Updates
From Superintendent, Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Twitter Feed
2021-2022 Updates
- June 30, 2022
- June 21, 2022
- June 9, 2022
- May 25, 2022
- May 15, 2022
- May 13, 2022
- April 29, 2022
- April 20, 2022
- April 17, 2022
- March 27, 2022
- March 11, 2022
- March 2, 2022
- February 27, 2022
- February 18, 2022
- February 15, 2022
- February 6, 2022
- January 28, 2022
- January 25, 2022
- January 25, 2022
- January 24, 2022
- January 23, 2022
- January 18, 2022
- January 11, 2022
- December 30, 2021
- December 22, 2021
- December 17, 2021
- December 16, 2021
- December 2, 2021
- November 28, 2021
- November 23, 2021
- November 17, 2021
- November 16, 2021
- November 15, 2021
- November 5, 2021
- October 29, 2021
- October 26, 2021
- October 25, 2021
- October 25, 2021
- October 21, 2021
- October 19, 2021
- October 18, 2021
- October 14, 2021
- October 8, 2021
- October 1, 2021
- September 24, 2021
- September 17, 2021
- September 14, 2021
- September 14, 2021
- September 10, 2021
- September 7, 2021
- September 3, 2021
- August 30, 2021
- August 27, 2021
- August 23, 2021
- August 12, 2021
- August 10, 2021
- August 5, 2021
- July 26, 2021
- July 23, 2021
- July 2, 2021
- July 30, 2021
June 30, 2022
Good Morning-
I hope this finds you getting ready for a relaxing fourth of July weekend. Our official school year ends today, June 30th. All of us have been so busy and that now that the dust has settled a bit, I wanted to remind you of some changes happening for next school year, as well as introduce a "new" Wildcat to the administrative family.
Beginning tomorrow, Dr. Clayton Cole will be taking over as our Data Coordinator/Registrar, Ms. Jenn Taft will be taking over as the Gorham Elementary Principal, and Mr. Eric Pasho will be taking over as the middle/high school principal. All have been transitioning into their new roles for the past three months and are hitting the ground running.
Some recent "new to you" information is that Christopher Wickham, a 2006 Marcus Whitman graduate, will be taking over as our new School Business Administrator, replacing Zoe Kolczynski, who is retiring after 16 excellent years with the school district. He will begin work officially on August 1st and will overlap time with Mrs. Kolczynski until August 31st. We are excited to welcome him back "home."
Mr. Mike Sullivan has been a school counselor and Dean of Students for the district for the past twenty-six years, and has done an outstanding job. He will be retiring at the end of July and we will be replacing that position with a 6-12 assistant principal. This will be an open hire with an interview process and that will be posted next week. We would want a candidate to be able to begin at the start of the school year if not sooner.
Mr. Robinson (our UPK-5 Assistant Principal and Summer Program Coordinator) and I met this morning and we have a HUGE summer program that will begin on July 5th. I will be very excited to see nearly 270 students for most of the summer. He will be sending out information as we get ready to start the program and I appreciate your patience with transportation as the program gets off the ground. Picking up and dropping off that many students for our local summer program as well as students who need to attend programs out of the district is like the beginning of the school year. Bus runs may be a little longer, shorter, inconsistent, etc. as they work things out. I am also happy that we will be able to continue the free meal program through the summer as well. Thank you and I am looking VERY forward to next week!
We had a very good school year and as the new school year begins tomorrow, I am excited for what it will bring.
Thank you for your continued support, and have a safe and enjoyable fourth of July.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
June 21, 2022
Good Afternoon-
I hope this message finds you well. I am writing to provide you with a summary of the Thought Exchange survey about school safety, and let you know what our next steps are, or what action we have been taking to address your top “thoughts.” The survey was responded to by nearly four hundred people and that ranks right up there with when we first closed for COVID and when we first reopened, so THANK YOU, for helping us out.
There were three comments that received the highest number of votes. I have listed them below with a few comments under each comment.
Highest Ranking Comment:
I think more mental health support for the community/students as a whole is needed to help identify at risk students. This is the only way to help people in need, before violence becomes an option.
We could not agree more. At about the mid-year point of this school year, we added an additional full time social worker and an additional full-time psychologist at the 6-12 level. They are both acclimating to our culture and community, and we will be helping them to build capacity for next school year. They will be very visible and available for our students.
We are meeting with community and county agencies to create better wrap around partnerships with them both in and outside of school. The most recent meeting was with FLACRA and they are in a position to aggressively provide outreach to schools and families. Creating a stronger partnership with FLACRA will provide a HUGE boost to what we are able to currently provide in the area of mental health.
Our next meetings are with Community Services of Yates County, and another meeting with Senator Helming’s Office.
The overarching question we tried to answer right before the pandemic began was how we can spot students who may be experiencing changes in behavior as early as possible so we can get them and their families to the right resources. The answer was to begin a “Whole Child” approach. ALL of our employees are great at building relationships with students. We harnessed that into a process where ANY employee that comes into contact with a student has concerns, there is a form of communication they can make for that child to get help. This is a UPK-12 initiative, and we will strengthen that as we head into next school year.
We do NOT have all the answers to this ever-changing world of child and adult mental health, but we will open all the doors that we can and provide all the resources we can to assist.
Second Highest Ranking Comment:
Impress upon the students and Staff how important it is that they DO NOT open any doors and let people into the buildings during the school day. The doors are locked to protect us! All visitors must be vetted by the Office staff before being allowed into the building.
Keeping exterior doors closed and locked and not letting unknown people into the buildings are important steps to keeping us safe at school. At the same time, our students are very kind and friendly, so they WANT to help others by opening the door for them. We DO educate students about this but feel we could do a better job educating the public that our students will not be letting them in if they come to a door and a student is close to the door. We will also follow this up with better signage for both students on the inside and adults on the outside that they need to use the proper process if they would like access to the building. Anyone having a problem with that would be someone I would not want in the building anyway.
I also want to thank the New York State Police for assisting with exterior door checks as part of their patrols. We have had some learning opportunities with door that stick due to heat/humidity, etc. and we have been able to make corrections. Personally, them helping us with this is a very good use of their time.
Third Highest Ranking Comment:
School Resource Officers (SRO’s) at each building; response time is important. One person can’t be at three locations at once.
I have made a living being transparent and truthful, and the answer to this question is that a resource officer at each building is unlikely. I REALLY fought this battle after Parkland and went to the highest levels of government to try and make this happen for my previous District and once I took a step back and realized how many officers we were taking about when you consider how many schools there are, it gave me a better understanding of the issue. Is that going to make me stop trying? Of course not.
In the next two weeks, the Ontario county superintendents are meeting to lobby for this exact request. I learned a long time ago that making someone in government say “no” to you repeatedly brings more progress than never asking the question.
I would like to note that in the past, some schools removed their SRO’s during the last recession. Should we enter a recession again at some point (hopefully we do not,) we WILL continue to have an SRO, and will reduce in other areas to balance our budget if necessary.
In addition to the survey results, we are arranging a meeting with all of the police agencies so we can have a school safety summit. The goal is to make sure that all agencies are familiar with our campuses inside and out and that we can talk about how to make things easier for them should they respond to an immediate emergency at any of our buildings.
Each Thought Exchange survey generates a “Wordcloud.” A Wordcloud contains the most frequently used words in the survey from largest to smallest. If you have a moment, take a look; I don’t think the largest words will be surprising to you.
Thanks again for your participation and we will continue to work to keep our students and employees safe.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
June 9, 2022
Happy Thursday. I hope everyone is staying dry out there today! I sent a message to parents. The portion below is for the whole community. Thank you! Dr.B
Good Morning-
So many of you use police and fire scanners that I wanted to address a situation that happened last night at our high school campus in case you heard it, and so you have the facts. The end of the story is that no one was ever in danger.
The beginning of the story is that last night, our marching band was practicing outdoors, and we had a few community members and a supervisor in our fitness center. The students and advisors in marching band heard what appeared to be gunshots that sounded like they were coming from the bus garage area. They also heard a car speeding off.
Out of an abundance of caution, the marching band students were brought indoors and 911 was called. Ultimately, the shots came from a neighbor away from our campus who was target practicing and the speeding car was from an officer who was dispatched to an emergency situation in another county.
Our school district is covered by four police jurisdictions; Ontario, Yates, the New York State Police, and our School Resource Officer (who is also an Ontario County Sheriff,) and I appreciate them all. Last night was a very busy night for law enforcement for a variety of reasons. Yates County Sheriff's office responded and did exactly what I would hope they would do, which was to make sure everyone was safe, investigate the source of the gunshots, and set up shop on campus, just in case, and until they cleared the situation.
I debriefed with the agencies who responded last night, and we will be meeting as a larger group of agencies in the near future to further review last night both internally and externally. I come from the "lifelong learner" and "you can always get better" mindset, as do all of our very brave members of law enforcement.
Thank you for reading and have a great rest of the week and weekend.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
May 25, 2022
Good evening. I just send the message below to our parents and employees via SchoolMessenger. Thank you. Dr. B
Good Evening-
I became a superintendent eight months after the Columbine school shooting in 1999. I was an assistant superintendent at that time, and had a chance to see and feel the anxiety in our employees, students and parents. Since becoming a superintendent in 2000, my own children were students in my buildings from UPK right through graduation, and I did everything that I could to keep them safe. They are long graduated, but my dedication to keeping your children and our employees safe has not changed. If I had grandchildren, I would want them at Whitman.
That being said, processing school violence and violence in general, especially as incidents have increased in recent years, can be tough, and can cause a range of emotions depending on past experiences of the individual.
There are two reputable organizations out there that have given good advice over the years on how to work with children who have witnessed or heard about school violence. Those organizations are The National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) and The American Psychological Association (APA.). Both organizations suggest the following for adults when speaking to children about violence:
-Reassure children they are safe and review safety procedures.
-Create a sense of safety by returning to normal, predictable routines as soon as possible
-Make time to talk and listen to the concerns and feelings of children.
-Limit the use of media consumption of these events to lower their stress and to maintain balance and perspective.
-Acknowledge that sleep difficulties are common and can lead to fatigue and poor participation.
The American Psychological Association (APA,) specifically, has tips for managing your own distress following a mass shooting including:
-Reaching out for support from other adults (friend or professional.)
-Honoring your feelings and taking time for yourself, especially if you’re experiencing personal loss or grief.
-Limiting your amount of media coverage of these events
Find ways to help in your community.
Call the National Parent Helpline at 1-855-4A PARENT (1-855-427-2736) to get emotional support from a trained Advocate. They are available Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The American Psychological Association recommends honesty with children – acknowledging that bad things do happen, but reassuring them with the information that many people are working to keep them safe.
When these tragic incidents occur, our safety committee meets, and we review our district wide safety plans and make adjustments that we feel are necessary. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at 585-554-4848 x1805 or cbrown@mwcsd.org. Marcus Whitman will NEVER normalize violence in schools or elsewhere, and my heart goes out to all of the families of the victims in Texas, Buffalo, and elsewhere. This needs to stop.
Thank you, and we are in this together,
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools-
May 15, 2022
Thank .you for your continued support. I love our Whitman community! Dr. B
Good Evening-
I sincerely appreciate everyone who came out to vote today. I also want to applaud our students and employees who were involved in the Gorham concert, art show, senior projects, and plant sale. The chicken BBQ fundraiser was delicious as well.
All of the budget propositions passed by a margin of approximately 85%, and I would like to congratulate Board of Education members Chad Hunt, John Faust, and newest member Ashley Conley.
We do NOT take your support for granted and we will continue to do our best to make Marcus Whitman the place to be!
Thank you.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
May 13, 2022
Good afternoon!
The sun certainly helped, but we had a good week here at Whitman. It was nice to see so many people at our events this week, including our Special Olympics celebration that was held today.
As a reminder, Tuesday is school budget vote day at the high school from noon until 8PM. We do have a lot of activities happening, but we will have plenty of people to show you where to vote, and if you are only coming to vote, we will have a few convenient parking spaces available. I hope to see you there.
We are pleased to announce that we have extended our partnership with Foodlink through December 2022. The schedule of dates will be available soon, so stay tuned. We are also working on providing a more permanent pantry in our high school for our students. We are visiting an existing site in Rochester next week and will then be working with Foodlink and the Friendship House. We hope this works out for our students as an addition to our regular Foodlink distributions.
Thank you for listening and have a great weekend.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
April 29, 2022
Good Morning-
I hope everyone had a great week. Thank you to everyone who came to Foodlink as well. We continue to serve over 1,000 people in our community each week and I want to thank our employee, student, Board of Education and community volunteers for making it happen each and every time.
Adult COVID numbers at Whitman remain high but consistent with the overall numbers in Yates and Ontario counties. We have been able to remain open, but have had to work to get classes, lunches, and bus trips covered. We are fortunate to have people who are so willing to work together to keep us up and running. On the positive side, we should be plenty healthy to finish up the year.
Our winter wasn't the greatest, but it was good enough for us to have a remaining snow day. That day will be used to close school for students and employees on Friday, May 27th (Memorial weekend.) Hopefully this long weekend will give people the time they need to be charged up for the quick but busy month of June.
The Senior Ball is this evening and I hope all of our seniors and their dates have an enjoyable and safe evening.
Thank you for your continued support and have a great weekend!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
April 20, 2022
Good Afternoon-
Earlier this afternoon, a student from the Fingerlakes Secondary School had an altercation with the FLSS administration. In the process of this altercation, the student pulled the fire alarm, which impacted the entire middle school, high school and FLSS campus. The student then exited the building and began to use rocks to break windows and cause property damage. The student re-entered a FLSS counseling office, at which time, the entire campus was placed into a shelter in place. Police were contacted and there was a large police response, in addition to an ambulance. The student and another student involved with the situation became combative with the police and FLSS staff. Both were taken into custody. The students will not be returning to the FLSS school.
I would like to thank the FLSS staff and administration, the Ontario County Sheriffs, our school resource officer and all of our staff and students for how they handled themselves. Thank you.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
April 17, 2022
Good Afternoon-
I hope you had an enjoyable break as well as Passover or Easter (if you celebrated.) As people travel back from out of town or get themselves ready for the blink of an eye that is the rest of the school year, I wanted to bring you up to speed on what is happening here at school.
COVID is still a "thing," and cases rose significantly over the break (my mom and younger son are battling it as we speak.) We have approximately 8,000 COVID tests on hand. If you would like some, please contact Amy Carroll at (585) 554-4848 x1805 or acarroll@mwcsd.org. We also have plenty of N95 masks if you would like those as well. There have been no regulatory changes regarding COVID since early March.
We are happy to host Foodlink again on Tuesday at 2PM. It will be good to catch up with everyone and it will hopefully be the last time snow is in the forecast for the rest of the school year!
Athletics will be in full swing this week. Our grounds crew has been doing all they can to keep the fields playable with the recent weather we have had, and I want to thank them for the work they are putting in. This is the time of the year where I wish we had turf for all of our teams to play on!
On Tuesday, or Board of Education is going to recognize the Winterguard for receiving the George Cowburn "Esprit de Corps" Award. This award is chosen by the New York State Federation of Contest Judges. The award goes to the Guard that in the judges' opinion best exemplifies the characteristics of the late George Cowburn. Dedication to the activity, willingness to assist other members of the circuit, good sportsmanship, integrity & honor. This award, named in his honor, is one of the most prestigious honors a guard in Upstate New York can receive.
On Thursday, our Board of Education will be taking time away from their jobs to meet with, visit, celebrate and thank ALL of our employees for their service. It is always a great day, and our employees certainly are deserving of thanks and recognition!
Thank you for reading, welcome back, and let’s have a great start to the week!
Chris
March 27, 2022
Good afternoon-
It might be spring, but there is a winter weather advisory as we head into the Monday morning commute. I do not expect it to prevent us from having school, but I do expect a slow commute in the morning. Please be careful and patient and everyone will get to school and work safely. If we have to delay, the call will be made by 5:30AM.
The last day of school for students in grades UPK-8 will be Wednesday, June 22. It will be a full day of school. High school students will finish depending in their Regents exam schedules.
Our next Foodlink will be Tuesday, April 18th. If you need food in the meantime, please utilize the Friendship House or the Rushville Food Pantry. The Friendship House is located at 5614 Williams Street, Middlesex, NY 14507 (585)554-6056. The Rushville Food Pantry is located at the Rushville Methodist Church located at 26 North Main Street, Rushville, NY 14544. Their phone number is (585)554-6534.
Our COVID cases remain very low, but the number of employees and students getting sick is on the rise. Please stay home or keep your children home if they are sick.
Thank you and have a great start to the week!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
March 11, 2022
Good Afternoon-
We were very happy to be able to send our seniors on their trip to Boston. They are enjoying themselves and I am looking forward to catching up with them when they return.
Since the mask mandate has been lifted, we have had two COVID cases. What is more important is that I have been very appreciative of how respectful people have been with each other regarding mask wearing. That is a reflection of the character of our community. I would estimate about 5% of our students and employees are continuing to wear masks.
As we turn the corner to the rest of the school year, we have been meeting with different academic departments to decide how best to close learning gaps and how to move forward beyond this school year. I will summarize those meetings at the end of next week.
Unfortunately, the federal government is slated to discontinue the free breakfast and lunch program this summer. What this will mean unless this is changed is that students who qualify for free and reduced breakfast and lunch will still receive the benefit but it will discontinue for all other students. In light of inflation, gas prices, and supply and demand issues, I think this will be another hardship for many families next year so I am working to advocate for the program to continue.
Thanks and stay safe this weekend!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
March 2, 2022
Good Evening-
We just received the updated New York State Guidance for lifting of the mask mandate in schools. As you know, beginning tomorrow, the wearing of masks at school is encouraged, but optional. This includes buses. All physical distancing requirements have been lifted as well in all venues.
The updated guidance is six pages long and can be found here (https://coronavirus.health.ny.gov/system/files/documents/2022/03/school-guidance-03.01.22.pdf) and includes one mandatory piece that states if a person tests positive for COVID they must wear a mask for days 6-10 when they return to work or school.
Our unvaccinated employees will still need to "pool" test.
What I think is important is that students and employees stay home if they don't feel well, respect people who want to wear a mask or don't want to wear a mask, and use rapid COVID tests if you have COVID symptoms.
There are pieces that our nurses will have to change related to people who test positive, and we will work with them tomorrow to make adjustments.
Thank you and have a good evening.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
February 27, 2022
Good Afternoon-
I hope that everyone had a chance to recharge and reenergize. I was finally able to get away for a few days to the sun and I think it helped for getting through the next month until we see more sunshine here.
As we head back from break, I wanted to get you up to speed on a few things that will help us set the course for a successful month of March. I apologize for the length of this message, but there is quite a bit to share that I think you will find useful.
First, masks. The mask mandate for schools will no longer be in effect beginning Wednesday, March 2nd. This means that masks will be worn by everyone in school tomorrow and Tuesday and then people can optionally wear masks beginning Wednesday. We have plenty of masks for those who would like to continue to wear masks from Wednesday forward and mask shaming will NOT be a thing at Marcus Whitman.
Second, the Ukraine. Depending on people’s politics, heritage, and points of view, some are in favor of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, some are against it, and others don’t care. We can all have our own opinions. What matters immediately at school is that students are seeing war images/videos on social media for the first time (you can find them on YouTube, Reddit, Instagram, and Tik Tok to name a few sources) and they are also seeing memes and suggestions about a possible World War III. Add that anxiety to the anxiety students already have about school shootings, the pandemic, and being preteens/teenagers, and it is another “thing” they need to deal with when they have already had too much to deal with. The mental health of our students continues to be and WILL be the focus moving forward, along with supporting our staff and students with ties/family in and to the Ukraine.
Erica Hasselstrom, or Director of Curriculum and Instruction, will be getting age-appropriate talking points to our employees in case they get questions from students about the conflict. My advice from one parent to another is to just listen when your kids want to talk, just as we do here at school.
Third, athletics. I want to applaud our winter student athletes and coaches. Similar to the Winter Olympics but for different reasons, our athletic contests were not as well attended as usual, our student athletes and coaches dealt with quarantines, missed games and weather, but they still performed admirably. My congratulations also goes out to our senior athletes who certainly experienced very interesting high school athletic careers!
To highlight a few achievements of our student athletes, runner Tim Hansen was the Section champion in the 3200 meter, and swimmer Carl Parsons was the Section champion in the Individual Medley and Breaststroke. Carl goes to states to compete in the near future, and Tim finished 14th at the NYS Qualifiers in the 3200 meter. Mr. Lahue will be releasing a winter athletics summary shortly where you will read about several young men and women who did very well this season in their respective sports; some establishing new personal records. We will be recognizing many student athletes at upcoming Board of Education meetings. Congratulations to all and I am REALLY looking forward to spring sports when we will be back to a little more normal.
Our Winterguard competed very well also (in my opinion, Winterguard is very important if a school wants to have a strong Field Band) and the cast and crew for The Wizard of Oz are bringing it all together for what will certainly be very enjoyable performances later this month!
Mindset matters, and as we head into March, we need to reflect on what we have all been through. It has been a lot, and there are challenges ahead, but by working together and staying as positive as we can, we will get there.
I am looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow and as a reminder, the next Foodlink will be Tuesday, March 8th.
Thank you and here we go!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
February 18, 2022
Good Afternoon-
There is an interesting weather pattern headed our way later tonight and into mid-morning tomorrow. Right now, the weather calls for rain turning to snow during the overnight hours, with snow accumulation being about 1". If that happens, we will be good to go tomorrow morning. If the temperature doesn't drop early enough in the night, I am worried about icy conditions during the morning commute (I get paid to worry about this stuff.)
Hopefully we will be okay, but you should plan for a possible delay tomorrow just in case. I know delays are inconvenient, so I wanted to get the thought out there now to give you a chance to plan. Again, I hope that we can open on time, and that is the plan for now, but part of my job is to plan for the worst and hope for the best.
If we need to make a decision in the morning, it will be made between 5 and 5:30AM.
Thanks and have a good evening-
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
February 15, 2022
Good Afternoon-
Looks like a warm up is in store for the rest of the week. I'll take it! In the meetings I have had this week, it is still looking like there will be a move away from the mask mandate shortly after we return from break. In anticipation of that, we have ordered KN-95 masks for those who still wish to wear masks. We DO NOT have a definite date that this will happen, but are comfortable planning for a lifting of the mask mandate TO happen.
One of the other pieces we were asked to do in preparation is to provide each student in the district and all employees with at least two test kits and it is suggested (not required) that at least one be used at the end of break week. We will be doing our part to send kits home with every student by the end of the week. We have over 3,000 test kits in stock, so if you would like more than you receive, please email Amy Carroll at acarroll@mwcsd.org, and she will get additional kits to you.
Barring any other need to reach out to you, this will be the last email "blast" from me until the end of mid-winter break. We have come a long way together and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and it isn't an oncoming train. Thanks for your continued support and have a great rest of the week!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
February 6, 2022
Good Evening-
To say I have missed everyone is an understatement. Two snow days in a row is fairly rare, and to have those two snow days extend a weekend is even more rare, but it happened, and here we are. There are some superintendents who sing, dance, and do other things to announce a snow day. I am always feeling too guilty to do any of that. Some parents miss work, some students don't get as much food or warmth, and others just like being at school with their friends. Every time a snow day gets called, I feel like I am letting them down.
