monday, March 16, 2020, the Southern Cayuga Central Schools and all component school districts of the Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES will close until April 12, 2020. No students should report to school on Monday, March 16 or during the duration of the closure. This decision was not made lightly, and we know the impact and hardship this will present for our families and community; however, the risks of this virus to our school and community necessitates closure at this time.
We will continue to communicate and provide updates in the days and weeks ahead.
Sincerely,
Patrick Jensen
Superintendent of Schools
March 12, 2020
Dear Southern Cayuga Families,
As you may know, the coronavirus (COVID-19) has spread to New York State and we continue to receive guidance from local and state authorities regarding this virus.
First and foremost, if your child is sick, please keep your child home.
Our district nurses are closely monitoring the well-being of students and staff. If students display flu-like symptoms at school, we are required to send them home immediately. Please make sure that all of your contact information is current as it is imperative that we promptly isolate ill students from those who are healthy.
The CDC recommends two effective strategies to reduce the spread of illness; traditional hand washing with soap and warm water for a minimum of 20 seconds and covering one’s mouth when one coughs or sneezes. Using a tissue or the inside of one’s elbow to cover the mouth or nose is preferable to using the hands.
Our district continues to target the use of cleaning and disinfectant products on high touch surfaces such as doorknobs, drinking fountains, tables, desks, bus seats, and railings. By killing germs on these surfaces, we can further lower the risk of spreading infection.
As many of you might be curious, the county health department will notify if and when a school must close due to COVID-19. At this time, no schools have been closed in Cayuga County. If a staff member or student has been confirmed with COVID-19 at a school, the health department would close the school for an initial period of 24 hours and continue to assess the situation. Reopening a school would require a thorough cleaning and disinfection to be completed prior to staff and students reentering. A thorough cleaning would likely take more than a couple of days to complete. In addition, the elementary and secondary schools are drafting instructional plans in case of an extended closure.
Thank you for your support and for keeping your children home when they are sick.
Patrick Jensen
SCCS