At the same time, being safe comes first and if I don't think we can all get to school and home safely, the call gets made. There ARE plenty of people who enjoy snow days, so I can't forget that either. I wish there was a "robo" voice for those calls so they sound the same every time, but you get my voice in the moment! If you are counting, we have two snow days left this school year, and the opportunity to go remote should we need more. I don't want to mess up any breaks this year with make up snow days, so remote would be the option should we need more than two more snow days to get through the school year.
We only have ONE Foodlink distribution this month, and it is on Tuesday, beginning at 2PM. For the February and March Foodlink distributions, there will be additional 8 lb boxes that contain milk. yogurt, butter, and eggs, to go along with everything. else they usually provide us. If you received Foodlink over the summer, you will be familiar with these boxes. We were told that a couple of items MAY have expiration dates of this week but they are perfectly okay to consume within the next two weeks, or can be frozen
The Friendship House is an awesome place located at 5614 Williams Street , Middlesex, NY 14507 [(585)-554-6056.]. If you rely on Foodlink twice a month, PLEASE contact the Friendship House and they can help you fill the food gaps you may have. We are back to two distributions a month again beginning in March.
We have been averaging about 38 people every evening at the Wellness Center. We are working through some growing pains, but overall, it is going really well. Hope to see you there soon!
Let's get after it this week and have some fun! Thank you!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
January 28, 2022
Good Afternoon-
All in all, we had a great week. Our community seems to be like bamboo; we bend, but don't break. There are topics that are sensitive and sometimes divide us, but we are able to work through those in mostly appropriate ways and then come back to being a unified group for our children/students and each other. I can't tell you how much I appreciate that as a school/community leader.
The "mask mandate" is still being heard by the Appellate Court. The Governor's mask mandate actually expires on February 22nd. This leads me to think that sometime between today and February 22nd, we will get solid direction on where we are headed with masks. In other words; the end, one way or the other, is in sight. I will keep you posted as that progresses.
We will be receiving more rapid COVID tests by next week so both parents and employees will have links provided to register to receive them. We are getting to the point if we receive one more similar sized shipment as we have in the past that we will have a good enough supply to give them to you when you need them. If/when we get to that point, we will let you know how to get them.
There are two things in our technology world that we are working on that we believe will make things better for our employees and parents. First, we are in the final stages of planning for a new phone system. Our existing system is OLD, and because of that, has none of the modern features that would allow us to use the Internet to communicate by phone, send and receive voice and text mails, forward calls, etc. We are hopeful to complete the layout for this project soon, and the goal would be to have a new, fully functioning phone system in each building by the end of the summer. This system is being paid for out of Federal grant funding.
Parent/community communication is the one thing that always comes to the top when people tell us what we are doing "right." SchoolMessenger is the tool we have been using for that communication piece. There are better tools out there that allow us to not only make phone calls and send emails, but are better for texting, blogs, video blogs, and allows classroom teachers, administrators, coaches, etc. to send out communication as well.
We have evaluated many tools in this "space" and have settled on ParentSquare. I have taken responsibility for purchasing, training, and rolling out this product. I will be pulling the trigger on purchasing the product next week, and will fit getting this rolled out into the other work I have to accomplish as superintendent. I am holding myself to trying to get this completely rolled out by mid to late spring so that we can all learn how to use it, work out the bugs, and really have it as our main tool for the start of next school year. We will continue to use SchoolMessenger until we are 100% sure that Parent Square is doing what it needs to do for us. The cost for this product is a little less than the cost for SchoolMessenger so there will be no budget impact.
We gave been averaging about 35 people per evening at the Wellness Center. The Wellness Center is open from 6:15AM-7:30AM and then again from 5:30PM-8:30PM Monday through Friday. It is also open from 8AM-Noon on Saturday. Please use the Aquatics entrance. Thank you!
Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
January 25, 2022
Good Evening (again)-
There was a decision reached regarding the Nassau County mask wearing appeal. The appeal was upheld, at least through Friday. This will mean that the mask mandate for school will remain in effect until we hear something further. The actual statement from the Commissioner of Education is below, and I am sure you will see more about this on the news this evening. Thank you.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
STATEMENT FROM COMMISSIONER BETTY A. ROSA ON
GRANTING OF STAY IN MASK CASE
We are pleased the Appellate Division granted the application by the Department of Health and the Governor’s office, confirming the lower court’s decision is stayed pending further proceedings. As such, the mask mandate remains in effect for schools across the state. We support Governor Hochul and the state Department of Health as they continue with the appeal. We thank the members of our school communities for their patience during this process.
January 25, 2022
Good Evening-
This message is NOT about mask mandates; that message will come later, once we have more information later this evening. There is other business we are working on and I wanted to communicate that to you before you heard it from other people.
I mentioned in an earlier email about some changes we will be making for next school year. This message provides all of the major details of these changes, as well as timelines for transitions.
It is always important for school districts to evaluate administrative positions whenever there is a retirement, resignation/termination, and/or change in enrollment numbers. At Marcus Whitman (and nearly every other school in New York State,) there has been a decline in student enrollment over the past fifteen years. Enrollment at the 6-12 level was 917 fifteen years ago, and 6-12 enrollment as of January 24, 2022 is 592.
Gil Jackson has been at Marcus Whitman for the past twenty-five years, first as the Athletic Director, and most recently as the Data Coordinator/District Registrar. He will be retiring at the end of the school year, and we wish him the absolute best and I want to personally thank him for his years of dedicated service.
With the decline in 6-12 enrollment AND a known retirement in the administrative function, the decision was made to reduce the number of administrators by one full-time administrator and to move from one principal for the 6-8 and one principal for the 9-12 to one principal for the 6-12 beginning July 1, 2022.
There are two ways to accomplish this task. The first is to apply for a waiver from the New York State Education Department to move to one principal for two “buildings.” The second is to petition the State Education Department to drop the BEDS (Basic Education Data System) code for the 6-8, and have one BEDS code for 6-12 (this is essentially like closing a building.)
The less permanent move is to apply for the waiver. We did and received it. The waiver gives us three full school years to make sure that the reorganization is what we want long term, at which point, we will move to drop the BEDS code, and move forward.
The next question is, which existing administrator goes where beginning July 1, 2022? Beginning July 1, Dr. Cole will become the Data Coordinator/District Registrar (and will have other technology/data and instructional roles, including iReady Coordinator.) Ms. Taft will become the Gorham principal (and Director of Health and Physical Education,) and Mr. Pasho will become the middle/high school principal. In addition, Mr. Lahue will be the Director of Community Programs in addition to his role as Athletic Director. Mrs. Hasselstrom will continue to be the Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment, with a focus on UPK-5. Dr. Cazer will remain the principal at Middlesex Valley and Mr. Robinson will remain the assistant principal of Middlesex Valley and Gorham.
Why these selections? Dr. Cole is incredibly analytical, and always looks at multiple ways to solve challenges. He also is an expert with data and technology, and all of these skills will make him a true asset with our iReady (tool for helping students to personalize reading and math instruction) rollout.
Ms. Taft has a deep background in health, wellness, and physical education. She also has been and will continue to be our leader/trainer for positive behavioral interventions and support. Add to that her high school scheduling and curriculum integration background, and she will be able to help Gorham continue their initiatives with new curriculum implementation.
Mr. Pasho, our current Gorham principal, comes from a larger school district prior to Marcus Whitman, and understands larger school scheduling. He has been an assistant principal for Valley and Gorham and understands leading buildings with different cultures, which will be critical experience as he brings the 6-12 together. He will also know the families and students in grades 6-10 when he begins the new role in July. In addition, he possesses a very strong special education background.
Mr. Lahue will be responsible for growing the use of our second story at the high school to include opportunities for students and the community in addition to his role as athletic director. He has the experience to make that happen successfully and through his leadership, we hope to begin our first true Adult Education program.
Mrs. Hasselstrom will spend more of her time than usual at the UPK-5 to continue to help with Wit and Wisdom integration. She will also continue to work with the 6-12 when needed.
It will take a couple of years for everyone to become completely comfortable in their new roles and I will help to support them as they transition, and I hope you will as well.
Some of you might be nervous about scheduling for Gorham, the middle school, and high school. It isn’t realistic to think that we can completely change master schedules by September, so the Gorham, 6-8 and 9-12 schedules will look unchanged for next school year. Middle school students will still attend and eat together in the same area of the building, and the high school will do the same, as they have for the past fifteen years.
One might ask why I am announcing these changes so far away from July. I have been on the receiving end of change in my life, and it always seems like it comes at the last minute, with no time to feel the change, absorb it, and plan for moving forward.
I LOVE the team we have here at Whitman, and do not want to lose any employees related to the changes that are being made. At the same time, and out of fairness to everyone, I wanted to make the announcement sooner than later to give people time to make decisions for themselves. On opening day, I would like to be welcoming an auditorium full of people who WANT to be here, instead of some who don’t want to be, but are because they were informed of the changes too late to make other decisions for themselves.
Now that these changes have been announced, please know that Ms. Taft, Dr. Cole, and Mr. Pasho will focus 100% of their efforts on the high school, middle school, and Gorham, until they make their transitions on July 1, and will be working in the background to make the changes as seamless as possible for the students, employees, and parents.
I always try to make decisions that are in the best interests of the students, employees, and the community. These are not always popular decisions for everyone, but they need to be made none the less, and I feel strongly that this reorganization will set us up for years to come.
Thank you in advance for taking the time to read this email and I appreciate your continued support.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
January 24, 2022
Good Evening-
I wanted to bring everyone up to speed about a Supreme Court decision today in Nassau County, where the court ruled that Governor Hochul's mask mandate is unconstitutional. This is the exact opposite finding that the Albany County Supreme Court reached earlier. It is expected that New York State Department of Health will appeal the decision which will put a "stay" on the mask mandate, meaning the mandate to mask in schools will remain until the appeal is heard and judged. The exact language is below, which contains direction for schools from the New York State Education Department.
Depending on where one stands on masking, this ruling will make them happy or unhappy. Marcus Whitman is in a wait and see state right now. Once the appeal is heard, we will change or keep our masking practice based on the outcome, or based on the removal of the masking mandate, should that happen.
I would expect more lawsuits to be filed around the state in the coming days and I will keep you posted as this story develops.
Thank you!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
“The State Education Department understands that Nassau County Supreme Court has ruled that the Department of Health exceeded its authority in enacting the mask regulation, 10 NYCRR 2.60, in Demetriou et al. v. New York State Dep’t of Health et al. This regulation is the subject of conflicting decisions, insofar as Albany County Supreme Court recently upheld the regulation in Massapequa UFSD et al. v. Hochul, et al.
It is the New York State Department of Education’s understanding that the Department of Health will appeal the Nassau County Supreme Court decision, which will result in an automatic stay that will unambiguously restore the mask rule until such time as an appellate court issues a further ruling. Therefore, schools must continue to follow the mask rule.”
January 23, 2022
Good Evening-
I hope everyone had a great weekend. The Winterguard show on Saturday was fantastic, and my hat goes off to all of the event organizers. Our group finished first and it was great to see all of the positivity from all of the schools and associated parents who were in attendance. I also finally got to meet Fred Shaughnessy in person. Fred was been the person working behind the scenes for us for the past fourteen years doing building checks and spot cleaning on the weekends. We have missed each other for almost three years now, but we finally connected. I appreciate all of his hard work. Without him, many groups would not be using the facilities on the weekends.
I have been really impressed with how many students have been using the Wellness Center after school, and it has been awesome watching the community begin to use the space. I had a lot of fun giving tours and I would like to thank Mr. Lahue for giving our community members training on how to use the equipment. As a reminder, the Wellness Center is open to the community from 6:15AM-7:30AM and 5:30PM-8:30PM Monday through Friday and from 8AM-noon on Saturday. Please use the Aquatics Center entrance. Thank you!
This is the time of the year when we begin to develop the budget. Our challenges for this year are the lack of state aid we are scheduled to receive, and a sizeable increase in health insurance. Mrs. Kolczynski and I will put all together and will be presenting the budget to the Board of Education on February 14th. Can you think of a better way to spend Valentine’s Day?
Our budget building will also coincide with some changes we will be making for next year as we hopefully get back to some normalcy. I will have that information out later this week.
Just a reminder that we have Foodlink on Tuesday, beginning at 2PM. We have been told that there will be eggs in this shipment that have an expiration date of January 16th, but have been assured by Foodlink that they will be good through February 16th.
Lastly, I think we are getting to the tail end of the Omicron variant, but that being said, we continue to be very short handed in all areas. I appreciate your patience. We are doing all that we can to remain open. Hopefully by the end of this week, these worries will begin to get into our rearview mirror.
Thanks and have a great week!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
January 18, 2022
Good afternoon-
I hope everyone had a great weekend. If you signed up to receive more rapid tests, they went home with your children today, We do expect to get more in the coming weeks.
The school district will no longer be contact tracing COVID cases unless they are cluster cases. This means that you will no longer be receiving calls from the school, county, or state about a COVID exposure unless your child was a part of a cluster of positive cases.
As we head into the meat and potatoes of the winter, this is just a reminder that if we do have a delay or closing, we will notify you via SchoolMessenger, social media, and the regular media. We will try to make the determination to delay or close by 5AM when possible. Thank you.
There is no Foodlink this week, but it will return next Tuesday at 2PM.
Thanks and have a great rest of the week!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
January 11, 2022
Good Afternoon-
We received the correspondence below from Ontario County. Please note that the information contains updates for length of quarantine and isolation. The passage contains a lot of information. Please reach out to the nurse if you need clarifications.
Also, we will be receiving a smaller shipment of rapid test later this week. Be on the lookout for a form to register to receive one for each of your children.
Thanks, and have a great rest of the week.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
Greetings,
As promised, we are communicating with you regarding the newly updated New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) protocols for both isolations and quarantines. The NYSDOH has now shared an updated guideline. This means some people can qualify for a shortened quarantine or isolation from a standard length of ten days to an early release option of five days if they meet certain criteria. This will be important for everyone to understand so please read closely and know, it could change at any time.
For Students & Staff who are Fully Vaccinated
If you test positive for COVID
- You need to be isolated for five days. This period begins with the day you started having symptoms, or, if asymptomatic, the day you tested positive for COVID.
- If you are asymptomatic at the end of five days or your symptoms are resolving and you are fever free for at least 24 hours, your isolation ends.
If you are exposed to someone with COVID
- No quarantine is required.
- If symptoms appear, isolate and seek testing. Isolation ends when a negative test is obtained, otherwise, you must isolate as stated above.
For Students & Staff who are NOT fully vaccinated
If you test positive for COVID
- You need to be isolated for five days. This period begins with the day you started having symptoms, or, if asymptomatic, the day you tested positive for COVID.
- If you are asymptomatic at the end of five days or your symptoms are resolving and you are fever free for at least 24 hours, your isolation ends.
If you are exposed to someone with COVID
- Starting with the date of your last exposure, you need to quarantine for five days or opt to participate in the test to stay protocol. As a reminder, the test to stay protocol still does not apply to unvaccinated individuals with at home exposures. Test to stay allows students to come to school, but they remain in quarantine the rest of the day and cannot participate in extracurricular activities until their full isolation ends.
- If symptoms appear after an exposure to someone with COVID, isolate and seek testing. If the test is negative, you do not need to continue isolation. You may need to continue with the Test to Stay or quarantine protocols if applicable. Otherwise, without a negative test, you must isolate as stated above in the “If you test positive for COVID” section.
Important additional information:
- Any staff member or student who does qualify for an early release is required to wear their mask at all times and properly (unless eating) and if they are unable to do so, they will be returned to their full, ten day isolation period.
- This new protocol applies to both students and staff.
- If you participate in a club, sport, or extracurricular activity and qualify for an early release from isolation or quarantine, you may also begin to participate in those activities. Athletes still need a return to play document from their doctor if they had COVID. However, please be aware that the American Academy of Pediatrics is not releasing students back to sports until day ten so that may become a problem for families in that our local guidance doesn’t match pediatric guidance.
- If you meet the criteria for an early release anytime between day five and ten, you may be released at that time by acquiring a release from Public Health.
- If you are released early from isolation or quarantine, you should, as best as possible, eat breakfast and lunch at greater than 6’ from others.
- Moving forward, if you or your child is placed in isolation or quarantine, you will need to go onto the Ontario County Public Health website and fill out a verification form to be entered into their system. This is a process other countries have been successfully using. You can only receive a release from Public Health if you complete this process. Those links can be found here:
- If you have been placed in isolation, follow this link to attest to your isolation status https://hipaa.jotform.com/220065955234151.
- If you have been placed in quarantine, follow this link to attest to your quarantine status https://hipaa.jotform.com/220065841998162.
- The school district is still expected to contact trace and share findings of potential exposures with public health so that they can determine if a quarantine is necessary.
- At this time, fully vaccinated does not include the booster.
December 30, 2021
Good Afternoon-
I hope you have had a good break so far. We have been busy here at school and are ready to resume in person instruction on January 3rd. Thanks to the progressive leadership of Ontario County, anything you have heard about testing to stay in school has already been happening at Whitman for the past three months and will continue.
Earlier this week the Governor announced that schools would be receiving rapid COVID tests; one for each student, based on our 2020-21 enrollment. They were supposed to be here by the end of this week or weekend and we were supposed to figure out a way to get them into your hands before Monday.
Schools will not have these tests to hand out until at least next week. We will create a form you can fill out if you would like us to send one test home per child. Anything we have remaining will be offered to our employees, and anything remaining after that will be added to the pool of tests we use for our test to stay protocol. The form for this process will be sent in a separate email.
We are on schedule to open the fitness center to the public beginning the week of January 17th. Be on the lookout for sign up forms to get a tour of the entire construction and forms to be trained to use the fitness center. We will arrange a few slots where you can get a tour AND get trained, so you don’t need to make two trips up to school. We are excited to begin having you use the space!
It goes without saying that 2021 has been a tough year. If there is anything we can control to make 2022 easier and better at Whitman, we will make it happen. Continuing to work together is still the most important key to our success. Thank you for reading and have a Happy New Year!
Good Afternoon-
As was mentioned in my previous call/email, the link below can be used IF AND ONLY IF you would like a rapid COVID test sent home with your child(ren) when we receive them. If you do not want a test sent home, please disregard this message. This should be completed by parents at this time and by Wednesday, January 5th. If there are tests remaining after student distribution, we will send out a separate form for our employees. Thank you!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
https://forms.gle/gjRWY1LU8Urd2MycA
December 22, 2021
Good Evening-
I have tried not to call as much as normal these past few weeks because I know that everyone has been very busy, are worn out, and the last thing you probably want to hear is my voice. We do have a lot to be thankful for. Aside from my family, I am very thankful for all of you and for your support.
As we enter the holidays and Christmas, we have no idea what COVID will or won't do to us as we come back from break, but whatever it is, we will get through it together. There is no school scenario we have not already experienced, so we will make the cards we are dealt work. My hope is that we are all back together and have a great start to what is going to be a very busy second half of the school year.
I will be in touch after break with a state of the district and what we have to look forward to for the rest of the school year and beyond. For now, enjoy time with your families and I wish you nothing but the best through the holidays and Christmas, and wish you a Happy New Year.
Thank you.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
December 17, 2021
Good Afternoon-
I just wanted to say thank you. We put faith into the students that they would pull through for us today, would say something if they saw or heard something, and would make good choices with their own actions. They did, and I am really proud of them. This might sound like an easy thing for students to do, but young people today are under enormous pressure from social media to "fall in line" good or bad, with what others on the social media platforms are doing, and they didn't. Good parenting, great role models for students to work with here at school, and their character caused today to go as well as it did. Thanks again, and have a wonderful weekend.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
December 16, 2021
Good Evening-
I think it is safe to say that all of us are at our wits' end with the pandemic, and the stress of this particular holiday season. After all that I read in the news about the behavior of students and adults from around the country, I am really proud of our students and employees. We are all trying as hard as we can to get through a challenging time in as positive a way as possible, and I appreciate everyone's efforts.
I wanted to bring something to your attention about the social media app called TikTok. TikTok users often promote "TikTok Challenges." Sometimes these challenges are positive or neutral, and other times they are negative. Often, users encourage students to do negative things at the school they attend. The most recent challenge is to lodge threats of violence against schools tomorrow. All law enforcement agencies around the country are aware of this, including our school resource officer. Our administrators are aware as well.
I do not expect any issues involving our school district, but this is a good time to remind everyone to say something if they read or see something. If we do see any type of message about our school district, we will take immediate action, and will inform you. Again, I do not expect any issues, but I felt it was important for you to know that we are aware of this "TikTok Challenge" in case you see it on the news this evening or read about it on the Internet.
Thank you, hang in there, and have a great weekend!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
December 2, 2021
Good Afternoon-
I hope you have had a good week so far. I wanted to get you up to speed on a few things that are happening as we head into the holiday season. First, let’s get COVID out of the way. COVID is still here, and I thank my lucky stars every day for the nurses we have and the work they do for our employees and students.
Ontario county has been allowing students exposed to a positive COVID case to be able to test to stay in school AND to test to be able to participate in extracurricular activities and athletics.
Last night, the NYS Department of Health overrode the Ontario County DOH and effective today, students exposed to a positive COVID case can test to stay in school but CANNOT participate in extracurricular activities or athletics, until their “quarantine” is over. Yes, you read that correctly. The blame does not fall on Ontario County. The blame (if you disagree with this action like I do) falls on the New York State Department of Health. I personally find the rule to be inconsistent, confusing, and illogical. Senator Helming has been a great supporter of schools and I will be reaching out to her team tomorrow to lobby for this rule regarding extracurricular activities and athletics to be changed back to how we conducted the entire Fall season. Coaches and activity advisors will be guided on how to handle this. Again, I hope this rule changes back that what we have been successfully doing in the VERY near future. I have attached the most recent guidance that was released today.
I expect the Omicron variant to be an issue for all schools heading into and after the holidays. I spoke to an epidemiologist and physician today about the variant. I am not a doctor, but basically the takeaway was that the variant spreads quickly because the degree of sickness is less, meaning, people are more apt to go to work and school with this variant, thinking it is the sniffles or a cold, so the ability for it to spread is greater.
The governor did not make any new changes to COVID protocols as of today, but we should all realize that there could be significant spread over the holidays. We know from experience how to have school in school, hybrid, and virtually, but I think most of us can agree that COVID is our least favorite word.
Back in my younger days, I was in a classic rock cover band called Mid-Life Crisis. We played restaurants around the Finger Lakes and one of the most requested songs was Smoking in the Boys Room.
Fast forward to today. My rock and roll days are well behind me, but if there was to be a remake of Smoking in the Boys Room, it would be titled Vaping in the Restrooms. Vaping has been around schools for five or six years now but has seemed to become more prevalent during this pandemic.
There are multiple concerns about vaping, and you have read enough of this message already so I am not going to put two more paragraphs here about the dangers of vaping for children and all of that. What I am going to say is that along with the health concerns, students who do not vape would like to use the restrooms as well, and our staff would like to not be chasing students around to see if they are vaping. At the same time, we have learned about a new vape that will be in the US by early next year (it is currently being sold in Europe and the Middle East) that allows people to vape ANYTHING in it. You can see where that could go once in the hands of children.
We have been meeting with vendors of “vape detectors” over the past couple of days and will be purchasing vape detectors for our bathrooms at the middle and high school, through a grant.
These detectors can pick up any type of vape scent or exhaust, but can also pick up loud noises, yelling, and can respond to key words that are programmed into the device. Knowing this, we think that these detectors will help us with the vaping issues we are having AND help us if there is bullying or other non-bathroom activity happening in our restrooms.
When something is detected, the equipment sends a signal to our administrators who can immediately respond to the area. I had these devices in my previous district and found them to be useful. We hope to have them by the end of January or sooner. Delivery will be based solely on supply and demand availability.
I am a very transparent person and have a lot of respect for our students, so we will not be installing them without their knowledge. We will inform students that they will be installed. If they choose to vape and get caught after that, that is on them.
Most of the equipment is installed in the fitness center at the high school, and we hope to have students using the space the week of December 13th, and we are still on schedule for community use of the space right after the holidays. Thank you to the 210 people who filled out the fitness center survey. We are going to put all of the results together so we can program the space for how YOU would like to use it!
Lastly, we have Foodlink on December 7th and 21st, and we are excited to announce that we have dates from January through June. We will send those dates in a separate message because we know a lot of you like to get them right into your calendars. If you are planning ahead, we will have two per month like we have been, with the exception of February, which will have one.
Thanks for reading, hang in there, and have a great rest of the week!
Chris
School Testing and Quarantines Update 3, 12.2.21.pdf Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
November 28, 2021
Good Afternoon-
I hope that you had a great Thanksgiving. We had a house full, cooked a turkey on the grill, and watched the Bills win. Overall, a great day in my book.
If you are a Michael Jordan fan, you will be happy to know that there are twenty-three school days left before the Christmas holiday. There will be a LOT happening in those twenty-three days. In addition to the regular school day, many of our students will be performing in concerts, participating in athletics and extra-curricular activities, and will be doing things for the less fortunate in our community. We will also have two Foodlink distributions (12/7 and 12/21.)
At the same time, our employees and I will be managing COVID, helping our students and community members to make it to and through the holiday season, and will be supporting those who need it.
While these next few weeks will be busy, we all need to take a moment to reflect on how special a community we live and work in. Because everyone is in different spots in life, it is also important to be kind to each other and support each other where and when we can. That is how we became stronger during the pandemic, and how we will continue to be strong moving forward.
We have worked to make sure that people are as safe as possible for our concerts and games, and we hope you will be able to find a little time to come up and watch our students and just forget about life for a couple hours.
Thank you for your continued support, and here we go!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
November 23, 2021
Good Evening-
I hope everyone had a good weekend. I wanted to provide a few updates as we head into a short week.
First, a reminder that we have Foodlink tomorrow beginning at 2PM. Second, thank you for your patience last Friday with virtual school. That day helped us to get well and will help us to push through the holiday season.
There is no school on Wednesday, and we are going to close our buildings and offices as well, with the exception of athletic practices and games, to give our custodians, and support staff an extra day to be with their families as other employees get.
Thanksgiving is about being thankful. I am thankful to be a part of this Whitman community, and to be surrounded by caring people. We live and work in a special place, and I am thankful for that each and every day.
Have a great rest of the week!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
November 17, 2021
Good Afternoon-
I wanted to let you know in as much advance as possible that due to short staffing and anticipated absence this Friday, we will need to move to a virtual model for all school buildings. We simply will not have enough employees to safely get students to school or keep our buildings open and students supervised.
All of our employees who are not ill will be reporting to school on Friday to work, and our BOCES and out of District students will attend their normal school days.
I know this is an extreme hardship for many, and this decision was not taken lightly. The two options were to spring this on you at 5:30AM on Friday or to tell you in advance today, so you can do some planning for childcare, etc. As a parent, I felt that telling you now was the best of the two options. I deeply apologize that we need to do this, but at the same time, this is the first time we have had to do this in two years, and I am very proud of our employees for hanging on this long. We expect to be good with staffing for next week.
Our building principals and directors will be reaching to parents and our employees tomorrow with exact directions for Friday.
After school and evening activities for Friday will proceed as originally scheduled.
Thank you in advance for your understanding.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
November 16, 2021
Good Afternoon-
The Department of Health made a major change in how they are handling quarantines at school. Effective tomorrow, there will no longer be full classroom quarantines unless the majority of the classroom has positive cases. This means that if your child is quarantined due to a whole classroom quarantine, they can return to school tomorrow, as long as they are symptom free.
From tomorrow forward, the majority of quarantines will come from bus rides, eating less than six feet apart, and indoor athletics. In those cases, if a child is a contact to a positive and vaccinated, they will not need to quarantine. If they are unvaccinated and are symptom free, they can test for seven days to remain in school.
The attached letter explains what was mentioned above in more detail and is from Ontario County Department of Health. If you have any questions, please contact our head nurse, Michelle Rohring, at mrohring@mwcsd.org, (585)554-4848 x1426.
Thank you.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
Visit the COVID-19 Information Center for vaccine resources.
November 15, 2021
Good Evening-
I hope everyone had a great start to the week. COVID cases in the Fingerlakes area continue to rise, and we have not been immune to that at Marcus Whitman. We continue to try our best to keep students in school through testing, hand washing, and masking, but as the numbers rise, health officials in both Yates and Ontario counties have been talking more about less testing and more quarantining. They have not made any decisions as of yet, so we will stay on the course we are on, but if numbers continue to rise, I will not be surprised if quarantining whole classrooms (especially at the elementary) will be the first decision over testing to stay in school. We will continue to push for testing to stay in school.
Tomorrow at 4:30PM, we will be holding a brief Town Hall for Valley and Gorham parents to talk about curriculum changes, and how they will impact report cards. If you cannot view the Town Hall live, no worries, it will be on our YouTube Channel. The link for the broadcast can be found here...https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCF57RFmgBLyxbxSNsWCCwUA .
Also, there are a few slots left for the Pfizer vaccine for children ages 5-11. This clinic is being held in the high school cafeteria and you will enter through the band room doors that are located near the district office entrance. Someone will be there to guide you. The link to register for the clinic can be found here...https://apps2.health.ny.gov/doh2/applinks/cdmspr/2/counties?DateID=D04D7E5DDCEB01BAE0530A6C7C1582FC.
All winter sports are now under way. It is hard to believe that Thanksgiving is next week! Have a great rest of the week.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
November 5, 2021
Good Afternoon-
I apologize in advance for the length of this message, but I want to make sure that you are in the loop about everything that is happening here at school. To make it easier to read, each item is broken down in bold and is underlined. As always, thank you for your continued support and if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me at (585)554-4848 x1805 or cbrown@mwcsd.org.
COVID:
We continue to COVID test students so that they can remain at school, as long as they do not have symptoms. In some cases and due to the number of cases in a classroom or activity, groups of students have been placed in quarantine. It is not an easy decision to make, and each case is handled case by case, with the final call being made by the county health department. The bigger picture is that we are testing students so that we can keep our buildings open five days per week. So far, so good, but I do feel the frustration of those who have had to miss work because their children have either gotten COVID, or have had to quarantine.
I want to thank the nurses as well as the people who help support them, profusely. By the numbers, it takes a little over seven hours to COVID test twenty-two students. In any given day, we have at least that many students to test in each building. We DO have an EMT provided by Ontario County to help with this work, as well as support staff (including me) who are trained to test. This is not the only work our nurses need to do during the day, which is why they are spread very thin and work overtime every day.
I have mentioned that being able to test students (or employees) comes down to time, materials, and people. We need more testing machines in order to make this work a little easier. The county has given out all of the machines they received. We have three testing machines to cover our entire campus, including FLSS BOCES. We are working with the county to possibly rent or lease additional machines, but supplies have been limited. In addition, the actual test kits themselves are getting more challenging to get due to supply chain issues. We continue to do our best work every day in this area, but some things are beyond our control, and I appreciate your continued patience. We are also in the process of hiring an additional nurse.
Pool Testing:
New York State requires unvaccinated school employees and school employees who do not disclose their vaccination status to receive a COVID test each week, through a process called pool testing. We will be up and running for these employees next week. There is no way that we will be able to test all eligible employees per week due to. staffing, so we will test as many as we can.
Once this is up and running, we will send out a link to parents who would like to have their children pool tested as well. This is an opt-in only process, so if a parent foes not want their child tested, they will just ignore the registration email they receive from me. My best guess is that we will have that link available for parents in December.
Vaccines and Boosters:
We are working with the counties, hospitals, and private retailers to provide vaccine booster clinics here at school for our employees and students who would like them. As I am sure you are aware, vaccines have now been made available for children ages 5-11. If we are able to provide a clinic at school, we will ONLY do so when parents/guardians will be able to be here to be with their children when they receive the vaccine. Being a parent, I spent plenty of time holding my kids when they had to receive shots, so we are not going to place students or parents in a situation where they cannot be together if they choose to get the vaccine. If we are able to establish a school based clinic, we will get that word out with plenty of advanced notice.
Indoor Events and Spectators:
We would like as many people as possible to attend fall and winter events so they can see their loved ones compete and perform. We also need to provide a safe environment for everyone as well. Right now, there will be no capacity limits for our auditorium, gymnasiums, or pool area. Spectators and event attendees will be required to wear masks at all times. Families and friends can sit together at events with three feet of space in between groups. For example, if I bring ten people to an event, we will all sit together with no space in between us. The family next to me will also sit together with no space between them, but will sit three feet away from my family. We have a lot of great things planned for the fall and winter and hope that you will come out to attend and support our students!
Snow Days:
It's time again to start thinking about bad weather. I wanted to let you know that even though we have Zoom and remote instruction capabilities, a snow day will be a snow day at Marcus Whitman for this school year. You may hear different things about how other school districts are handling snow days. We feel that the snow day is one of the last things from the past that we can still do, so we will continue having them as we always have until we are forced to do something different.
Indoor Track, Fitness Center, and Multi-Purpose Room Timeline and Details:
We expect to have the equipment for the fitness center delivered and installed on 11/29 through 12/1. From there, we will be training our staff and students on how to use the equipment from 12/6 through 12/10. From there, we will have the fitness center and track open for use by our students the week of 12/13. We expect a ribbon cutting, tours, training, and the opening of the facility to the community beginning the week of 1/3/22. We expect the facility to be open for the community Monday through Friday from 6:15AM until 7:30AM and then again from 5:30PM through 8:30PM. These days and hours will be based on availability of staffing (the area will be staffed when being used by the community) and interest in the community using the space. Things are now coming together quickly and we are looking forward to making the space available for all. Once we have been using the space and have worked out any issues, we plan to offer adult education courses and trainings beginning in the spring.
Thanksgiving Grab and Go Dinners:
We had a HUGE response to our second annual hot Thanksgiving grab and go dinner offering on November 17th. We had several donors who got us to our financial goal in under twenty-four hours and have over seven hundred meals spoken for. We are looking very forward to the event and I want to thank our food service crew and volunteers in advance because we are all going to be busy that week keeping people happy and fed! Special thanks to my mom, who at 76, is coming from Syracuse to help prep, cook, and serve. She loves everything she hears and reads about our Whitman family and is looking forward to helping out!
Staffing:
We continue to be short staffed in several key areas such as substitutes in all areas, bus drivers/monitors, custodial, food service, and aides. If you/someone you know are interested in working for a great boss (kidding,) I mean organization, please contact Sharene Benedict at (585)554-4848 x1805 or sbenedict@mwcsd.org. Thank you.
Field Band:
We want to congratulate our Field Band for winning the New York State Field Band Conference Championship at the Carrier Dome on Halloween. This group has members from grades five through twelve. They have been working very hard the past three years to reinvent themselves and to become competitive again, and their hard work shows. Congratulations also to Holly Blueye, Damian Grzeskowiak, and our adult volunteers. The group will be recognized at an upcoming Board of Education meeting and will also be honored by Senator Pamela Helming on November 12th. Congratulations to all!
Thank you for reading and have a great rest of the week!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
October 29, 2021
Good Afternoon-
I want to personally thank our nurses and support staff for helping with ongoing COVID testing. We continue to experience positive cases and continue to do what we can to keep school open.
Good luck this weekend to our football team as they compete in the sectional quarterfinal this evening. Also, best of luck to our cheerleaders as they compete in Sectionals tomorrow, and to our our field band as they compete for the state championship at the Carrier Dome on Sunday.
Thank you, be safe if you are trick or treating, and enjoy the weekend.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
October 26, 2021
Good Afternoon-
Thanks to all who came for Foodlink today and a very special thank you to the volunteers who braved pouring rain and wind to make it happen. We served 1,300 individuals in just over an hour!
Thanks to the generosity of the Lion's Club, Wickham Family, Mrs. Cooper, Brian Lazarus, the Ontario County Police Benevolent Association, and angel donors, we have already EXCEEDED our fundraising goal of $2,000 for our Thanksgiving Grab and Go. Any additional money received will go toward our event next year.
As of 5PM today, we have 400 meals accounted for by community members, and a total of 800 to serve. Please register by using this link...https://forms.gle/B5NT2RARJMNU2fd96 and we hope to see you on November 17th!
Stay dry and thank you.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
October 25, 2021
Good Afternoon-
I hope everyone had a good weekend. I wanted to bring you up to speed on some things we learned about COVID testing last week. In addition to what I sent you from the county (attached again,) here are a few key pieces to keep in mind as we head into this week and beyond:
1. If a group (team, classroom, etc.) has several COVID positives in a short amount of time, ALL unvaccinated people may be quarantined without the ability to test to remain at work/school (vaccinated students/employees do not need to quarantine as long as they are feeling well.) This happened to our boys varsity soccer team, as well as a first grade classroom, as recent examples. Generally speaking, the number of positives in a short period of time is three or more on a team or in a classroom, etc. This number of cases in a short period of time is considered a COVID "outbreak." The county MAY allow us to reach back out to families if the students have remained well during the beginning of their quarantine period and they MAY be allowed to test the final few days (of the seven days) to remain in school/work. This is a case by case thing and needs the permission of the county. If a classroom or team has one or two positives, the remainder of the unvaccinated classroom or team members will test for seven days to try and remain in school or work.
2. If a student or employee has a positive case in their home, the student or employee will NOT be allowed to test for seven days to remain at school or work if they are unvaccinated.
3. Ontario and Yates counties now have a state representative who is helping with contact tracing. This is new, and there are differences between how the state representative and the county are treating COVID cases. They are working together to get on the same page, and my hope is that this happens sooner than later. In the meantime, do not be surprised if you receive a ten day quarantine letter but your child is allowed to test for seven days to remain in school. I am very frustrated about any parent or employee possibly receiving conflicting information, and I am doing all I can to lobby for information to be more consistent. I am confident that the county and state will get there.
4. We remain short staffed at Marcus Whitman, and the county as well as the contract tracing office are short staffed as well. It is what it is unfortunately, and we will continue to get our work completed in the areas of COVID testing and tracing as quickly as we can.
5. We are working with retail stores, pharmacies, and the Department of Health to offer vaccine booster clinics as well as clinics for students aged 5-11 when vaccines are allowed for those age groups on campus. I cannot make any promises, but we are trying to make it as convenient as possible for those who would. like a booster or for those who would like their younger. children vaccinated. As soon as we hear anything, we will let you know.
Thank you for reading and I appreciate your patience as we all continue to work and live through the pandemic.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
October 25, 2021
Good Afternoon-
Please replace the document from the Ontario County DOH I attached in an email to you this morning with the attached document. The attached document was published today and the changes are in red. They reflect what I mentioned in my earlier email, but they are now on County letterhead.
Thank you.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools School Testing and Quarantines Update 10.25.21.jpg
October 21, 2021
Good Afternoon-
I apologize in advance for the lengthy message, but there are several items I would like to share with you so you are as informed as possible. As always, if you have any questions about any of these items, please feel free to reach out to me directly at 585-554-4848 x1805 or cbrown@mwcsd.org. Thank you.
First, congratulations to our girl’s soccer team. They won their first Sectional game against a tough Letchworth team on Monday and play at home in the second-round tomorrow (Friday) at 3PM at the high school (versus Addison.) Because this is a Section V event, admission is $5.
Congratulations are also in order for our cheerleaders and boy’s cross county team. Both became League champions this week; boy’s cross country for the seventh consecutive year and cheer for the second time in three years. All three teams and their coaches will be recognized by our Board of Education once their seasons are complete. Wow!
Two years ago, I mentioned that we were working with Mosaic Health in Rushville to bring a full-service health clinic to the school District (for students only.) At that time, there was a grant application to receive funding for this opportunity. We learned today that Mosaic was not awarded the grant. There were 1,300 eligible agencies across the country and only 25 grants were awarded.
That being said, there is still interest in moving the health clinic forward by both parties. We have our own construction to do to in the area where the clinic would have been housed (we want to create a more accessible ADA compliant bathroom facility at the high school,) so it was decided that we would likely be able to revisit the health clinic idea and concept in the Spring of 2022, with a possible launch of early 2023. In the meantime, we are working with Mosaic Health to bring temporary dental facilities to campus so parents can give permission to allow for cleanings and minor restorative work. This would be a one day per week clinic, and we envision that beginning before the end of this school year possibly.
Our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) committee has been continuing its work “to know, understand, and celebrate the differences in our community. To welcome people who are different than us and to welcome their perspectives. Our perspectives are limited to our one experience, so the experiences of others can help us learn new views that we have not experienced.” With this mission statement in mind, we continue to meet and work. EVERY document, summary, and presentation related to this work can be found on our website by clicking on the following link…https://www.mwcsd.org/covid-19/diversity-equity-inclusion-dei. We are always accepting new members. Please let me know if you would like to join. Our next meeting is on November 18th at 3:45PM.
We will be beginning our strategic planning process in the next month or so, and will be looking for community, parent, student, employee, and Board of Education members to serve and help with this important work. The community at large will be asked for their feedback as we go into the planning process as well, so please be on the lookout for that. If you think you might be interested in serving on this committee, the time commitment for this effort will be approximately sixteen hours. How those sixteen hours will be broken down will be determined as we get things ready to launch. I will have a separate message with that information soon. Thank you.
We are inching closer and closer to having our construction project completed. In a perfect world, I would like to see all of us using the second-floor fitness center and track by the end of November. As we all know, this is not a perfect world, so I will keep you very updated as we get closer to our ribbon cutting and opening.
Our insurance company awarded the school District with the 2021 School Safety Excellence Award this week. This award recognizes the “school’s outstanding efforts to create a safer school environment, and as a direct result of the school’s diligence and adherence to safety principles prescribed to safety group members, the certificate was awarded.” Our facilities department deserves the credit for this award. They do an outstanding job of keeping the buildings safe, clean, and ready for our students, employees, and community every day!
Last year, we were able to provide our community with a delicious grab and go Thanksgiving dinner. We are working to make that happen again this year, but are running into supply chain issues with turkeys, and other key ingredients. We still would like to pull that off, and will have a date to you soon, but we may need some monetary donations from the community. Once we know all of the details and how much we will need to pull off this awesome event, I will let you know. Right now, we have enough bread for stuffing and blueberries for the cobbler, but we need to get everything else in order. I am getting hungry just typing about it!
Lastly, I would like to address how we are continuing to handle life during this pandemic. We have had some COVID hotspots of late, and we recognize that quarantining causes disruptions to family and work schedules. We receive quarantine orders from either Yates or Ontario County; we do not make quarantine determinations ourselves. I really do understand the frustration that is out there, but we are doing all we can, while continuing to be short staffed, to keep our buildings open five days per week. We have been a model school District and community throughout this entire pandemic. We have been unified, we have worked together, and we have struggled and succeeded together. We MUST keep our chins up and remain kind to each other. I get paid the “big bucks” to get yelled at when people hear information that they don’t want to hear; our nurses do not. PLEASE continue to keep that in mind as we move deeper into the Fall and winter. Thank you so much; your kindness, patience, and understanding truly do go a long way.
Thanks again for reading and have a great weekend. Go Wildcats!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
October 19, 2021
Good Afternoon-
In an effort to make sure that you always know everything that I know, please take a moment to read the attachment "School Testing and Quarantines." We received this document from Ontario County and it outlines how the diagnostic COVID testing works. If you do not have time to read the document, the highlights are...
1. With parent/guardian permission, a child can receive a diagnostic COVID test at school if they were exposed to a positive case and/or if they have COVID symptoms while at school.
2. The child will be tested for 7 (seven) consecutive days. If one of those days falls on a weekend, they will not be tested, but those days will count in the seven day total. They will be tested on the next school day.
3. If there is a school activity or school sponsored event that takes place on a weekend, the child can be tested on the weekend in order to participate in that school sponsored event.
4. If the child participates in an event on the weekend that is not sponsored by the school, the school will not be giving COVID tests and it is suggested that the child not participate in that event (Scouting event, etc.) The school will NOT police compliance with this suggestion.
5. Students who are in the seven day testing cycle CAN participate in their normal school day, including after school activities and athletics.
6. All of the above is based on having staffing and supplies available to administer the tests. If staffing or supplies are not available, a child may be asked to quarantine until staffing and/or supplies are available, or until daily tests are given to the school from another location.
If you have questions, please feel free to reach out to me at cbrown@mwcsd.org.
Thank you.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
October 18, 2021
Good Afternoon-
Thank you to our nurses who have been working as hard as they can to keep up with diagnostic COVID testing. The testing has been able to keep students in school who would otherwise be quarantined. We had to make the difficult decision to cancel the in person Valley open house due to COVID. They have seen the highest number of cases of late, including a family of ten. They are planning future activities where parents can be involved, but right now, they want to get people healthy. and classrooms full again. Thank you for understanding.
Tomorrow, our girls varsity soccer ream will be playing their first sectional game against Letchworth at 3PM at the high school. Because this is a Sectional event, the admission is $5. Please park in the lot nearest the concession stand if you can, and I hope to see you there to support our girls.
Wednesday is World Unity Day, and it is a chance for us to express that we are continuing our work to prevent bullying, and are promoting kindness, acceptance, and inclusion. We will be wearing orange to show our support, and encourage your children to do the same.
Thank you and I hope everyone has a great rest of the week.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
October 14, 2021
Good Afternoon-
We have been successfully using diagnostic testing to keep students and employees who would otherwise be quarantined due to COVID exposure, in school. We are contacting parents for permission before testing, but so far so good. We have also welcomed an EMT provided to us by Ontario county to help with testing. We are still a couple of weeks out from weekly pool testing, which is why the registration link as not been sent out yet.
Congratulations to the girls varsity soccer team. They are league champions for the first time since 2006! They are a hard working group of student athletes and I wish them the best as they get ready for Sectionals!
It is with a heavy heart that I inform you about the passing of 1987 Whitman graduate Brian Western. Brian was on campus with us on Thursday and inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame. He spent a lot of Friday evening with us as well, enjoying the football game, field band performance, and bonfire. I had the pleasure of meeting and spending time with him over the summer. His father, Lynn, was a former superintendent of Marcus Whitman. My thoughts and prayers are with his loved ones, former classmates, and friends.
Thank you for your continued support, and have a good weekend.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
October 8, 2021
Good Afternoon-
I hope everyone had a good week. Last evening, we got to celebrate the newest members of the Athletic Hall of Fame. Congratulations to Brian Western, Amy Sleeman, Dave Burley, Ron Clark, and the 1947-48 Gorham Baseball team. It was a pleasure to listen to their speeches and meet their family members!
Our homecoming games and celebrations are this evening. Games begin all over our campus at 4:30PM, with football kicking off at 7PM. There will be a bonfire immediately following the football game. Due to very wet conditions, we had to move the fire to a different location. It will not be quite a large as what you might be used to this year, but we feel fortunate to still be able to have one!
There are some changes to COVID testing in schools that we learned this week. Yesterday, we received machines called Abbott ID testing machines. The Abbott machines will allow us to provide a rapid COVID test to those who show COVID symptoms, or those who are well, but came in contact with someone who was COVID positive. The test is a nasal swab that goes just inside the nose (I did one myself yesterday because I would never ask a student or employee to do something that I wouldn't do,) and the machine presents the results in ten minutes. I made a video of me using the nasal swab, and if it would make your child more comfortable for them to see me do it, let me know, and I will share the video with you.
Where I think this will be particularly useful is in situations where a student or employee tests positive, and through contact tracing, it is determined by the county that other students or adults around the positive case need to be quarantined, even though they are not sick. The Abbott machines, with parent permission, will allow us to test the students who would have been quarantined. They will be tested for three to five days after the exposure, and as long as those tests are negative and no symptoms develop, they can remain in school. For those who opted out of the diagnostic testing, we will go right to the mandatory ten day quarantine, but for those who were okay with the diagnostic testing, this may be a way to keep your children in school, instead of at home on quarantine. Again, we will always seek your permission before testing your child. This same process will apply to our employees, minus the parent permission! We will begin this process next Tuesday.
In the area of weekly pool testing, regardless of how the opt-out survey was completed, parents will be receiving an email from me in the coming weeks with a registration link for the weekly testing. If you want your child to be tested weekly, you will use the link to register. If you do not, you will ignore the link and do nothing further. There is a company that the county is using to process the weekly test, which is the reason for the link. All weekly testing is free for you and your child, but they will have you enter in health insurance information so the correct billing happens behind the scenes through the sources of money being used to make these tests free for us. If you do not have health insurance, there is a box to check for that as well. We will NOT be able to test 100% of permitted students each week, we simply do not have the resources. We will test as many as we can each week until we reach 100% of permitted students, and then we will start the process again. The same will apply for our employees who need to be tested weekly.
If anything mentioned above changes (because we have all gotten used to change when it comes to COVID) I will let you know immediately.
The NYS COVID dashboard is now working. The link to it can be found here...https://schoolcovidreportcard.health.ny.gov/#/searchResults. If you have any difficulty accessing the report for our school, just search for Gorham-Middlesex. Because the dashboard is working, I will not be writing about COVID cases here any longer unless we have enough cases or quarantines that cause us to have to alter our schedule or how we operate.
Thanks for reading, and have a wonderful long weekend. #PR1DEinthePaw
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
October 1, 2021
Good Afternoon-
I hope everyone had a good week. This one was better than last week for me, and I hope they continue to get better. Since last Friday, we have had four COVID positive students, and one positive employee. Of the five individuals, two are vaccinated, or chose to report their vaccination status. Unfortunately, one of the cases caused enough quarantines that our varsity football team had to shut down until October 5th. Luckily, the student athletes feel well, and should be ready to go for their homecoming game on the 8th!
Speaking of homecoming, we are hoping for a great turnout and ARE planning for a bonfire after the game. This is what living in a small community is all about, and I hope to see you there!
Recently, I mentioned a TikTok challenge to you. Because the world cannot seem to leave well enough alone, there are now TikTok challenges for each month. The list can be found here…https://www.distractify.com/p/tiktok-school-challenges-list-2021. We are fortunate to have good students, but outside influences and teen pressure sometimes make them want to do dumb things. If any of these happen at any of our schools, I would like to know immediately. Thank you!
Our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee (DEI) met yesterday and I was really happy to have such a great turnout from all stakeholder groups in our school and community. In defining DEI as a group, the top “group think” definition was “to know, understand, and celebrate the differences in our community. To welcome people who are different than us and to welcome their perspectives. Our perspectives are limited to our one experience, so the experiences of others can help us learn new views that we have not experienced.” We will continue our work in this area in November. If you would like to join the committee, just let me know!
We have a conference day next week. Erica is working on the curricular piece of that and will have an agenda out in the very near future.
It looks like weekly COVID testing may begin during the third week in October. If you are on the list to be tested, you will receive a link soon to register. As we get closer to that, I will also share the directions for registration and how the process will work. Those details are being tied together as we speak and I hope to be able to share them with you early next week and after we hear back from the Ontario County DOH.
Thanks, and have a wonderful weekend!
Chris
September 24, 2021
Good afternoon-
Thank you to everyone who came to the Gorham and middle school open houses. They were very well attended, and I very much appreciate everyone following our safety protocols. The New York State dashboard for COVID cases is still not working. In the past seven days, we have had four positive COVID cases; three students and one employee. All four are either unvaccinated, or have chosen not to report their vaccination status.
We do not have any new news about weekly or rapid testing except that Ontario county is going to supply us with a full time nurse to help with this work. We are very appreciative for that.
Foodlink will be next Tuesday beginning at 2PM. We hope to see you there.
We continue to work as hard as we can with the staff we have to provide as normal a school year as possible. That being said, we are spread pretty thin, especially in transportation. We continue to appreciate your patience, and ask that you continue to help your children to wear their masks, especially on school buses.
Thanks and enjoy the weekend!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
September 17, 2021
Happy Friday!
I hope that everyone had a great week! We are off to a wonderful start and I expect to be in “rest of the year” shape well before my usual self-imposed end of September deadline.
The state does not have their “COVID Dashboard” up and running yet so until they do, I will give you weekly updates of how many COVID positive students and employees we have. Because I have not shared this with you yet this year, this particular update will be from the start of the school year until today. We have had four COVID positive students and two COVID positive employees. Of those six cases, one individual was fully vaccinated.
If you would like to respond to the survey to opt your child(ren) out of the weekly saliva based COVID testing and/or the rapid testing if they are symptomatic while at school, there is still time to respond. The link to the survey is here… https://forms.gle/f7KbzAKZCpx4AWe86 and you have until next Friday, September 24th to complete it if you would like.
Bus arrival and dismissal times are getting better as the school year progresses. We did learn that while our new app, “Here Comes the Bus” is working for most people, it does have some glitches. As we learn about them, we send them to the development team to help us (and you) to work through them.
We did notice one unintended consequence of the app. The app is tied to the bus your child rides. If your child is on another bus, the app will not work properly, and at the same time, if the bus your child normally rides is being used for something else (like a sports trip,) that will show up in your app. The result of that is a parent thinking that their child is in Hammondsport, for example, when they are really on another bus minutes from home. That is going to be a very tricky challenge to solve, but we are working on it. All in all though, I am really happy with how the app has been working and it will only improve over time.
Our next Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion meeting will be held on September 30th at 3:30PM. Our site is to be determined based on how many members we have, and we may also extend a virtual option if the numbers are too great. We have committee spots for students, parents, and the community as well as our employees and Board of Education members. If you would like to join, please send an email to me at cbrown@mwcsd.org. The charges of the committee for this school year are:
- To increase understanding of Cultural Responsiveness/Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and to create a common definition for the work within these topics.
- To create a committee to focus on Cultural Responsiveness/Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (required).
- To provide offerings supporting culturally responsive practices for all staff across the District.
I do a lot of leadership coaching around the state, and I also spend a lot of time with our employees, you, and your children. In each arena, the term “Sunday Scaries” has come up more than I have ever heard it. The Sunday Scaries are real, and they are a reflection of all that we are dealing with at work, school, and in life at the moment. This is a longer article, but it really helps to describe what the “Sunday Scaries” are or can be, and ways we can cope. I thought some of you would like to read it.
https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2020/02/sunday-scaries-anxiety-workweek/606289/
Keep doing what you are doing. I am very proud at how the school year started, and I am looking forward to next week. Thanks for all of your support and have a great weekend!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
September 14, 2021
Good Afternoon-
The COVID testing process seems to be ever changing, so I apologize in advance for two emails from me in one day about the same subject. A great question was raised about if a child is vaccinated, do they need to do the weekly testing. The answer is no, as long as they show the nurse proof of vaccination. That being said, if you would like them to opt out of the rapid testing if they have symptoms while at school regardless of vaccination status, please complete the survey and check that box. Thank you in advance.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
Survey Link - https://forms.gle/jwBe6VF6oZKCGa2E9
September 14, 2021
Good Morning-
I hope everyone is having a great week. According to the Department of Health, we are still a couple of weeks away from our weekly mandatory saliva or Q-Tip on the inside of the cheek COVID testing, as well as rapid COVID testing for students if they are showing symptoms at school. In preparation for these two types of tests to be available, we need to know who to include on our testing lists. Please complete the survey below IF AND ONLY IF YOU REFUSE TO ALLOW YOUR CHILD(REN) TO BE TESTED. If you are okay with your child(ren) being tested weekly and/or if they have COVID symptoms while at school, you don't need to do anything. If at any point you change your mind either way and the survey deadline is over, no worries, just contact me at cbrown@mwcsd.org, or the nurse(s) in the buildings your child(ren) attend. Thank you for helping with this. Please complete the survey by Friday, September 24th,
Thank you-
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
Survey link- https://forms.gle/TDeGmyVcJBr2gUzt9
September 10, 2021
Good Afternoon-
Thank you for helping us to support mask wearing at school. I know that mask wearing is not the most popular thing for some, and I want to thank you for respecting the rules we need to follow. It is truly and personally appreciated.
We will not be sending out mass messages every time we have a positive COVID case this year as we have done in the past. Starting next week, we will need to report positive cases to the NYS Department of Health through a dashboard, and we will make that dashboard link available on our website.
We are getting closer to weekly saliva based COVID testing for students and employees, as well as having rapid tests available to give to students and employees if they are showing COVID symptoms at school. Permission to test students both weekly and if they have symptoms will be on an opt-out basis, meaning, if we do not receive an opt out form that we will make available next week, we would have permission to test your child weekly or administer a rapid test at school if a child has COVID symptoms. Parents should be on the lookout for the opt out form early next week. Thank you.
Tomorrow is the 20th anniversary of 9/11. For those who are old like me, we will never forget what where we were and what we were doing when the first plane hit the tower. Please take a moment this weekend to reflect and remember those who were lost, as well as the heroes who responded. Thank you.
We had an awesome first week of school, and I am looking forward to next week. Thanks, and enjoy the weekend!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
September 7, 2021
Good Afternoon-
We are back, and we had a great first day of school! I really enjoyed seeing all of our students and staff back in action. Just a reminder that it takes a couple of weeks for transportation schedules and routes to be completely worked out and for pick up and drop off times to be consistent.
The Department of Health told us that it could be a few weeks before parent permitted weekly student COVID testing will begin. This is a saliva based test and we will be sending out permission slips next week as we get ready to be able to offer testing on site. We will also be receiving rapid COVID tests for students and employees who have symptoms, so we can give COVID tests here at school and return students to class and employees to work if they are negative. I will keep you posted on when we receive them.
Just a reminder that while all students are currently eligible for free breakfast and lunch, it is important to fill out the free and reduced lunch forms in case the free for all program ends, and we also need the information for our grant applications. Thank you.
We had a HUGE crowd on hand for our Friday night football game. Please come to the school for our events. There are no attendance restrictions at this time and the students love having people watch them play and participate.
Thanks and I will give a more detailed message about COVID testing at the end of the week if we have additional information.
Have a great rest of the week!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
September 3, 2021
Good Morning-
I wanted to provide a few updates as we end the week, and get ready for school next week. Foodlink will begin again on Tuesday, September 14th at 2:30PM at the high school. Foodlink will continue every other Tuesday each month until Christmas. The exact dates are on our website and social media.
We are ready for the start of school next Tuesday. As a reminder, if you are in our school buildings, you must wear a mask. If you are outside, you do not. There are no attendance limits on school events so far, so we hope to see you on campus to enjoy a game or activity.
Our capital project is in the final phases of completion, and we hope to be able to open the second floor of the high school to the public for tours and for use by the end of October. We will keep you posted.
The state has implemented a mandatory weekly COVID testing procedure for employees, and a testing procedure for students based on parent permission. Our local departments of health will be responsible for putting the process together, and they will not be ready for the start of school next week. We will provide details as we receive them.
We had a great week welcoming our students in various ways, as well as our employees. I am very excited for this school year and am looking forward to seeing you at our events and in our community. Have a restful Labor Day and thank you very much for your continued support.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
August 30, 2021
Good Morning-
I hope everyone had a great weekend. I wanted to bring you up to speed on where we are with mask wearing, as we welcome our freshmen back to school this morning, and as we get closer to having all students back on September 7th. What is in quotations is exactly what I sent to employees last evening, and is how we will be managing mask wearing moving forward and until we receive further direction.
"Beginning today (Monday,) anyone (regardless of vaccination status) in our school buildings and on school buses MUST wear a mask. The times when it is okay to remove masks are when people are alone, are outdoors, are three feet or more from others, are eating, singing, or in physical education/athletics. Please understand that while people can remove their masks when more than three feet away from others, everyone is STRONGLY ENCOURAGED to wear their mask at all times and take mask breaks.
Unvaccinated people who choose not to wear their masks beyond three feet of distance will have a higher chance of being quarantined. As of right now, vaccinated individuals who are contact traced to have been around a COVID positive person can return to work or school immediately as long as they do not have any COVID symptoms."
This isn't much different than what we have been mentioning all summer, but it is worth repeating. We WILL have plenty of masks available for our adults and students, and we will be sure to give plenty of mask breaks when necessary.
We are also working with the county to make COVID tests available for unvaccinated students so if they are sent to the nurse for having a COVID symptom (runny nose, cough, etc.) they can be COVID tested in the nurse's office (with permission of the parent.) If the test is negative, they can immediately return to class. We will keep you posted about this.
The second dose Pfizer vaccine clinic will take place on Tuesday from 9:30AM-11:30AM at the concession stand, which was the site of the first dose. Once school gets started, we will offer voluntary vaccine clinics at school.
Thank you, and have a great week!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
August 27, 2021
Good Afternoon-
I hope everyone had a great week. It was awesome to see so many students in the buildings with athletics, Link Crew, field band, and orientations. I am excited for September 7th, when I get to see everyone!
No news is usually good news when it comes to anything except guidance from the state about the COIVD pandemic. The Governor was going to release new masking guidance for schools "by the end of the week," but we have not seen anything as of yet. We can expect that guidance to come out between later this weekend and early next week. We hope that the guidance will fill in all of the blanks regarding masking, vaccines, athletics, and extra-curricular activities. I will not interrupt your weekend with an update should we receive guidance; I will send it out to you on Monday. For now, we are following the rules we have had in place all summer.
Universal masking does begin for us on Monday, so if you are going to be in any of our school buildings, please wear a mask. You can remove it if you are more than three feet away from others.
Our next Foodlink is September 14th at 2:30PM.
Thank you and have a great weekend!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
August 23, 2021
Good Afternoon-
Here are a few things that will help you get the school week off to a good start.
First, we have Foodlink tomorrow beginning at 10AM at the high school. We also have a job fair from 9-11 at the bus garage. You will be able to interview and apply for open positions and get Foodlink. We also have more dates for Foodlink for the fall. They will be Tuesdays at 2:30PM and will be held on September 14th and 28th, October 12th and 26th, November 9th and 23rd, and December 7th and 21st. If we get dates for deep winter and spring, we will let you know.
Parents who are looking for bus number and route time information can get it three ways. First, you can use our website and look for bus schedules under the transportation department. You can also download the "Here Comes the Bus" app, or you can call the transportation department. Almost all of the bus run information is completed, so if finding out bus information is next on your back to school checklist, we've got you covered.
We continue to work with the Department of Health about COVID procedures and I have nothing new to share. I will give an update in that area, if there is anything new to report, later in the week.
Thanks, good luck to our student athletes and field band members as they officially begin their seasons, and enjoy the rest of the week!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
August 12, 2021
Good afternoon. To keep you up to speed, the New York State Education Department released guidance today for the reopening of schools. There is nothing in the document that will make us change what I sent to you a few days ago. I know that Lt. Governor Hochul plans to speak about school reopening in the near future and we will adjust our plan if needed. The area superintendents will meet early next week and I will then release our whole plan, along with an invitation for a virtual town hall meeting to help answer any questions. Thanks and enjoy the weekend!
August 10, 2021
Good Afternoon-
In the spirit of transparency, and wanting you to have the same information that I do, I would like to share the most up to date information we have regarding the reopening of schools in September (related to COVID.) Please remember that COVID is a constantly changing situation, and this information is current as of August 10th. From today through the remainder of August, I will provide updates about reopening as we receive them, and will also hold a virtual town hall and give you a chance for input through a survey as we get closer to the start of school.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) can impose rules and protocols on school districts. In a recent document, the CDC indicated that regardless of vaccination status or area COVID transmission zones (low, moderate, significant, high,) all people must wear face coverings while riding mass transit, including school buses. They also stated that universal mask wearing should happen in UPK-12 schools during the Delta variant .
Area superintendents have been meeting with school physicians, attorneys, each other, and county administrators to best interpret these statements. For Ontario county school districts, it was decided that masks will be worn on school buses.
Regarding mask wearing indoors, we will continue to use the zone system (low, moderate, significant, high) to determine indoor masking (regardless of vaccination status). If the transmission rate is low/moderate, masking indoors will be strongly encouraged. If the transmission rate is significant/high, masking will be required. We will receive zone information every Friday so we can plan on our masking status one week at a time.
Marcus Whitman students live in two counties, Yates and Ontario. As of today, 36% live in Yates, and 64% live in Ontario. We will be taking the transmission rates of both Yates and Ontario counties into consideration to determine the transmission zone for our district. We are currently in the low/moderate zone. Knowing this, and if it was the school year, my children would be wearing masks on the bus, but not while they are in school, unless they chose to do so.
I know this is difficult information for some, but from my perspective, we have not been given any physical distance requirements that would prevent us from having a normal school year. This means full buses, full classrooms, regular special area classes, regular extracurricular activities, regular lunch time, and regular athletics. Considering where we were a short year ago, I'll take it.
The New York State Education Department is the next governing body that can enact rules for schools to follow. We learned today that they are crafting guidance. We as a superintendent group have reached out to them and asked them to "leave us alone." Whether they will or not remains to be seen, and if there are any adjustments to be made to our reopening plan, I will let you know.
The full reopening plan will be released later this week, but I know that in our community, people have been the most concerned about masking, so I wanted to make that information available now.
Thank you for your patience and support. I am excited for the school year and am looking forward to getting all of our students back!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
August 5, 2021
Good Morning-
I hope everyone is enjoying the summer. This is just a reminder that our next Foodlink "Pop-Up-Pantry" will be held on Tuesday, August 10th, at 10AM at the high school. We will also be offering a vaccine clinic from 9:30AM-11:30AM at the concession stand on the same day. The vaccine is for those twelve and older. It is the Pfizer vaccine and the second dose will be on August 31st.
We continue to be very aware of the Delta variant of of the Coronavirus, and are in communication with the Department of Health and our colleagues almost every day. As of right now, our plans have not changed. Masks indoors at our schools and on buses are strongly encouraged, but not required. This will remain until the community transmission rate rises to "high" (it is now at low/moderate.) If the community transmission rate rises, and remains "high," masks will be required indoors, and we will physically distance to three feet. In addition, there will not be a virtual option for education unless we are forced to provide one by the state or we ALL have to switch to virtual instruction for a period of time. We intend to have as normal a school opening as possible. Obviously, things can change, and we will provide updates along the way.
Thanks, and have a great rest of the week!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
July 26, 2021
Good Afternoon-
I hope you have had a great start to the week. We have two quick things to report. First, our Foodlink "Pop-Up-Pantry" will be held tomorrow, beginning at 10AM. Second, we will have a self serve school supply pick up on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, as long as supplies last, from 8AM until 3PM at the concession stand at the high school campus. The concession stand and parking area are located between the bus garage and the high school. You can use the bus garage driveway to access the concession stand parking lot. Because this will be self serve, please be respectful of each other and how the supplies are organized, so people can get in and out as easily as possible. There are four large pallets of supplies we will have available and when they are gone, they are gone. We will post the status each day, and let you know when there are no school supplies left. Thanks and have a great rest of the week!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
July 23, 2021
Good Afternoon-
I hope all of you are doing well. We will have our next Foodlink pop up pantry next Tuesday at 10AM. We also have a LOT of donated school supplies, and will begin making them available to you next week. We will send out information on how to get them early next week. We are trying to arrange a set up where you can come up and get supplies on your own schedule, first come, first served. Stay tuned.
We still do not have any guidance from the department of health regarding school in the fall, so we are planning for optional mask wearing, physical distancing where practical, and no virtual school option. This is how our summer program has operated, and it has been very successful.
Next week marks the beginning of the Ontario County Fair, and there will be many Wildcats both past and present displaying information, showing animals, and helping out. It will be great to see our pride in the paw on display.
Thank you and have a wonderful weekend.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
July 2, 2021
Good afternoon-
We are looking forward to the beginning of summer programming next week. Mr. Robinson, our director of summer programs, sent out a message to all families who signed up for summer programs yesterday. Our next Foodlink pop up pantry will be held on Tuesday, July 13th at 10AM. There is a chance we will receive some perishables from Foodlink next Thursday, but I will not know until next Tuesday. I will reach out once I know more.
I hope that everyone has a safe and enjoyable fourth of July weekend and I will reach out again next week. Thank you.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
July 30, 2021
Good afternoon-
Thanks to everyone who came to, and volunteered for the Foodlink pop up pantry, and thanks to all who were able to take advantage of the school supply pick up. Please note that our partners at the Friendship House will likely have more supply drives as we get later into the summer.
The CDC released information about the Delta variant of the Corona virus, and some recommendations they are making to states. As of right now, we will Governor Cuomo Letter.pdf be changing any of our protocols for summer programs, and we are awaiting further guidance from New York State. I will be emailing and posting to social media a letter that the area superintendents sent to the governor's office today. We have a meeting with our local department of health in Ontario county on Monday afternoon, and I will share anything relevant with you Monday night.
Thanks and enjoy the weekend!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
2020-2021 Updates
- Facts and Frequently Asked Questions (Fall, 2020)
- MWCSD Testing Plan (COVID-19)
- Parent/Virtual Town Hall
- June 21, 2021
- June 20, 2021
- June 16, 2021
- June 11, 2021
- June 7, 2021
- June 4, 2021
- June 4, 2021
- June 3, 2021
- May 24, 2021
- May 14, 2021
- May 11, 2021
- May 3, 2021
- April 30, 2021
- April 28, 2021
- April 23, 2021
- April 18, 2021
- April 16, 2021
- April 13, 2021
- April 11, 2021
- April 9, 2021
- April 7, 2021
- April 5, 2021
- March 24, 2021
- March 23, 2021
- March 19, 2021
- March 18, 2021
- March 12, 2021
- March 11, 2021
- March 3, 2021
- February 28, 2021
- February 25, 2021
- February 22, 2021 (Parent Survey)
- February 21, 2021
- February 8, 2021
- February 5, 2021
- January 29, 2021
- January 27, 2021
- January 22, 2021
- January 19, 2021 (Inauguration)
- January 19, 2021
- January 18, 2021
- January 10, 2021
- January 6, 2021
- December 30, 2020
- December 22, 2020
- December 14, 2020
- December 11, 2020
- December 6, 2020
- November 20, 2020
- November 18, 2020
- November 17, 2020 (Follow up, COVID cases)
- November 17, 2020 (Yellow Zone and COVID Cases)
- November 13, 2020
- November 10, 2020
- November 2, 2020
- October 26, 2020
- October 19, 2020
- October 14, 2020 (Survey)
- October 8, 2020
- October 5, 2020
- October 6, 2020
- September 30, 2020
- September 25, 2020
- September 28, 2020
- September 17, 2020
- September 15, 2020
- September 8, 2020
- September 3, 2020
- September 1, 2020
- August 28, 2020
- August 21, 2020
- August 10, 2020
- July 24, 2020
- July 21, 2020
- July 16, 2020
- July 8, 2020
- June 25, 2020
- June 15, 2020
- June 9, 2020
- June 4, 2020
- May 29, 2020
- May 26, 2020, Budget Vote
- May 20, 2020
- May 1, 2020
- May 8, 2020
- April 29, 2020 (Public Survey)
- May 7, 2020
- April 24, 2020
- April 16, 2020
- April 9, 2020
- April 7, 2020
- April 6, 2020
- April 1, 2020
- March 27, 2020
- March 23, 2020
- March 20, 2020
- March 16, 2020
Facts and Frequently Asked Questions (Fall, 2020)
Marcus Whitman Central School District
Reopening Facts and Frequently Asked Questions
Live Document-Updated Frequently
First Published July 29th, 2020 3PM, Updates 8/6, 8/11, 8/19
The Marcus Whitman Central School District intends to open schools, if permitted, for the 2020-2021 school year. The District has created a comprehensive plan for reopening that can be found on our school website, mwcsd.org, (will be made available on July 31st) and the greatest factor that has been taken into consideration is student and employee safety.
This document should be used in addition to the actual reopening plan to develop an understanding about how school will operate in the Fall. The plan is subject to change based on regulation changes provided by President Trump, Governor Cuomo, The Department of Health, the Centers for Disease Control, and the New York State Education Department.
Questions can be sent to Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D. at cbrown@mwcsd.org or by calling 585-554-4848 x1805. Questions will be answered individually and will then be added to this document. Thank you!
Facts: (Complete Details are in the Reopening Document that will be Published on July 31st, but the highlights can be found here…https://www.mwcsd.org/covid-19/updates
under July 24th.)
Frequently Asked Questions: (We have received the following questions more than one time)
What will the policy on masks be? Masks will be mandatory for all students and employees (people can provide their own, but we will provide them as well). When students are in classes that are socially distanced by six feet or more, masks can be removed. When social distancing cannot be maintained in classrooms, students (and staff) will be given mask breaks. If a student has a medical condition that is accompanied by a note from a doctor indicating that a mask cannot be worn and the student is medically allowed to attend school, they will be socially distanced on the bus, in classrooms, and in any other common space that is shared by other students.
Added August 6th: We will have masks for students and staff, but we encourage both to bring their own. Any mask type that covers the mouth and nose will be acceptable.
My child will need to see the face of their teacher. The District has ordered regular facemasks (both cotton and paper), clear masks, and face shields. If a child needs to see the mouth of the teacher (Ex: speech), the teacher may wear the clear mask. It is important to note that in ALL guidance documents, masks are mandatory, but face shields are optional. If an employee or student would like to wear a face shield, they must also wear a mask.
How will transportation work? Parents will be encouraged to drive their children to school, if they are able. Student driving will be opened to include sophomore drivers. On the school buses, students will wear masks (unless they are medically unable to) and will be seated one child per seat. Siblings and children from the same day or child-care may be seated together as well.
Added August 6th: Student driving is encouraged for Juniors and Seniors, driving permits will be mailed home for students to fill out before the year starts.
What if a child refuses to wear a mask on the bus or takes their mask off on the bus? A child boarding the school bus without a mask will be offered a mask by the driver or bus monitor. If the child refuses to wear the mask they have been given or takes their mask (or the provided mask off) during the bus ride, they will be reported to the Transportation Supervisor. The supervisor will alert the building principal, and the parent/guardian will be contacted. The child will either wear the mask on the next bus ride, be driven to school, or will learn remotely for a specified period of time. This will not be a discipline referral, this will be noted as a health and safety matter.
What if the bus driver/monitor or students tests positive for COVID-19? We are working closely with the Yates and Ontario Departments of Health in this area. We will be in direct contact with them and they will initiate contact tracing, ask questions of the patient and District as to length of exposure to others, seating arrangement, etc… The Department of Health will then notify the District of any student/employee quarantine that needs to take place.
Will my children be tested for COVID-19 each day? No. The District will not be doing any COVID testing. If there is testing to be completed, it will be completed by a testing site or by the physician for the child. Parents/guardians will be given instruction on what symptoms to look for in their children. Parents/guardians are also encouraged to take temperatures of their children. If a parent/guardian sends a child out to the bus, drives them to school, or allows them to drive, they are assuming the responsibility that they were “well” when they departed for school. The District is required to use “robo-calls”, email, and other methods of communication to remind parents of this responsibility. The District is also required to survey parents on a “periodic” basis.
How are staff, visitors, and guests being screened? Employees will be trained regarding COVID symptoms and how to spot them in themselves and others. Employees will be instructed not to report to work if they have any COVID symptoms as well as what to do next. Employees not exhibiting symptoms will complete a survey each workday that will be kept on file. Visitors/guests will be extremely limited in all buildings. If a visitor/guest must be allowed access to a building, they will have a temperature check, and will complete the survey electronically before being given access to any building.
What if a student or employee is at school and does not feel well and displays COVID symptoms? Each building now has an isolation room that will be monitored. If an employee or staff member exhibits the symptoms above, they will be taken to the isolation room, and checked by a nurse. For students, parents/guardians will come to get them and they will follow the advice of their physician. Employees will seek medical attention. The following exhaustive guide will be used to determine when an employee/student can return to school. This guide can be overruled by the Department of Health, who we will be in contact with for certain cases.
COVID-19 RETURN TO WORK/SCHOOL PROTOCOLS
Employee/Student Has Tested Positive For COVID-19
Employee/Student is to remain quarantined and may return to work/school if:
· 10 days have passed since employee/student exhibited symptoms or since they tested positive if they are asymptomatic; and
· at least 24 hours have passed since employee/student had a fever (≥100.0° F) without the use of fever reducing medications; and
· at least 72 hour period where employee’s/student’s symptoms have improved
Employee/Student Is Symptomatic And Has Had Close Or Proximate Contact1 With Someone Who Has Tested Positive For COVID-19
If employee/student is symptomatic, the employee/student is to remain quarantined and may return to work/school if:
· 10 days have passed since employee/student exhibited symptoms; and
· at least 24 hours have passed since employee/student had a fever (≥100.0°F) without the use of fever reducing medications; and
· at least 72 hours have passed where the employee’s/student’s symptoms have improved
Employee/Student Is Symptomatic But Has Not Had Close Or Proximate Contact With Person Who Has Tested Positive
If employee/student is symptomatic, the employee/student is to remain quarantined and may return to work/school if:
· 14 days of quarantine have been completed or
· 10 days have passed since employee/student exhibited symptoms; and
· at least 24 hours have passed since the employee/student had a fever (≥100.0° F) without the use of fever reducing medications, and
· at least 72 hours have passed where the employee’s/student’s symptoms
have improved, or
· the employee/student has been diagnosed with another condition and has a note from their healthcare provider indicating they are clear to return to work/school or
· the employee/student has a negative test result
Employee/Student is Symptomatic And Has Had Close Or Proximate Contact With Someone Awaiting Test Results
If employee/student is symptomatic, the employee/student is to remain quarantined and may return to work/school if:
· the test result for the other person comes back negative or
· the employee/student has a negative test result; or
· 10 days have passed since employee/student exhibited symptoms; and
· at least 24 hours have passed since employee/student had a fever (≥100.0°F) without the use of fever reducing medications; and
· at least 72 hours have passed where the employee’s/student’s symptoms have improved or
· the employee/student has been diagnosed with another condition and has a note from their healthcare provider indicating they are clear to return to work/school
Employee/Student Is Not Symptomatic But Did Have Close Or Proximate Contact With Person Who Has Tested Positive
If the employee/student is not symptomatic, the employee/student is to remain quarantined and may return to work/school:
· after completing 14 days of self-quarantine; or
· the employee/student has had a negative test result after having had close or proximate contact with a person who has tested positive Employees Only:
However, if the employee is deemed essential and critical for the operation or safety of the workplace, upon a documented determination by the District Superintendent in consultation with appropriate state and local health authorities, the exposed, asymptomatic employee may return to work so long as the employee adheres to the following practices prior to and during their work shift, which should be monitored and documented by the employer and employee:
· Regular monitoring: While at work the employee must self-monitor for a temperature greater than or equal to 100.0 degrees Fahrenheit every 2 hours and symptoms consistent with COVID-19 under the supervision of the Health and Safety Coordinator; and
· Wear a mask: The employee must wear a face mask at all times while in the workplace for 14 days after last exposure; and
· Social distance: The employee must continue social distancing practices, including maintaining, at least, six feet of distance from others.
· Clean and disinfect workspaces: The employer must continue to regularly clean and disinfect all areas, such as offices, bathrooms, common areas, and shared electronic equipment.
· Maintain quarantine: The employee must continue to self-quarantine and self-monitor for temperature and symptoms when not at the workplace for 14 days after last exposure.
Employee/Student Is Not Symptomatic And Has Had Close Or Proximate Contact With Someone Symptomatic And Awaiting Test Results
If the employee/student is not symptomatic, the employee/student is to remain quarantined and may return to work/school:
· after completing 14 days of self-quarantine; or
· the employee/student has a negative test result; or
· the person whom the employee/student had close or proximate contact with has a negative test result Employees only:
However, if the employee is deemed essential and critical for the operation or safety of the workplace, upon a documented determination by the District Superintendent in consultation with appropriate state and local health authorities, the exposed, asymptomatic employee may return to work so long as the employee adheres to the following practices prior to and during their work shift, which should be monitored and documented by the employer and employee:
· Regular monitoring: While at work the employee must self-monitor for a temperature greater than or equal to 100.0 degrees Fahrenheit every 2 hours and symptoms consistent with COVID-19 under the supervision of the Health and Safety Coordinator; and
· Wear a mask: The employee must wear a face mask at all times while in the workplace for 14 days after last exposure; and
· Social distance: The employee must continue social distancing practices, including maintaining, at least, six feet of distance from others.
· Clean and disinfect workspaces: The employer must continue to regularly clean and disinfect all areas, such as offices, bathrooms, common areas, and shared electronic equipment.
· Maintain quarantine: The employee must continue to self-quarantine and self-monitor for temperature and symptoms when not at the workplace for 14 days after last exposure.
Employee/Student Has Traveled To A State Designated As Having Significant Community Spread
Employees/students who travel to a designated state with significant community spread must notify their supervisor/principal of their travel plans including the state being traveled to, along with the departure and return date.
· If an employee/student has traveled from within one of the designated states with significant community spread, he/she must quarantine upon re-entering New York for 14 days from the last travel within such designated state.
· The requirements of the travel advisory do not apply to any individual passing through designated states for a limited duration (i.e., less than 24 hours) through the course of travel. Examples of such brief passage include but are not limited to: stopping at rest stops for vehicles, buses, and/or trains; or lay-overs for air travel, bus travel, or train travel.
· Employees/students may return to work/school after completing 14 days of quarantine.
I do not want to send my child to school this Fall due to a medical condition or due to parental preference. What is the plan? The District is planning on reopening schools with as many students in attendance as possible. If a child has a medical note to not attend school, the child will receive their education by a combination of classroom teacher (materials) and tutors, similar to what would happen if a child was out of school due to a broken bone, etc…. Because our teachers will be teaching live to students, our ability to offer 100% virtual instruction to students who are home due to parent preference will be limited. We will also be asking parents who prefer to keep their children home due to a non-medical reason, to do so for a whole semester at a time (20 weeks), so we can properly distance and schedule the students who will be attending in person. For UPK, there will be no virtual instruction. Parents will be given materials from the building principal to consider using with their children. Children in grades K-2 will have some virtual math and English language arts instruction. Children in grades 3-5 will receive limited virtual instruction. Students in grades 6-12 will follow along with their regular classroom schedule. The teacher will have a Chromebook in their classroom that the virtual student can connect to each day. Attendance will be taken for students each day, whether they are learning remotely or in person. If schools are ordered to be closed, UPK-12 students will all receive instruction virtually.
Added August 6th: The type of in-person or virtual opportunities we are able to create will depend on the results of the parent surveys. If many parents opt for virtual instruction, we may have to alter the number of days we can have students in person (more or less, depending).
My youth group would like to use the facilities for (insert activity here). Why can’t we use the facilities? Bringing students and employees back to school is going to be a challenge. We take keeping them safe very seriously. Our cleaning staff are going to need the spaces to be empty in order to do their jobs efficiently each night and we may be adding shifts to our cleaning schedules. As soon as we can allow safe facility use, we absolutely will.
Do our school facilities have adequate ventilation? I have read that we should be opening windows? We have read the same things, so we contacted the Ontario County Department of Health for expert advice. At the same time, we had all of our HVAC systems tested by an outside vendor. All of our systems exceed the minimum airflow requirements (how much outside air is brought into a space on a continuous basis). The Ontario County Department of Health contacted the regional Department of Health and the answer is that opening windows is not going to help or hurt the spread of virus droplets with the type of HVAC and filtration systems that we have. Opening and closing windows will be up to the adult in charge based on room comfort and preference. Spaces that are air conditioned will not be as cool if the windows are open when it is warm out just as spaces that are heated will not be as warm when it is cold out.
Will it be “this way” for the whole school year? We sure hope not. We are reading and receiving information almost every day and will be making adjustments to our plans accordingly. We will be sending frequent email messages with updates.
Will there be sports, field trips, or extracurricular activities this year? We just don’t know the answer at this time. Based on the information we have at this time, sports are delayed until at least September 21st, field trips are canceled, as are extracurricular activities. We want students involved in activities so as soon as we are able to have flexibility in this area, we will make things happen for students.
Added August 6th: Students 9-12 will have opportunities for clubs, groups, if possible by Oct. 1.
If I choose to keep my UPK or K student home and not take any resources from the school, do I have to file homeschool paperwork? It depends, but in almost every case, the answer is “no”. UPK and K are not mandated grade levels and a parent requires homeschool paperwork for their child if and only if they turn six years old by December 1st.
What is a cohort and what does it mean to me as a parent or to my child? Think of a cohort as one group of people who do everything together. It has been highly recommended to us that we group students in cohorts so that they limit where and how they might be exposed to germs. Cohorting will be accomplished at the UPK-8 levels. High School students have too many schedule options to cohort all the time, but groups of students will be placed together when they can. For example, in second grade, lists of students will be made and each teacher will have a set number of students. This will now be his/her cohort of students. They will stay in the same classroom and if they move anywhere, they will move as a group.
How large will class sizes be? It depends on the size of the space they are in. For a typical sized classroom (770 square feet), there will be approximately 14-16 students, unless barriers are used, in which case, there could be a couple more. This is one of the major reasons why (staffing is the other) why we cannot bring all students in grades UPK-12 back every day at this time. We need to keep six feet of distance between students whenever possible. If the regulations change and that spacing is three feet, we can bring all of the students back to school.
Will my child start and end the school year with the same teacher? In most cases, yes. Where there could be changes are at grade levels that have more sections to start the school year than they will if we are able to bring all students back at every grade level. You will be notified well in advance if there is going to be a teacher change, but it is possible.
Will you be grouping students, especially at the elementary and intermediate levels, by ability? We know that some students got more out of the instruction provided in the spring than others. There are many reasons for this. This summer, we have focused a lot of our professional development on “gap closing”. We understand that students will be coming into the Fall in different places academically, socially, and emotionally, and we want to be prepared. When making class lists, care will be taken first to try and have all of the same family members reporting to school on the same days (when and where we can), and we will then create class lists and will consider grouping by ability (when and where we can). It will not be possible to have fully “grouped” groups, but we will not be ignoring the concern either.
How will foodservice work? While in school, students will have access to a limited menu, but food choices for breakfast and lunch that include hot and cold options. For students in grades UPK-5, students will have food delivered to them based on pre-ordering. Students in grades 6-12 will be able to go to the cafeterias, socially distanced, grab meals, and return to their classroom or designated areas.
For students in grades 3-12, who will not be coming to school every day, there will be food available for them to take home (breakfast/lunch), and we can arrange for pickup by parents.
If a student has an IEP or 504 plan and receives a pull out service (speech, OT, PT, counseling, etc…) how will they receive their services? We will deliver services to the best extent possible in person on the days the children can be in school . There is still flexibility with group vs. individual as per guidance and therefore some group services may still need to be delivered individually to honor social distancing. As far as program delivery that will be determined when we know our plan is accepted and we can work out the details of each building.
How will “specials” (library, physical education, art, and music) be delivered? Right now, students are not allowed to share materials so we will not be allowing students to check out library books. Instead, students will use their Chromebooks and will have access to two very large “full book” sites and they will be able to download the books (if they do not have adequate Internet access at home) or stream them. We will allow students to check out library books as soon as we are notified that they may share materials.
- Every student will receive physical education, and it will occur outside as much as possible. When outdoor physical education cannot be offered, students will participate either in their classrooms (UPK-5) or in alternate rooms (6-12).
- Art classes will take place and students will have materials that they will not share.
- For music, students in UPK-2 will not receive music instruction until January. Students in grades 3-8 will not have chorus but will have lessons and other musical activities, Students in grades 9-12 will have chorus that will be held in different locations to provide social distancing. Those locations are still being discussed as the schedule is built.
- Students will have band beginning in 5th grade and we are working on ways to provide the experience and lessons both virtually and in person. We expect to have virtual concerts for both band and chorus at some point in the first part of the school year.
- Added August 6th: Band and Chorus will be offered to grades 9-12
I will be dropping off children at both Valley and Gorham, is that okay? Of course! The start times are now the same but you can work with the principals and they will work with you to get each child dropped off as efficiently as possible
Added August 11th: If my child is receiving completely virtual instruction, will they still have access to breakfast/lunch? Yes. Our food service department will have grab and go breakfast/lunch options for those who will be receiving their education completely virtually to begin the school year. We will probably not be able to deliver, as our bus drivers will be picking up and dropping off students, but parents will be able to come to school to get food. We will likely have a sign up for that later in the summer.
Added August 11th: If my child is receiving completely virtual instruction, will they be able to participate in athletics and extra-curricular activities once they begin? Yes. The New York State Education Department has a regulation called the “Bonafide Student Regulation” which states that a student can participate in interscholastic/extracurricular activities if they are taking at least three classes plus physical education and are learning completely remotely.
Added August 11th: Will my child be able to learn completely remotely for their entire academic career? No. As soon as we are told that schools can open fully or the social distancing requirement is dropped from six feet to three feet or less and we can safely fit all of our students in the buildings, we will discontinue the fully remote learning option. Parents would then have a choice to return their child to school, or select homeschooling for their children.
Added August 11th: Will my high school student be able to use his/her locker? Yes, on a limited basis. The high school is unable to cohort due to the complexity of student scheduling so they will be moving from class to class at different times of the day. Students will be assigned lockers that are socially distanced from other lockers and they will have access to them at different times of the day.
Added August 19th: From the parent meetings held on YouTube
​How many kids can not wear a mask until the bus has no more room left
Bus drivers will have a supply of masks available and offer the child to wear it. Child puts a mask on and sits in their seat. All seats will be assigned on the bus. One child per seat. Siblings and children from the same childcare/daycare facility can sit together. If a child chooses not to wear a mask or refuses to take a mask, the child will sit socially distanced from other students. Parents will be called to pick up their child. If a child won’t wear a mask they will receive their education virtually until they are comfortable wearing a mask.
​For parent drop off, are there going to be specific drop off spots at each school? Example, at the valley school, will we drop off by last name of A-G at one spot, H-P at another? I just think that all the students going into one entrance will be very congested.
Principals are looking at traffic patterns and there will be designated areas.
​Will students have extra time more than to wash hands in between classes?
Students will be able to use hand sanitizer during class and frequent hand washing breaks. This method worked well with the extended school year program.
​Is there a process to record daily screenings of kids, compare to in person attendance and assist in contact tracing if it becomes necessary?
We could , but unfortunately we can’t due to the HIPPA requirement. The District is purchasing GPS software to put on the buses. Parents will know how soon their student will be picked up and dropped off at school. Students will have swipe cards to get on the bus and use in the cafeteria. District has cameras outside the buildings and inside, hall passes, bathroom passes; these are all records the District is keeping for contact tracing. Dept. of Health is aware of our record keeping and will work with us.
​Are students dropped off by parents required to have their parents pick them up?
Yes, parents can drop off or have transportation take students home or transportation can pick students up in the morning and then parents can pick up at dismissal. We realize parents have childcare needs. For instance Monday-Wednesday school transports to one daycare then on Thursday and Friday transportation can take students to another daycare. Students on the buses will need to wear a mask and on certain days we may have more than 22 students on the bus.
What symptoms would a child have to have while in school to be sent home or isolated?
If a student is not feeling well, the student will go to the nurse's office. The nurse will check over the student. If the student is showing signs/symptoms of COVID the students will be in an isolation room. They are not being left alone. Parents will be called to pick up their child. If the student is not feeling well with other symptoms, headache,etc. The nurse will call parents to let them know their child is not feeling well and to pick the child up.
Are they still going to be having an orientation for 6th graders?
This will be held virtually. Dr. Cole will be putting out communication about this event soon.
​Will HS students who don't have lunch in their schedule be allowed to eat/drink in a classroom or study hall?
For some students taking additional courses or going to BOCES lunch is not their schedule. This is not going to be an issue. There will be an area where the students can eat and then go to their classroom.
​What if my kindergarten has problems with putting on the mask and needs help ?
There will be a training video released soon for community, parents and staff to view.
​Will there be more student sick days allowed then to promote staying home?
Unfortunately no, as a public school we need to stay within the parameters of New York State Education Dept. guidance.
​My question is are kids aloud to bring their own hand sanitizer and tissues to keep at their desk?
They can bring tissues to keep on their desk. The District will have enough hand sanitizer on hand for students to use throughout the day.
​Will the MS/HS administration be sending/mailing home a class schedule for those students that cannot attend school on opening day due to their grouping? And what does the grouping look like?
Schedules should be mailed out early next week.
​Will there be a bus orientation for UPK and new kindergarten students?
Unfortunately this will be held virtually.
​Will there be a staff member with students if they need to go to the isolation room due to illness?
Yes, an isolation room is for when a student is showing signs of COVID. Teacher will send the student to nurse. Nurse will evaluate and if the student has symptoms to warrant possible COVID. Student will be in an isolation room with another staff member. Parents will be called to pick up their student. The staff member will walk the student out to the parent vehicle. Each building has an isolation room.
Will multiple students be isolated together?
No, the buildings have other plans for that.
​Will there be a 10th period? Will there be clubs/jazz band?
There will not be a 10th period to start the school year. We want to make sure we have the bus runs down, cleanings and safety protocols down. We want to offer clubs and activities for the students. They will begin virtually and then bring together in person sometime in the school year. Dept. of Health is telling us no field trips, no athletics. It’s a challenge. 10th period is important to us and some students will have a 10th period science lab. We plan to have 10th period and clubs we just can’t start the school year with them.
​Will there be any sort of meet and greet for students at valley? Specifically UPK?
We are not going to be able to do it in person for this year. Buildings and Grounds crew has a lot of work to do. They have been working since March with no students. The amount of work that needed to be done during the Extended School Year program and moving desks around in classrooms, storage for desks and deep, deep clean in order to bring students back. Dr. Cazer will be doing a virtual welcome for UPK and virtual bus orientation and then as they come to school by group get them familiar with bus safety. 5th to 6th grade Dr. Cole putting together a virtual orientation for that. Ms. Taft in the HS is putting together a freshman orientation taking place outside where students can be distanced. We are trying to make the best of the situation.
​Will buses have bus monitors to ensure students wear masks?
No, bus monitors are required on buses based on the need of the student. As your child boards the bus, they need to have their mask on. We will be monitoring once the student boards the bus and takes their mask off, Superintendent will call parents to discuss how long the student will be taking their classes virtually. Students will need to take the mask seriously. It will take time to teach the students how to wear the mask.
​What are the most important, most helpful things you'd like parents to do to prepare our kids for school this year?
Start working with your child wearing a mask. We will have plenty of signage and staff to keep students socially distanced. It’s really getting them used to wearing a mask.
​What if numbers go up? Are we able to change our minds and go completely virtual?
As parents, you have complete control over your child's education. You are sending us your greatest gift. On the survey we asked parents to consider a semester long decision, Maintenance and Transportation departments have been working hard setting up bus runs and desks in the classroom. If a student comes 3 days and then home 2 days we can’t accommodate for that. We understand things change. Parents chose at home instruction and then possibly parents change jobs and student needs to go to school. Superintendent will say ok and we are going to try to accommodate whatever you need. If your child started in school then got uncomfortable and wants to go virtual? Yes. The only time virtual will go away 100% is when the Governor says all children can come to school. Until then, we will work with the parents.
When will the kids that go to School on the 10th of September when will they get there chromebooks
Chromebooks and mifi units will be given out for MS/HS and mifi before the start of school. Valley/Gorham handing out the first day of school and then go from there
​H.S. Band runs ACE, Chorus BDF... If a student is enrolled in both, how will that work when our H.S. students attend in-person alternating days?
There have been some significant changes to HS schedules. Physical Education is not running opposite of Science Lab. Those have been broken out to give students both experiences in person. You have to give our music staff moree time to work out those details and they will. There may be some pieces in person and virtual. We are trying to make it as much in person as much as possible. Dr.Cole and Ms. Taft will be getting that information out.
​When will students get their schedules?
Gorham/Valley students will get their schedules early next week. MS/HS next week.
If we have to keep our child home, who isn’t feeling well, will we be able to have them remote learn on that day?
It depends on grade levels. If it’s Valley/Gorham probably no. If it’s MS/HS maybe. Principals are working through schedules. We will have more information coming regarding specific grade levels.
Will MS students that have accelerated math and/or science be in the same cohort or will they be leaving their cohort for math/science?
Yes. 7th grade accelerated Math will be in one cohort and 8th grade accelerated Science will be in a single cohort.
For MS will the students bring all supplies back and forth every other day?
Yes. We would like to get the students to lockers at some point. We are keeping in line with the guidance to cohort students as best as we can.
I have concerns about my children keeping track of their swipe card required to enter the bus. Are these easily replaceable? Maybe I could attach it to the backpack?
That is a great idea. We will find different ways for the students to keep track of their swipe cards. We are also looking at some lanyards that can hold the swipe cards. They are easily replaceable and we will work together to accommodate the students.
MWCSD Testing Plan (COVID-19)
Marcus Whitman Central School District Testing Plan
1. Any staff or student who displays symptoms of COVID-19, will be placed in a designated isolation space, evaluated and supervised by one of our school nursing staff members who will be outfitted in all of the designated and appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
Once the symptoms are confirmed, the symptomatic individual will remain in the isolation room until they are picked up by a parent/guardian in the case of students, or a loved one or can leave on their own accord in the case of a staff member. If the symptomatic individual is picked up by a parent, guardian, or in the case of a staff member, picked up by a loved one or is able to leave on their own accord, they will be encouraged to visit their pediatrician, physician, urgent care facility, or a local testing facility.
Individuals who are symptomatic will not be allowed to return to the school until they reach clearance in accordance with the Department of Health guidance.
Marcus Whitman Central School District Contact Tracing Plan
1. The Marcus Whitman Central School District will coordinate closely with the local Department of Health as they facilitate the contact tracing process. Using our daily attendance and class by class attendance, our student management system, our camera system, seating charts (bus and classroom), and our visitor logs (if visitors are permitted) we will work with the local Department of Health to provide them the information they need to conduct a proper and thorough Contact Tracing.
Parent/Virtual Town Hall
Parent Forum #1 8/17/20
Parent Forum #2 8/17/20
Parent Forum #3 8/18/20
Parent Forum (Remote or Hybrid) 9/22/20
Parent Forum (Virtual Learners) 9/23/20
Virtual Town Hall 10/21/20
Virtual Town Hall 10/28/20
Virtual Town Hall 11/17/20
Virtual Town Hall 1/14/21
Marcus Whitman YouTube Channel
June 21, 2021
Good Afternoon-
I hope everyone had a great weekend, and a solid start to the week. This is the last week of school, which means final exams for some, and celebrations galore, ending with high school graduation Friday night. While this school year has been a real challenge for all of us, in many ways it was inspirational as we saw our community really come together to support each other.
I wanted to get you up to speed on a few things that are happening. First, our last official Foodlink distribution of the school year is this Thursday beginning as close to 2PM as the delivery trucks allow. Thank you to all who have been coming to the distributions and thank you to all of our volunteers.
We will have a new thing called Foodlink Pop Up Pantries (PUP). They will be held on July 13, and 27th, as well as August 10, and 24 (Tuesday's) at 10AM. We do not know what the PUP actually looks like or how it will operate other than it will be in the same parking lot as our normal Foodlink. We have training on this new distribution method on July 8th and I can let you know more then.
As we get closer to the summer, our business hours will be changing. Beginning Monday, June 28th and until the last week in August, business hours in all offices at all buildings will be 8AM-2PM. Summer programs and other activities may end later than that, but if you need help from one of the office people, 8AM-2PM is the time!
Our English Language Arts curriculum committee worked very hard over the past year and a half to help recommend a research based, science of reading oriented reading curriculum. A decision point was reached today and we will be moving forward with Wit & Wisdom as our primary knowledge block for children in grades K-5. They will also use Fundations (which they have been), and Geodes to tie everything together. Our UPK students will continue to use Fundations and canons of literature (which they have been), until Wit & Wisdom is available for UPK (the company is in the testing phase now.)
We have additional work to do before we can make a recommendation for our upper grades. We will now spend the summer receiving training and expect a full implementation in the Fall. If you have a child in grades K-5 currently, many experienced a small dose of the curriculum this year as a pilot, and it was well received and spoken of by them as well.
I hope that everyone has a great rest of the week!
Thanks-
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
June 20, 2021
Good Afternoon-
I hope everyone had a great weekend, and a solid start to the week. This is the last week of school, which means final exams for some, and celebrations galore, ending with high school graduation Friday night. While this school year has been a real challenge for all of us, in many ways it was inspirational as we saw our community really come together to support each other.
I wanted to get you up to speed on a few things that are happening. First, our last official Foodlink distribution of the school year is this Thursday beginning as close to 2PM as the delivery trucks allow. Thank you to all who have been coming to the distributions and thank you to all of our volunteers.
We will have a new thing called Foodlink Pop Up Pantries (PUP). They will be held on July 13, and 27th, as well as August 10, and 24 (Tuesday's) at 10AM. We do not know what the PUP actually looks like or how it will operate other than it will be in the same parking lot as our normal Foodlink. We have training on this new distribution method on July 8th and I can let you know more then.
As we get closer to the summer, our business hours will be changing. Beginning Monday, June 28th and until the last week in August, business hours in all offices at all buildings will be 8AM-2PM. Summer programs and other activities may end later than that, but if you need help from one of the office people, 8AM-2PM is the time!
Our English Language Arts curriculum committee worked very hard over the past year and a half to help recommend a research based, science of reading oriented reading curriculum. A decision point was reached today and we will be moving forward with Wit & Wisdom as our primary knowledge block for children in grades K-5. They will also use Fundations (which they have been), and Geodes to tie everything together. Our UPK students will continue to use Fundations and canons of literature (which they have been), until Wit & Wisdom is available for UPK (the company is in the testing phase now.)
We have additional work to do before we can make a recommendation for our upper grades. We will now spend the summer receiving training and expect a full implementation in the Fall. If you have a child in grades K-5 currently, many experienced a small dose of the curriculum this year as a pilot, and it was well received and spoken of by them as well.
I hope that everyone has a great rest of the week!
Thanks-
Chris
June 16, 2021
Good Afternoon-
NYS has reached a 70% vaccination rate. This lifted many restrictions around NYS with the exception of schools, prisons, and health care facilities. Our students and staff will continue to wear masks and physically distance where they need to for the remainder of the school year. End of the year celebration regulations have changed, and we can now have higher capacity at our events with less physical distancing. Students will still wear masks, but adults at end of the year events do not need to wear masks if they are vaccinated, and we are using the honor's system for that, The principals will be reaching out to parents about changes to end of year celebrations, including graduation, directly.
There is no Foodlink this week. The next Foodlink is June 24th. I will send out a reminder next week.
If you are a parent or family member of a senior, please take a moment to look at the new electronic sign at the high school campus. Senior names will be displayed every ten seconds from today through the end of the month. A photo at the sign with your senior will become a new tradition for us so be a part of the first senior class to take advantage. We did the math for you, and it takes about 15 minutes to scroll through all of the seniors.
Thank you for all of your hard work and support. Have a great rest of the week.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
June 11, 2021
Good Morning-
I hope everyone had a great week. I lost four pounds this week, but I am not sure it was all from diet and exercise. The humidity at the beginning of the week was pretty tough to deal with, but we made it, and the long range forecast looks good!
Thanks to all who continue to come to Foodlink. We have one more distribution this school year on June 24th, and then we will have pop-up pantries at school. I will get you more information about those once we have the information. I CANNOT thank our volunteers enough. Through thick and think, they have been there to help support our community, and they will continue to do so.
I wanted to bring you up to speed on a few things that I think you will find useful to know, and interesting. The first thing has to do with our work in selecting English Language Arts curriculum. I have been through this process more than a few times over the past twenty years, and I have to say that the professionalism, thorough work, and attention to detail of our ELA committee was very humbling and appreciated. The group narrowed down their choices to two, Wit and Wisdom, and CKLA. Both are research based, and align to the Science of Reading Work we have been doing. I have a little more work to do, but a decision will be made by the end of next week so we can prepare for training this summer, and implementation this fall.
I know that we only have a few weeks of school left, but we would like to truly test our new app called Here Comes the Bus. This app works on smartphones and computers and allows parents to see where their child's bus is when it is three miles or less from your stop (you can customize it.). The flyer for the program is attached for your reference and use. Right now, the app is available for students who ride buses 196, 204, 205, 206, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211, 216, 217, 218, 220, 221, 226, 228, 229, 230, and 231. The remainder of our buses and vehicles will be equipped this summer for use in the fall. If you child rides one of the buses above, PLEASE help us by trying the program and providing feedback. The flyer is a little dark and where to get help might be a little challenging to read. The email address to provide feedback or to get help is hctb@mwcsd.org, or you can call the bus garage directly at (585)554-4848 x1961. Thank you!HCTB.pdf
Our capital project is 87% complete (not a joke, there is a formula to determine how complete the job is) and it shows. The newest addition is our electronic signboard that can be seen on either end of Baldwin Road as you head to the high school/middle school campus. It is very energy efficient (LED) and will operate from 5AM until 10PM each day. We received training on how to use the sign so you can expect it to display more than the name of our district and the time and temperature very soon! We are also getting closer to being able to allow some limited tours of the construction progress, so be on the lookout for invites to that this summer.
Our summer program is continuing to grow, and we hope that your child can be a part of it. If you have questions about the program (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cHBsMHElIukmF1nP2Sje1XNCnMXx1gdT/view) please contact Scott Robinson at srobinson@mwcsd.org.
Last night was senior awards, and I am signing diplomas today. Graduation is around the corner, and we are almost across the finish line. Thanks for all of your support and have a wonderful weekend.
Attached is a better copy of the flyer for Here Comes the Bus. As a reminder, if you child rides bus 196, 204, 205, 206, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211, 216, 217, 218, 220, 221, 226, 228, 229, 230, and 231, the program is available now. Our other buses will be equipped by the fall. For help an troubleshooting, please use hctb@mwcsd.org or call the bus garage at (585)554-4848 x1961. Thank you!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of SchoolsHCTB_2021-05_Marcus Whitman Central School District Support Package_Flyer_01.pdf
June 7, 2021
Good Afternoon-
Today during his press conference, Governor Cuomo stated that wearing masks in school buildings and on buses will continue through the remainder of the school year most likely. Masks do not need to be worn outdoors at any time while on school property. This includes spectators to athletic events on our campus.
I understand that this is news you wanted or didn't want to hear, and that will cause emotion. My role is to enforce what we are directed to enforce, and I appreciate your understanding. Once we have the official letter from the state regarding this, I will pass it along.
Thank you, and have a great evening.
Chris
June 4, 2021
Good Evening-
It is expected that the state department of health will be issuing guidance effective Monday, June 7 that employees, students, and visitors to schools will no longer be required to wear masks while on school property, including buses. The guidance will specifically read that non-vaccinated people are strongly encouraged but not required to wear masks and vaccinated people do not need to wear masks. This guidance is not official as of tonight (Friday), but we think it will be by the end of the weekend for the start of next week. If people would like to wear their masks while on school property, they will be more than welcome to.
I will be sure provide an update on Sunday evening. Thank you and enjoy the weekend.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
June 4, 2021
Good Morning-
Thank you to everyone who came to Foodlink yesterday, and especially to our volunteers who got SOAKED at the end of the day! At least it was warm. Our last two Foodlink dates in June are the 10th and the 24th. We are working with Foodlink to provide what they refer to as "pop up" food pantries during the summer. As soon as I know what they look like, I will get the information to you.
We have really enjoyed celebrating our seniors, and today is their "Field Day." If you are a family member or related to a senior, let me express how impressed I have been with how they have handled themselves during this pandemic, and while we are not totally back to normal, it was nice to see them working together last night to prepare the hallways for the festivities today. I am very proud of them and am looking forward to helping to celebrate them for the rest of the month.
There are a few pieces of non-pandemic news I wanted to share. First, the budget for next year. Thanks to your generosity, the budget passed for next year. The money we will be taking in to balance the budget comes from three places, the tax levy, state aid, and to a VERY small extent, federal aid. Each school district needs to calculate a tax cap, using numbers that we are provided from other places. The number identified as the tax cap for us at the time of the vote was 2.57%. This became the tax levy.
We learned that one of the numbers we were provided to calculate the tax cap was incorrect, and when the adjustment to the correct number was entered, the resulting tax cap, and then tax levy, became 1.33%. This doesn't mean that students will lose anything next year. The difference in actual dollars between the 2.57% and the 1.33% will be made up in state aid. What this will mean for you a taxpayers is less of a tax payment than what we projected at vote time. We will know exactly how much less once we have the new assessment figures, as well as the equalization rates. In short, the error was in favor of the taxpayers, and that is good news for a Friday morning in my book!
Our summer programming and scheduling is nearly complete, and there will be a LOT of offerings. Once we have had a chance to proofread the brochure one more time later today, we will be getting it out to the community so you can consider offerings and begin the sign up process. I am looking forward to seeing more students in the buildings this summer!
Thank you for reading and for your continued support and have a great weekend!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
June 3, 2021
Good Afternoon-
I hope you are having a good week. I wanted to get you up to speed on how we will be handling the warmer weather we are expected to get the next few weeks and how that will impact mask wearing. With the current guidance for mask wearing, students who are attending classes outdoors, are at recess, or are in physical education classes do NOT need to wear masks, regardless of their physical distance to others. Students participating in athletics have their own set of rules that are different and have been in use since the beginning of the spring season.
Since 2010, the New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA) has given us guidance on how to handle warmer temperatures for athletes. We use the same guide when it comes to allowing our students out for recess, physical education, and outdoor classes. Those guidelines can be found here (http://www.nysphsaa.org/Portals/0/PDF/Safety/Heat%20Index%20Procedure_1.pdf) and are actually a pretty good read.
If you don't have time to read the document, basically, the "Feels Like,", found on weatherbug.com needs to be over 96 degrees to prevent students from being outside. The temperature will not be near that at any point next week unless the long rage forecast drastically changes.
In the buildings, we have air conditioning at the middle school only. The high school normally has air conditioning but it is off, due to the construction project. I am hopeful that we can add air conditioning to the Valley and Gorham buildings in a future capital project, but they do not have air conditioning as it stands today.
Our employees have been very generous with mask breaks in the classrooms, and that will continue. My hope is that with a combination of mask breaks in the buildings, classes being held outside on a regular basis, and outdoor physical education and recess, that we will make it through the month of June. If masking regulations do not change for the Fall (and I sure hope they DO change), we will have the same set of rules most likely. This is another reason why we are vey happy to have all of our students here this spring; so we can continue to work through hurdles that may exist in the Fall.
There are other updates that I will be providing about other topics in the coming days, but I wanted to get this out to you sooner than later.
Thank you for your continued support-
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
May 24, 2021
Good Morning-
I hope that everyone had a great weekend. I wanted to bring you up to speed on several different things as we head into the week. First, we DO have Foodlink on Thursday, beginning as close to 2:30PM as the delivery trucks will allow. Hope to see you there. The remaining Foodlink dates after this Thursday are June 3, 10, and 24th. Foodlink will be changing their food distribution format after the distribution on the 24th to more of a pop up pantry style. We have partnered with the Friendship House to make this happen, and once we know the format, we will let you know. They will still be held at the high school campus, and they will likely be once or twice a month. We do not know what kind of food as of yet. Thank you for participating. This has been a HUGE resource for our community, and we are hopeful to continue it well into the future.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the New York State Health Department have, in my opinion, really complicated mask wearing regulations. Regardless of what we think about masks (I do NOT wear a mask where I am not required to any longer), the rules for mask wearing at schools has not changed. We need to wear our masks while we are on school property. We continue to be the only school in the area to have UPK-12 students at school five days per week, to allow up to 200 spectators at games, and one of a very few to have already offered our students field trip opportunities, a senior social, audiences allowed at student performances, and graduation, where parents will be allowed to attend. This has all been possible because of our close relationship with the Department of Health, and being persistent about what we feel is best for students. We have PUSHED every entity possible to lift the mask mandate on school property, but we have been unsuccessful in getting that permission. Thank you for helping us out by wearing your mask while on school property, it means a lot. If you are more than six feet apart from non-family members while attending outdoor activities at school, you may remove your mask as well. We will use the honors system and assume that you have been vaccinated.
As the temperatures climb (fortunately,) we WILL be giving students mask breaks whenever possible, even at three feet of physical distance. If they are outside, and six feet or more apart, they will be able to remove their masks. We have also told our employees that they can wear looser fitting and more casual clothing for the remainder of the year, to help combat mask wearing in higher temperatures. As I tell everyone, I hope this is the last global pandemic in our lifetime.
If you have a child who is 12-15 years old, and you would like them to be vaccinated, we will be holding a clinic at school on May 27th, with the second dose being given on June 17th. All you need to do is contact our head nurse, Michelle Rohring, at 585-554-6441 x1426 and complete this permission form...https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NKQjcSthtNrmEctUPNg_TXQYtonvZlqn/view and have your child bring it to school. This is completely VOLUNTARY. From my vantage point, it is a good opportunity if you would like your child vaccinated because you do not need to be present. If you go to a clinic off site, you DO need to be present, and that can cause scheduling issues for parents. Thank you.
We very much support law enforcement, and are proud to call Deputy Lambert our School Resource Officer. Having worked along side him for two year now, and having worked with "SRO's" for nearly twenty years, Deputy Lambert is top notch. He is a superior role model, is very proactive in working with our students and community members, volunteers for Foodlink and other activities on a regular basis, and is very thorough in his investigations and decisions, and safety is always his top priority.
He is also very humble. We are a landing zone for Marcy Flight and other medical flight services. We received a call last week with we would be used as a landing zone for a patient. Not a problem. We did what we need to do on our end, the chopper landed, the ambulance showed up, they put someone in the chopper, and the took off.
Later in the day,. I commented to Deputy Lambert later in the day that rural areas like ours are fortunate to have medical flight services available because they can really save lives. He agreed and commented that the flight definitely DID save someone. I didn't think much of it until a third party told me that Deputy Lambert had saved the life of the person who was in that chopper. While at school, he heard a call in town about someone with chest pains. He knew he was the closest car, so he went to the address and began to speak with the person who was struggling. As the person was describing their symptoms, they "coded." Deputy Lambert jumped into action, performed life saving techniques on the patient, and brought them back to life. He then coordinated the chopper, and the rest is what you read above.
Thank you, Deputy Lambert (Officer Lambert when he has his School Resource Officer hat on)! We are very proud and honored to have you working and living in our community.
Lastly, just a reminder that we do NOT have school this Friday, May 28.
Thanks for reading and for your continued support. Have a great week!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
May 14, 2021
Good Afternoon-
I hope everyone had a great week. Thanks for your patience and THANK YOU to our awesome food service staff and helpers for making lunches happen during our power outage!
We have finished our second full week with a full house UPK-12, and we are happy to report (still knocking on wood) that we have had NO COVID CASES. We hope this trend continues, and I would like to personally thank everyone, including the students, for taking our protocols seriously so that we can return to as much “normal” as possible.
I have been asked by many people what the Fall will look like in terms of school. The Commissioner of Education is supposed to have Fall guidance out to school districts in New York State by June 1. Ahead of that release, we have been hearing, but cannot confirm, that the push will be to have all schools open five days a week (we already are), at three feet of physical distance (for all activities with the exception of breakfast and lunch), and continued mask wearing. You know as well as I do that things can change quickly, but if those become the new rules, the only areas in need of adjustment for us will be Valley Elementary, where students are still six feet apart by choice, and music, where students are six feet apart, by regulation.
In terms of virtual education, Marcus Whitman does NOT intend to offer it unless we are forced by either executive order of the governor, or by the New York State Education Department. If we are forced to offer a fully virtual option, our desired method of delivery will be through a BOCES virtual school that I am on the committee to help create. In a canvas of the nineteen school districts in the area, it is believed that there would be approximately 130 virtual students per grade level. Right now, no district has offered any staffing for the program, most likely because virtual instruction has not been mandated for the Fall. If it becomes mandated, we see the virtual school being put together quickly, with a combination of hiring and bringing any available teachers together from area districts. We are not going to put any resources into a “plan B” as of yet until we receive further instruction from the state. We will keep you posted.
We are planning a very robust summer “school/camp” experience at all levels. Our Extended School Year program, (for students with disabilities), will operate on a Monday through Friday (we have no say in this; it is a federally prescribed program) schedule. The other programs we are putting together will operate on Tuesday through Thursday (approximate times will be 9AM-2PM), to give employees and parents an opportunity to enjoy some long weekends during the summer. The summer programs are being operated with federal grant money this year, which has allowed us to expand the offerings. We need to hire over 50 people (academic, transportation, clerical, food service, etc.) to make all of this happen. Once we have filled those positions, we will release all information to the public so people can sign up. Scott Robinson, currently our assistant principal for UPK-5, will be the administrator in charge of summer programming with the exception of true summer school for middle and high school students. We are excited for the summer. Stay tuned for the offerings!
Federal grants will also allow us to bolster three academic areas in need for us. The first will be to add a piece to the special education continuum related to students who really struggle to read and comprehend. We will be creating a reading specialist position to satisfy this need and will be offering training in areas such as dyslexia to key teachers so we can help to boost reading and comprehension skills. We would like this position to be in place and working before the end of the summer.
The other two areas where we will be adding support are in general education reading and math. We will hire both reading and math specialists so assist our teachers so they have people they can depend to be the best reading and math teachers they can possibly be. Again, there will be support also with available trainings for our teachers. We would like these positions to be in place by the beginning of the school year, if not earlier. For employees reading this, be on the lookout for job descriptions and application information in the near future.
The positions above are in addition to the selection and adoption of a new reading curriculum that we hope to have completed by the beginning of the summer. For those who have been keeping track of this, we will begin with UPK-5 and then add the 6-8 piece once we have worked out some staffing and operational pieces that recently came to my attention.
The CDC released information yesterday stating that vaccinated people do not need to wear masks in most places. New York State is normally well behind (not a criticism, just a statement of fact) what the CDC recommends, so for now, we are required to continue with mask wearing requirements. As soon as those change, we will make the change at school.
June is going to be “everything senior” for our seniors. Ms. Taft will be releasing information to seniors and their parents, but in looking at the “big picture”, you can expect social media posts, yard signs, and plenty of activities for our seniors during the month of June. It has been so great to have gotten to know them, and we want to send them off with style!
Lastly, please remember to vote on Tuesday. The polls will be open from 12-8PM in the high school band room. You can park in the high school circle or in designated spots on the side of the building. We will have plenty of signs to help direct you.
I apologize for the length of this message, but I always want you to know what I know. Thank you and enjoy the weekend!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
May 11, 2021
Good Afternoon-
I hope everyone has had a solid start to the week. I just wanted to bring you up to speed on a few topics. First, a reminder that the school budget vote is next Tuesday at the HS from noon until 8PM at the HS band room. We will have more directions on how to get there and will make it as easy as possible. Hope to see you there. Also, Foodlink is this Thursday, beginning at 2:30PM at the HS. Lastly, a change has been made to the school calendar and we will be closed, including students attending BOCES, on Friday, May 28th.
Thank you and have a great rest of the week!
Chris
May 3, 2021
Good Afternoon-
The school budget vote and Board election will be help on May 18th, 2021, from noon until 8PM in the band room at the high school (due to construction.) People are allowed to vote in person this year, and we will have everything set up to do so. The state is allowing absentee ballots for medical reasons, including COVID anxiety. Please find the absentee ballot attached. Ballots need to be postmarked by May 10th, or can be delivered in person until May 18th at 5PM.
This link (https://www.mwcsd.org/departments/business-office-personnel/school-budget-vote) will take you to a page that has complete information about the budget vote including what is on the ballot, the the digital form of the application for absentee ballot, voter qualifications, and the vote time and location.
As always, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call us at 585-554-4848 x 1805.
Thank you.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
April 30, 2021
Good Afternoon-
I hope everyone is doing well. This is an end of the week update. Thank you to all who came out for a rainy Foodlink. We do have Foodlink again next Thursday, beginning at 2PM. Beginning Monday, our high school students will be returning five days per week, giving us a full house UPK-12 for the rest of the school year. We are excited to have everyone back for the home stretch. Be on the lookout in the coming weeks for summer programming. We will be using federal dollars to provide more summer options at each level, and we will also be able to provide some transportation. Your building principal will reach out in the coming weeks.
Our high school ranked 339 out of 1208 high schools in the US News and World Reports best high schools listing. I am proud of what we have been able to accomplish. We continue to be the little district that could, beating out other schools with many more resources. We will continue to get better each year.
Next week, we will send a separate message about absentee ballots for the May 18th school budget vote and election. We are returning to in person voting, but people will be able to vote by absentee if they have COVID concerns about coming in person to vote. Be on the look out for that message next week.
Lastly, and if there is nothing unforeseen in the coming weeks, the last day for students in grades UPK-8 is June 22nd, and the last day for students in grades 9-12 is June 24th. Building principals will reach out with more calendar information and any changes as we get closer to June.
Thank you for all you do and for your continued support. Have a great weekend!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
April 28, 2021
Good Evening-
I just have a few updates to share with you. First, tomorrow is our employee appreciation day. I am very appreciative of all the work they do and continue to do, and I would ask you to help me thank them if you run into any employees in your travels. Second, we had two unrelated positive COVID cases. One is a high school student, requiring two additional quarantines, and one is an employee that did not require additional quarantine. Last, tomorrow is Foodlink, beginning at 2:00PM, hope to see you there. Thanks and have a great rest of the week!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
April 23, 2021
Good Afternoon-
We had a wonderful week welcoming our 3-8 students back to school five days a week. We had a couple of small hiccups here and there, but overall, it was great to see more smiling faces!
Speaking of having the students back, we met with the Department of Health and the Ontario county administrator today to further our conversation about using the weighted seven day rolling average of COVID cases for Yates and Ontario counties. After running through the math again with them, and using the new seven day rolling averages for Ontario and Yates counties, they APPROVED our formula, allowing us to welcome all students in grades 9-12 back to school five days per week beginning the week of May 3rd. For your reference, the weighted (Yates and Ontario counties) seven day rolling average for Marcus Whitman is 49. Anything below 100 puts us in the “go zone.” To their knowledge, we are the first school in NYS to be granted this type of permission, which we will not take lightly.
I am REALLY excited to have a full house to finish the school year for a variety of reasons. First is student mental health, second is academic gap closing, and third is for our seniors, who can have somewhat of a normal conclusion to their academic careers.
As with the other buildings, fully remote students will have a choice of returning to school or remaining virtual through the end of the school year.
Ms. Taft will be meeting with high school employees with more details next week, and she will also be giving more detailed information to 9-12 students and their parents. We will submit our updated reopening plan to the health department by the end of next week, and will be fielding questions along the way. I thank everyone who has helped us to get to this point and to everyone who will be working in the coming weeks to help us make this final transition as smooth as possible.
We do have Foodlink next Thursday, beginning at 2:00PM, and I hope to see you there!
Thank you and have a great weekend!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
April 18, 2021
Good Evening-
I hope that everyone had a good weekend. I wanted to provide some updates as we head into this week. We are very excited to have all of our students back in grades 3-8 beginning Monday (UPK-2 have all been back for months.) By Thursday, we will have a full house at those grade levels. We know that this excitement is also causing change, so we are working with our counselors to make sure that everyone's needs are met should students or employees find any anxiety during this adjustment period.
We are treating the next week as if it is the first week of school for our 3-8 students. Many students have not seen each other in person for over a year, and we are certain that they will want to catch up, get adjusted to being together, and re-learn some routines. Our employees will be the same way.
We are continuing to fight the battle to be able to bring students in grades 9-12 back every day. We hope to have some direction regarding that this week. At this point, ANY direction and guidance would be helpful.
COVID still exists, and we can expect that there will still be cases to report as we move forward to the end of the school year (there are ten weeks left beginning tomorrow.) We are confident and hopeful that any cases will not cause building closures, or shifts back to remote learning, but if that were to happen, we would send a phone call in addition to these emails to give you as parents as much notice as possible to plan.
We did have three cases to report from the weekend, two from Gorham and one from Valley, that had very limited quarantines associated with them.
Spring sports starts tomorrow, and we have been working with youth groups to allow the use of our outdoor facilities for their activities; some return to normal.
Lastly, we DO have Foodlink this Thursday beginning at 2:45PM. Hope to see you there.
Thanks and have a great week!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
April 16, 2021
Happy Friday evening. We just got word that there will be a vaccine clinic for 16 and 17 year olds (parents must accompany) on the 20th at the Ontario County transportation center. The message is pasted below. If you are interested, get registered ASAP as this email will go out to other schools in the area as well. If you have a student-athlete, they will NOT have any consequences for missing practice to attend this clinic. Thanks and spread the word!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
We conducted a 1st dose Pfizer clinic today for Hobart/William Smith students before they return home later in May. We have approximately 240 doses that were unused and we would like to target our high schoolers 16/17 years old to use up this vaccine since we don’t receive regular allocations of Pfizer. So the link below is for your students. If you could help by distributing the link to your parents. PARENTS WILL BE REQUIRED TO ACCOMPANY THEIR CHILDREN TO PROVIDE CONSENT TO RECEIVE THE VACCINE and some kind of photo ID will be necessary. The clinic will run from 430pm to 7pm on April 20 at the County Transportation Center . Let me know if you have any questions. Thanks and have a nice weekend!
https://apps2.health.ny.gov/doh2/applinks/cdmspr/2/counties?DateID=C01D995E371F124AE0530A6C7C161F91
April 13, 2021
Good Evening-
I wanted to share a link to a short video we put together to discuss returning all to school in grades UPK-8. The CDC link that is used in the presentation can be found here... https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fcoronavirus%2F2019-ncov%2Fcases-updates%2Fcases-in-us.html#county-view . Here is the link to the presentation… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VblvHNyauls&t=172s .
Thank you!
Chris
April 11, 2021
Good Evening-
I hope you had a great weekend. As I am sure you have heard, the NYS Department of Health provided guidance on how to reopen schools with closer than six feet of physical distance. We have been working on how to accommodate these regulations for some time as you know, and now it is time to take action.
The way the regulations read (I will provide them via email to you tomorrow in case you are interested in reading all of them), we have to submit a plan to the state that has been reviewed by the local department of health. Also, a lot of what we do comes down to the “risk tolerance” of the community and employees, which we are supposed to ascertain through a “Hearing.”. Consider this email the opening of the “Hearing” window. We will take feedback through Wednesday.
To give you the basics of our plan, right now, the middle and high school are unable to return to school closer than six feet, because area infection rates are too high. In all of NYS, Hamilton and Yates counties are the only two that have infection rates low enough (the middle and high school are in Ontario county) to return middle and high school students to school five days per week, That being said, students in ANY music activity (curricular or extra-curricular) and physical education, can now participate at six feet of physical distance, instead of twelve, effective immediately.
Until area infection rates decline, only Valley and Gorham will be allowed to return students to less than six feet of physical distance. Valley students are already at school for five days per week. Gorham will begin to return students to five days per week beginning the week of April 19th.
Students at Gorham will eat lunch six feet apart, but will be in classes at three feet of physical distance.
If children are riding the bus, we will make every attempt to physically distance them, but in order for many students to ride the bus, it will be necessary to have students two to a seat. They will be masked, and we have NOT had a student transmission of COVID since this all began, but I wanted to make sure you aware of this, in case you wanted to drive your children to school.
We will have adequate cleaning of the Gorham building when all students return, and will also have adequate cleaning of the middle and high school when all students return.
That’s about it. We are excited to take this next step, and Gorham parents will be hearing from their principal this week with more arrangements.
Thanks, and if you have any other questions, please let me know. As soon as it looks like the middle and high school students can return five days a week, I will let you know, and will finish plans for that.
In totally unrelated news, there is NO Foodlink this week, but it will return next week.
Thanks and see you soon.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
April 9, 2021
Good Afternoon-
I hope everyone had a great week. Yesterday was the one year anniversary of Foodlink for us, and it was fitting that we now have a very healthy number of students helping, along with adults who have been volunteering all this time. In one year, we have served over 45,000 meals to families via Foodlink alone. Add that to the 75,000 meals we served through the grab and go programs, and that makes me one very proud superintendent! We will be receiving more distribution dates for May and June, and will filter in more student helpers so they can participate in a real life learning experience.
Earlier this week, we learned that due to the efforts of our high school science department and Dan Blankenberg, we will be the recipients of a $15,000 grant to build a “sugar shack” right on campus. Another great opportunity for learning!
You have probably been hearing a lot about “how much money is being given to schools” in the state budget. Don’t believe the hype! The majority of the “extra” monies are going to be in the form of grants that will help to pay for COVID related costs as well as after school and summer programming to close academic gaps. As such, I have recommended to the Board of Education that we present the budget to the voters as we originally created it. This will help us to be fiscally responsible for the coming years. In my experience, schools that will use the money to add staffing or lower taxes will find themselves at a fiscal cliff quickly, and will have to make very difficult decisions to right their ships. We won't put ourselves in that position.
This week was a pretty active in the land of COVID, as you know. The Department of Health decided to “audit” (for lack of a better term), their quarantine work from the week. They kept the Valley quarantines “as is”, but for Gorham and the middle school, they changed their “quarantine masking parameters” from 20/30 minutes of masked exposure to a COVID positive person at 6 feet of distance, to 60 minutes. This caused two employees to be able to come off the quarantine list, as well as 23 students.
I do want to add that we had another positive middle school case yesterday, which resulted in four additional quarantines (all students.)
We are going to be looking at ways to introduce outside groups to our outdoor fields in the near future. That, along with spring sports and an upcoming musical, will help us to get a little feeling of “normal.” It will be well received.
As of right now, we have not heard any news about being able to return to school at three feet of distance. I would expect some type of news and direction between later today and the end of next week…hopefully.
Thank you for all of your support and for all you do to keep our school, community, and students moving forward during this very challenging time.
Enjoy the weekend.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
April 7, 2021
Good Evening-
Unfortunately, we experienced a COVID outbreak in several buildings that has resulted in a lot of student quarantines. First. I would like to publicly thank our nurses Mrs. Lightfoot, Mrs. Johnson, and Mrs. Rohring, as well as administrators Dr. Cazer, Mr. Pasho, and Dr. Cole, many of whom worked until after 8PM contact tracing cases and communicating with various Departments of Public Health.
At Valley Elementary, we had one positive student case which resulted in the quarantine of fourteen students and one employee.
At Gorham Intermediate, we had two COVID positive students and one COVID positive employee (not related to each other) which resulted in fifty students being quarantined.
At the middle school, we had one COVID positive employee, which resulted in the quarantine of two employees and two students.
For the sake of always being transparent, I wanted to provide the answers to two questions that I received today as news of these cases entered the community.
First, we DO NOT and WILL NOT make getting the vaccination mandatory; it is employee (and student/parent) choice. We also have no knowledge that New York State will make the COVID vaccination mandatory.
Second, there would have been several more employees quarantined, but they had the vaccine, which allows them to return to work tomorrow (each situation is taken on a case by case scenario.)
Schools in New York State were warned about a rise in cases after Easter and spring break, so these cases appear to be on track with what was expected. Nonetheless, we hope that today was the end of the rise in cases for us.
Thank you for reading the for your continued support. As a reminder, Foodlink is tomorrow beginning at 2:45PM.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
April 5, 2021
Good Evening-
I hope you are well, and that everyone had a good first day back from break. If you were away, you didn't miss much. A NYS budget isn't approved as of yet, and there has been no additional guidance or permission to return to school at three feet of physical distancing. On the positive side, the buildings got a deep clean, workers got a lot done on the capital project, and we shored up plans for when we are given permission to return to school with less physical distancing.
Each Monday at 9AM, I have a conference call with the Ontario County Public Health Department. During the call today, we learned a few more things about vaccines and availability, as well as some insight into a rise in COVID cases. Beginning very soon, and we will post the links on our social media platforms, the county will have clinics for those 16 and older. They will have doses of EACH of the vaccines (Moderna, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson), and the clinics will be open to anyone.
The Pfizer vaccine has been tested for children ages 12-15, and it has proved to be effective, however, at this time, that vaccine has NOT been released for that age group. Once it is, Ontario county will have clinics for children ages 12-15.
In terms of getting schools more "open", there has been a steady rise in cases over the past few days. Cases in the high teens on Friday, low twenties on Saturday, and thirty yesterday. Not great news in terms of getting permission to open at three feet of physical distance from my view. Most of the cases are younger people, and they expect the numbers to rise over the next two weeks due to people going away for break. We shall see. I am hammering the state health department in some way, shape, or form every work day to get all of our students back to school.
I had mentioned a few weeks ago that the state did NOT get the waiver (yet), regarding 3-8 testing and four federally associated Regents exams. We want you to know that IF we are to give the assessments and exams, you will hear much more from your associated principal, but we are committed to NOT giving the 3-8 assessments at the same time we are transitioning to three feet of physical distance. The state gave us flexibility to offer the 3-8 assessments beginning April 19th, but with a very flexible end date. If we are fortunate to transition back to full school in April, we will schedule the 3-8 assessments around the move. The four Regents exams we need to offer will still be help in June.
I appreciate everyone who has been coming to Foodlink. Our numbers of people served continues to climb, which has made the amount of food we are receiving climb. We have Foodlink again this Thursday, beginning at 2:45PM, and I hope to see you there.
As the weather gets nicer, we DO encourage our teachers to take their classes outside for instruction whenever possible. Being outdoors is good for all!
Thanks and have a great rest of the week.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
March 24, 2021
Good Afternoon-
Well, we made it. Spring break will be what each of us and our children make of it. For some, it will mean travel to see people they have not seen in person for a long time. For others it will mean the same old, same old. For me, it will be a mix. Whatever it is for you, be safe, take a little time to pause, and try to enjoy something different.
I will probably be quiet on social media, but will be here, and I hope to see you at Foodlink on April 1. I will send out a time early next week. Due to the break, we may be able to get started a little earlier. I will let you know.
We will be using the break to work on our reopening plans, health clinic, and selection of an ELA curriculum. I will give you updates on all three topics after break.
Thanks, be safe, and #PR1DEinthePaw-
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
March 23, 2021
Good Afternoon-
I hope you are having a great week. I wanted to provide you with a few updates. First, a student in the high school tested positive for COVID. There are no quarantines related to the case. Second, Foodlink is this Thursday from 2:45PM until it is gone. Hope to see you there. We will also have Foodlink during spring break on Thursday, April 1st. Last, we have no new news from the state health department regarding return to school at three feet, and will update you as soon as we do. We are learning that acceptable transportation and food service options can involve "podding" students, or giving them assigned seats at lunch tables and on the bus. If a child in the "pod" (lunch table or bus seat) gets sick, just the people in the pod would be quarantined. We are working as hard as we can in the background to be ready for when we are given permission to return, and are incorporating those food service and busing methods into that plan. Again, I will keep you posted.
Thank you and have a great rest of the week.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
March 19, 2021
Good Afternoon-
I hope everyone is ready for some warmer weather next week!
By now you might have heard that the CDC published guidance to allow schools around the nation to open at three feet of physical distance instead of six, as long as masks are worn and as long as the infection rates remain low. Please note that as of 2:30PM today, Ontario county is noted as being in a state of "substantial spread", and it is unknown at this time what impact that will or won't have on a reopening timeline.
That being said, the Ontario County DOH is going to support us in following the CDC guidelines, which is great, but questions remain. Those questions are in the areas of food service, transportation, and cleaning. I asked Chris DeBolt, the Ontario County Administrator, to push those questions to the state “Control Room” for answers for all Ontario county school districts. He has done so, and we are awaiting a response.
I expect more complete guidance over the weekend, or early next week.
Aside from operational changes we need to make, we also have to think about the mental health of our students and our employees as we bring more students back. I will be meeting with Dr. Cole, who helps to oversee our counselors, so we can have a solid plan for that moving forward.
As I have mentioned several times, some buildings may be able to ramp up sooner than others. If all goes well, I would expect to be fully populated by the week of April 12th or 19th . We will be able to define that in a better way once we get the additional guidance we are seeking, and once we know if the county being deemed a "substantial spread" county will have any impact on us.
There is new confusion as to which agency can officially allow us to reopen. Around the state, we have all believed that the decision making power lies with the New York State Health Department, but a new piece released today by the NYSDOH indicates that the authority is with the local departments of health. This is new news to everyone' including the local departments of health, and the local departments of health wish for more guidance on that. At the end of the day, we will create a plan that is safe, easy to understand, and well communicated, just as we have always done.
Thank you and I will keep you posted.
Have a great weekend.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
March 18, 2021
Good Afternoon-
I hope you are well. As promised, here is a link to a short video update about the reopening of school at three feet of physical distance, 3-8 and Regents exam update, 2021-2022 budget update, and the road to selecting a new English Language Arts (ELA) curriculum...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTLKEV0XcFI. Attached is a Massachusetts COVID school study that I referenced in the video and that is being used currently by the CDC and the NYSDOH to make their school opening decisions. 3 feet study from Mass.pdf Also, here is a link to the most current budget presentation from our website that I also referenced in the video...https://drive.google.com/file/d/1b6w9Btsmp6QtEdqpev4OsgRzxeX8j8ED/view
Thank you again for your support, and I can't believe we are only 100 calendar days away from graduation!
Take care-
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
March 12, 2021
Good Afternoon-
We had a very successful conference day today to help us be ready for the remainder of the school year. Next week, I will provide a video update about where we are in relation to getting students back five days per week at three feet of distance.
Today we were informed that a 4th grade student at Gorham tested positive for COVID. The student began symptoms long enough ago that we did not need to quarantine anyone else.
Thank you, and enjoy the weekend!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
March 11, 2021
Good Afternoon-
I wanted to bring you up to speed on two items of interest. The first has to do with our reopening plans, should we be given permission to move from six, to three feet of physical distance. In the last video, I mentioned that it would take Gorham about 4 weeks, the high school about 3 weeks, valley about 2 weeks, and the middle school about 2 weeks to be ready to open. I wanted to be clear that those estimated times were based on beginning our planning on the date of the video. Along with our daily work, we have been planning for a possible return, so if we are given permission, we would be able to open much sooner than those estimates. I will provide another video update next week. Thank you for your continued patience.
New York State applied for a waiver so students would not need to take 3-8 tests this year, or regents exams. That waiver was denied by the federal government in January, which means that those assessments and exams (algebra I, ELA, living environment and earth science) are still on the books as of right now.
The New York State Education Department sent all of the schools in NYS a survey yesterday that our director of curriculum and I completed yesterday. They are compiling all of the assessments and tests that we are currently giving with the intent of appealing the waiver denial. I will keep you posted on that.
It has been one year since we thought we were only going to be closed for two weeks due to a weird virus that was just making the national news. We have all been through an awful lot; both good and bad. As I reflected today, I can say that in the past year, I have gotten to know myself better and have also gotten to know many of you and the students better than I would have; and I consider those to be very positive things. We are almost to the end of this, and there will be a time when we will want to think about what the next "new normal" will look like. We will certainly need all of our voices to help decide those things.
Thank you and have a great rest of the week.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
March 3, 2021
Good Evening-
I hope you have been able to catch a little bit of the sun these past couple of days. I wanted to get you caught up on a few items as we head into the back end of the week. First, a student at Gorham Intermediate tested positive for COVID. This has led to the quarantining of 2 employees, and 11 students.
In my last message, I mentioned sending you a recorded presentation about what has to happen on our end should we be given permission to bring students back to school five days a week at a 3 foot physical distance. The link to that recording is here...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjthhsbXjx8&feature=youtu.be. If you have questions after watching the recording, please do not hesitate to reach out.
In the Fall, we sent you a ThoughtExchange survey about how things were going. While the response was overwhelmingly positive, we are in a constant state of wanting to get better. One of the "thoughts" from the survey that was in the improvement needed area concerns communications in our special education department and program. We had hoped to dig deeper into this during the late Fall and winter, but COVID has slowed us down a bit. Andrea Smith, our director of student support services created a new ThoughtExchange that should only be completed by parents and caregivers of students with disabilities within our school district. The link for that survey is here...https://my.thoughtexchange.com/797396498 , and Mrs. Smith will be sending this link via email to parents who she has email addresses for as well. Thank you for taking the time to help us improve.
We do have Foodlink tomorrow from 2:45PM until it is gone at the high school, district office side. If is supposed to be quite cold and windy, so please come up and keep us company. I hope to see you there.
Thanks and have a great rest of the week.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
February 28, 2021
Good Afternoon-
I hope that everyone had a great weekend. This will be a longer message that normal, but I wanted to keep you in the loop on several things. First, congratulations are in order for our boys and girls bowling teams. The boys won their fourth Section V Championship in a row on Friday, and the girls won their third in a row on Saturday. We are very proud of them! The roster for the boys included Don and Eli Mangiarelli, Tim Phillips, Austin King, Nick Lloyd, and Alex Gayhart. The roster for the girls included Zoelle Payne, Destiny Rast, Mikayla Baker, Kendall Davis, Chase Bond, Emily Button, Leah Aaron, and Kennedy Smith. Both teams were coached my Matt Silco and Brian Law.
On Saturday, Carl Parsons and his family were joined by our swim coaches, as well as Mr. Lahue and myself. Carl was recognized for being the Section V winner of both the 200 IM and the 100 M breast stroke. He broke the school record for the breast stroke that has been in place since 1988. Tradition in swimming is to have the record breaker please his/her name on the record board, and it was fun to watch Carl do exactly that. Congratulations!
In terms of getting all of our students to school five days a week, the next two weeks may be a little confusing, depending on which news you watch. President Biden will be calling for all schools to re-open by May, and in New York State, we are waiting for direction to see if we can bring all students back five days per week by utilizing three feet of physical distancing, instead of six.
What will be confusing is the cross fire between the federal re-opening of schools initiative, versus getting all students back five days per week. When you watch the news, especially the national news, it may appear that we are all going back to last March. We have to remember that there are thousands of schools around the country (and some in New York State) that have not had students in school since last March. The news, especially the national news, will be speaking about social distancing, ventilation, and mask wearing like they are new things in school. They will appear new, to schools that have not been open at all. Just keep reminding yourself that we have already been through all of that, and are just waiting for guidance to go to three feet of physical distance.
Later this week, I will put out a presentation about what it will take for us to get all of our students back, by building and department. You will be able to ask questions, and we will answer them as best we can with the information we have today.
We are working on a possible grant funded partnership with Mosaic Health to provide a full service behavioral, dental, and health clinic right at school. This would be open to all of our students and employees, as well as the students and employees in the BOCES FLSS program, which occupies space at the back of the middle/high school campus. The clinic will be staffed with doctors and nurses, and will be able, by appointment or walk-in, to help students with anything they would go to their doctor for. The clinic, because it is grant funded, would also be able to take students with, or without insurance, and will have during school and after school hours.
One of our challenges is to find the space required for the clinic, and we need to jump through many grant hoops; the first of which is to meet a March 22 deadline to express interest in the grant. If all were to go well, and if everything works out, we would be looking to open the facility by February 2022.
Our next Foodlink distribution is this Thursday, from 2:45PM until the food is gone. The next distributions are March 11, and 25, as well as April 1, 8, 22, and 29. We hope to see you there!
Thank you, and have a great week!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
February 25, 2021
Good Afternoon-
Thank you for taking the time to participate in the return to school survey. We had very good participation, and the average of the overall results between the employees and our parents was that 78.8% of those who responded were in favor of returning to school with three feet of physical distancing.
This information was collected to be sure that our employees and the community were in favor of carrying that message forward to our elected officials. It is important to note and remind everyone that these positive results do NOT mean that we will be making the decision to make the change, but that we will now carry the message to the people who make the decisions regarding return to school. We will not be violating any law or Executive Order of the state.
We learned this morning that later today, the Ontario County Department of Health will be sending out a press release indicating that they will NOT be the decision makers with regard to return to school; that decision will have to come from the governor's office and the New York State Department of Health.
For now, we will advocate on behalf of the District and its residents. If and when a change is allowed by the state, we will put a process in motion and make it happen.
In studying what it would take to bring all of the students back, when and if we are given permission, there will be different timelines for our buildings based on space, and there may need to be some teacher and scheduling changes. I will have a town hall to make you aware, by building and department, of what the "pain points" and timelines are, by building, so you know absolutely everything that I know.
Thank you for reading and for your help in reaffirming our direction.
Take care-
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
February 22, 2021 (Parent Survey)
Good Afternoon-
Pasted below is a very brief survey to gage interest in having students return to school five days per week, if we are given permission to decrease social distancing from six feet to three feet insomuch as possible in every area of a child's day. We would continue with mask wearing and hand-washing. Fully remote students who have medical notes to be fully remote would likely stay that way through the end of the school year.
School District's in Onondaga county have been given permission to do this by their County Executive. We would need permission from our local or state department of health, or the county administrators to make the change. Three schools in the Rochester area have decided on their own to switch from six feet to three feet, but we are not willing to put the school district into possible legal jeopardy by changing our practices without permission from an authority above us.
You feedback really helps us, because in order to bring students back every day, we may need to change bus routes, master schedules, classroom locations, etc... and we need time to do that. If you are really not interested in bringing students back every day, we will not start this planning, nor will be reach out to elected officials, etc... to have a change made. Please complete the survey by Wednesday so we have enough time to turn it around and communicate back to you with the plan.
Thanks!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
Survey --> https://forms.gle/igqRX36tKYuDCKZ57
February 21, 2021
Good Evening-
I hope that you and your kids got a chance to get a little breather last week. School was busy with sports, fine arts, and construction last week, but I have to tell you that it was great to see some fans in the stands.
With the exception of a few employees who could not get the vaccine last week due to the weather, any employee who wanted a vaccination has gotten one. At the same time, there has been new and positive information released about the effectiveness of the vaccine, very low spread of COVID in schools, and student-athletes being allowed to compete. The time has come to really lobby to get students back to school five days a week in grades UPK-12. Lawmakers appear to be listening right now, and I am in absolute favor, for a variety of reasons, of getting students back to school every day.
I am only one voice however, and we are in this together. Tomorrow, you will be emailed a very brief survey to see if you would support the district becoming very vocal to anyone who will listen about getting students back to school. We would be asking for three feet of social distancing, mask wearing, hand washing, and for students to return after spring break. If the survey results show great interest, I will do everything in my power to convince those in power to make it happen. No promises, but it won't hurt to try. If the survey results do not show interest, we will carry on the way we have been. Thank you in advance for taking a moment to complete the survey when you receive it.
Thursday is our next Foodlink distribution from 2:45PM until it is gone (usually by 4). I hope to see you there.
Thank you and have a great week.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
February 8, 2021
Good Evening-
I hope that everyone had a great weekend. We had two positive students cases over the weekend; one at the HS and one at Gorham. Neither has been in school for a while, so there is no additional quarantining.
This is a reminder that we have Foodlink this Thursday from 2:45PM until it is gone, which recently, has been by approximately 4PM. There will be meat in this shipment.
Nearly all of our employees have had the first dose of the COVID vaccine, and are scheduled to receive their second doses in the next three weeks. The second dose has been known to cause fairly significant side effects that arrive 8-12 hours after the second dose is given, and last less than 48 hours. We do not know what impact this will have on staffing, if any, as this is our first global pandemic, but if we are missing too many staff in any one building on any given day, we may need to pivot to virtual instruction for a day. Unfortunately, because most employees are getting their doses after school hours, those effects won't arrive until the middle of the night, so you may receive very short notice about having to go virtual. I apologize in advance for that. As you know, we always plan for the worst and hope for the best, but I wanted you to know what the situation might be over the next few weeks. The same thing will happen with our community members, once vaccines are opened to everyone.
We also did find a way to allow parents at our athletic events, beginning with our first games this week. Mr. Lahue will have more information out about that in the next day or two.
Thank you for listening, hope to see you at Foodlink, and have a great rest of the week.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
February 5, 2021
Good Afternoon-
This is an end of the week update. First, we had no new covid cases this week, which is cause for celebration. We also were able to begin high-risk athletics, and are making plans to allow parents to attend by the third week of the season. We were also able to get the majority of our employees their first COVID vaccine dose this week, thanks to Thompson Hospital, and Ontario County. We also learned that the state is considering relaxing some fo the guidelines for fine arts and extracurricular activities, which will help us to get closer to bringing back more students every day.
We have Foodlink again next week, and we have been told that we will definitely have meat with the shipment. I will put out a call to remind you, early next week. Thank you for your support, and for all you are doing at home.
Have a great weekend!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
January 29, 2021
Good Afternoon-
I hope everyone had a great week, and thanks to those who came up for Foodlink yesterday. Even though the "Real Feel" was -5, we kept warm by keeping busy!
I apologize for the long email, but in order to keep you in the loop, some of my messages are a little longer than others.
We have been meeting the past few days about how we will be handling high-risk athletics as the first of three seasons begins on Monday (Winter 2/1-3/14 // “Fall 2” 3/1 (hopefully) – 5/1 // Spring 4/19 - ? (depends if Regents Exams are given)).
Mr. Blankenberg, Ms. Taft, Mr. Lahue, and I met today at length to go over safety protocols, and we also brought in guidance from the outside (different athletic Sections, Departments of Health, BOCES, NYSED, and Governor’s office), and feel comfortable with our initial plans. Those plans begin with making sure that our student-athletes, coaches, and officials are able to practice and perform in a safe environment. Unfortunately, and for most schools in the area, that will mean no fans in attendance. We will be starting the season with no fans and evaluating from there. If we feel comfortable that some fans can be included, we will be allowed to have a maximum of two fans per student-athlete. We will relay more of that information as we get into the season. Due to student interest, our winter sports will include boys and girls basketball (girls will not have a JV team), cheer, wrestling (We received guidance that makes me more comfortable offering it. We have 3 interested students at this time, so we will be evaluating over the next week to make sure it will still operate), and hockey (shared with Geneva).
Mr. Lahue, our Athletic Director, and I, will hold a virtual town hall in the very near future as well, to present all of this.
I had a large meeting today, full of stakeholders from around the state. While there is an emphasis on athletics from the state right now, we will NOT let them off the hook for fine arts and extra-curricular activities. Regulations for both need to be reconsidered and changed, in my opinion, and in the opinion of my colleagues across the state. The 6’ social distance regulation in classrooms and hallways also needs to be reconsidered to be 3’, as Massachusetts and Connecticut and other states have changed to, with little to no change in COVID cases.
The largest lobbying group I have available is the New York State Council of School Superintendents (NYSCOSS), and we are pounding on people to not stop with athletics, and to consider fine arts, regular school, and extra-curricular activities. My suggestion would be to use any organization you are affiliated with to lobby for reconsideration and change. The people who need to hear you are the Governor and his employees. This is no knock on the Governor, all leaders make decisions that are popular and unpopular; this is how the system to make change works in our Democracy, in addition to elections. I have also been lobbying to our local elected officials, and our Board of Education has signed those letters as well. We are pushing. It is going to take a steady pulse from ALL of us to make change.
The budget is coming together. Usually the first thing I am asked, is what is the tax levy going to be? We have committed to not exceeding the tax cap, which has been calculated at 2.35% for Marcus Whitman, so that is the maximum tax levy we would propose.
The second thing I am asked is what are the major changes in the budget? Really, we will be looking to maintain as many programs as we can. I like the direction we are headed. We are fiscally strong, have good plans in place and are increasing student achievement, and our students have access to many extra-curricular options. We would like to add a formal strategic plan to continue to help us sculpt our spending. We are in a very good place overall.
What we actually receive from the federal and state governments is what will determine how many reductions we may have to make. We just do not know enough yet to put a solid budget gap out there. If someone asked me in passing what my educated guess of a budget gap (difference between what we need to spend versus what money we will raise from state/federal aid and taxes) is as of today, I would say about $600,000. Not the worst, but enough to continue to make us consider every dollar we spend, as we ALWAYS should. Through our actions, we have been blessed with the trust of the community, and we will keep that trust by continuing to be transparent, and openly communicating. This is my 23rd budget cycle, and I feel confident that we can get a budget done that will meet the needs of the district and our tax payers.
Beyond next year? That is a tougher question. It depends if the state can recover from the pandemic financially, and if the federal government will continue to help financially. A topic for another time.
Thank you for your continued support. When I watch the news or attend meetings, I just feel that by the power and dedication of our employees, students, and community, we are doing more than “swimming”; we are creating a wake and current. Thank you, and enjoy the weekend.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
January 27, 2021
Good Afternoon-
By now I am sure you have heard that high school sports, labeled as "high-risk" sports, can begin practicing on February 1st. For Marcus Whitman, those sports include sideline and competitive cheer, basketball, hockey (combined team with Geneva), football, and wrestling. At the same time, the Governor has lifted micro-cluster restrictions that have been in place in areas that were designated as "yellow" and "orange" zones.
At this time, we have given the green light to all sports, with the exception of wrestling; which we have given a yellow light to for the time being. Many other states have been operating high school athletics since the beginning of the school year, and it is difficult to find any articles or research that suggests that high school sports, with the exception of wrestling, contribute to the transfer of COVID. Mr. Lahue, our Athletic Director will have more information out about signing up for sports.
The Centers for Disease Control does not see any way that wrestling can be conducted safely, under their guidelines. Both the Monroe and Ontario county departments of health have asked schools to strongly review wrestling before attempting to start it. I have included two articles for your reference at the bottom of this message concerning wrestling.
The bottom line is that I am not convinced that wrestling is safe for our students, coaches, and adults. I gave a tentative "yes" to the wrestling season, to give the departments of health and other governing bodies a chance to connect and make any recommendations that would convince me that we can have a safe wrestling season. The student-athletes in wrestling will be notified of our hesitance. If the season is not able to happen for Marcus Whitman, they will be notified as well.
At the same time, I feel that our fine arts programs, ALL of them, should be reviewed and reconsidered, so that more students can participate. Right now, our musicians need to be twelve feet apart to sing, but our athletes can compete in much closer quarters. That is not fair, for starters, and just doesn't make sense to me as I rad the regulations over and over again. I am going to keep the pressure on for change.
Getting more students back into school is also a priority of ours, and we will be using the athletic guidance to lobby for some relief in those regulations with the hopes of getting more students to school five days per week.
This may seem like a waste of time for me to write this message to you, but transparency and making sure everyone has the facts are very important, and I wanted you to know what I know related to the upcoming athletics season.
Thank you for reading, and have a great rest of the day.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
January 22, 2021
Good Afternoon-
I wanted to let you know that two employees who were already on quarantine tested positive for COVID today. Through contact tracing, we are quarantining 21 students, who will return on school next Tuesday.
In the good news department, students will be returning to the middle school, high school, and FLSS BOCES on Monday.
Thank you and have a great weekend!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
January 19, 2021 (Inauguration)
Good Afternoon-
Last week, I promised a short video about how we are approaching the Inauguration tomorrow. The link can be found below. Regardless of our individual political views, let us as Americans, all hope for a peaceful transition of power tomorrow and in the coming days.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1b84fZnKlegjLJJw9vShO5VQAUHvW4_6I/view
Thank you.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
January 19, 2021
Good Afternoon-
Unfortunately, we will not be able to bring students back to the middle or high school for the remainder of the week. We do not have enough custodians or building mechanics to make that happen any way we slice it. Middle and high school students WILL return to in person classes on Monday, January 25th. If there is a silver lining, it is that we are able to pool resources to keep Valley and Gorham open, and there will be some extra-curricular, find arts, and athletic opportunities that will still be able to operate in the afternoons and evenings this week. Ms. Taft and Dr. Cole will relay those to you later today.
If your middle or high schooler needs meals for Wednesday through Friday and you don't already receive them, please email Carla Woolston at cwoolston@mwcsd.org.
Thank you for your continued patience and understanding. I am sorry that we are in this position; there are just too many things out of my control.
Thank you.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
January 18, 2021
Good Afternoon-
I regret to inform you that our middle and high school will be switching to full remote learning for at least tomorrow, Tuesday, January 19th, due to a custodial/building mechanic shortage caused by a positive employee, and the resulting quarantines. Once we are able to further assess staffing, we will send out another note about the rest of the week for the middle and high school. We have come a long way, and have done the best we can to not have COVID impact us, and I apologize if this places an additional bourdon on your family. We are truly doing all that we can to remain open, and I take it very personally and seriously that we cannot. Ms. Taft and Dr. Cole will be sending messages out later today regarding how will tomorrow will progress for middle and high school students. Mr. Lahue will be sending something out for student athletes.
Thank you.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
January 10, 2021
Good Afternoon-
I hope this finds you still celebrating the Bills victory (if you are a Bills fan). I wanted to bring you up to speed on a couple of things. First, we have two positive students to report since Friday, and two employees who need to be quarantined. One student and one employee are at the middle school, and one student and one employee are at Gorham. After a lot of tracing (thank you Dr. Cole, Mr. Pasho, and Mrs. Rohring), we need to quarantine 27 total students. Six of those students will be quarantined until the 19th, and the other 21 will be quarantined until the 19th, unless a specific COVID test comes back negative, in which case, they will be able to return earlier (those parents will be notified when we know). All of those parents have been contacted.
A BOCES FLTCC student from another district tested positive and that is going to cause 6 of our FLTCC students to be quarantined. BOCES makes those calls, and I do not know if they are completed yet, or the length of time of the quarantine.
Both positive cases at Marcus Whitman were traced to contact outside of school.
Our school employees are eligible to sign up for the COVID vaccine, beginning tomorrow. By NO fault of the area Departments of Health and clinics, the roll out of the vaccine for educators is going to be touch and go, and will probably feel inefficient and frustrating at times. There are no scheduled school site vaccination programs (for employees; students need to be 18 and older to get the vaccine) on the horizon. My hope is if we can get our employees vaccinated sooner than later, that we will be allowed to have more students at school on a daily basis. I will keep our employees (and you) posted.
Our next Foodlink distribution is this Thursday, from 3-5PM at the high school, district office side. Foodlink was not able to provide meat at the last distribution, but we are hopeful that they will have meat for the upcoming distribution. Any food is good food in my book, but we have had meat in our distributions for a very long time, and it was unusual not to have it the last two times; and I know many you you rely on that. I hope to see you there.
Lastly, we will be holding a virtual town hall on Wednesday at 4:30PM. The topics will be the second half of the school year, COVID updates, anything else we know about vaccines, and other updates. This will be on our Youtube Channel, and you will be able to ask questions using the chat feature. You can always go back and watch if you are not able to make it.
Thanks for your support and have a great week!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
January 6, 2021
Good Evening-
I wanted to let you know that since my last communication, we have had three new employee, and student COVID cases. There is not a need to quarantine any additional people. We knew about these cases since the end of break, but could not comment about them until they made the NYS daily COVID spreadsheet.
This is a reminder that our next Foodlink distribution is tomorrow from 3-5PM, at the high school, district office side.
Lastly, and please do NOT take this as a political statement of any kind, a quick look at the news shows us that something different is happening in Washington, DC. When something different happens in our community, in America, or around the world, people talk about it, including children and young adults.
From my experience as a parent and as a school leader, giving your children a chance to talk is healthy, and gives them a chance to vent, express their feelings/concerns, and spurs more conversation. You may want to check in on them just to see how they feel, and if they want to start a conversation.
Thank you and have a great rest of the week.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
December 30, 2020
Good Afternoon-
I hope that everyone had a great Christmas and holiday Mine was good, but different. It is the first Christmas Eve and day ever, that I have spent alone. Well, Luna was with me, so I wasn’t totally alone, and she would probably be offended by me saying that, if she could read. I zoomed with my family on Christmas Eve and we were “together” like we normally are, minus the actual being together part. My mom and dad did great with Zoom (they are in their upper 70’s), and my aunt summed up her experience by saying, “I hate this Zoom thing.” At any rate, the family was together in spirit and on screen, and that was the best we could do this year.
The last time I communicated (December 22nd), I still had a golf ball sized cyst giving me a really hard time at the base of my spine (had it removed later that day and am still recovering, but getting better every day), and we had four fewer COVID cases to report (we have had four new employee cases, one in each building, since the 22nd; with no additional quarantining necessary).
We have learned that New York State has adopted the same quarantine language as the Centers for Disease Control. This means that effective immediately, if someone is a direct contact of a COVID positive person, they will quarantine for 10 days (instead of 14), unless they too, develop symptoms.
Before the holiday, I was informally told that if all “went well”, educators would have access to the COVID vaccine at around the middle to end of January. I haven’t heard anything different, but that doesn’t mean that the information is still accurate. I will let you if and when I hear anything.
We have been working with Foodlink and hope to have 4-6 distribution dates between January and February. As soon as we get the dates, I will get them out to you.
Before we totally trash 2020, I think we need to reflect on the positives. We definitely learned a lot more about ourselves and each other through this pandemic, and we also learned about how strong and unique our community really is. I know that from March 12 until now, I have become a better person in a lot of ways, and I am sure that many of you can say the same thing.
I am not Pollyanna. I expect January through March to be as challenging, if not more challenging than we have experienced thus far, but we have four things going for us; resiliency, experience, grit, and each other. Add a little patience and grace into the mix, and that is a recipe to make it the rest of the way through this interesting time in history. We can. We will.
Have a Happy New Year, and I will see you soon!
Peace.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
December 22, 2020
Good evening-
New York State is using a new spreadsheet system to let us know when we have positive COVID cases in our school. The spreadsheet is sent to us at 3PM each day, and we match the NYS dashboard numbers with the spreadsheet we receive. There will be times now when we know of a case, but cannot report it to you until we receive the official notification from the state.
The notification today listed two positive staff members; one from Gorham, and one from the middle school, as well as one student from Gorham, Through contact tracing, there will be no additional quarantining.
Our last day of classes is tomorrow, and the District Office will be closed on Wednesday, to give construction workers the opportunity to tie in heat and electric to the new addition.
We have all been through a lot so far this year, but through it all, we have worked together, and I sincerely appreciate that. I celebrate Christmas, and for those of you who also do, Merry Christmas. For those who don't, I wish you a safe and happy holiday season.
Thank you.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
December 14, 2020
Good Afternoon-
I wanted to take a moment to bring you up to speed on a few things. First, we had one additional COVID positive employee. The employee was the only one quarantined.
Second, the Governor held a press conference today where he outlined new criteria for Yellow, Orange, and Red zones. As we suspected, schools will remain open, regardless of the zone we are in, with student and employee testing being required in each zone (20% for Yellow zone, 30% for Orange and Red zones). In your email, you will find an updated permission slip for testing. If you already submitted a permission slip the last time we sent them out (when we thought we were going to be in a Yellow zone), you need to do nothing. Thank you in advance for helping us out. Somewhat surprisingly, we did not have our zone changed this week and are still clear. Fingers crossed that it will stay that way.
Our next Foodlink distribution is this Thursday from 3PM until it is gone, at the HS, district office side. Hope to see you there.
Thank you, and have a great rest of the week.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of SchoolsCovid Permission2.pdf
December 11, 2020
Good Afternoon-
I hope that everyone had a great week. If you didn’t have a chance to watch the Governor’s press conference today, there was good news and bad news. The good news is that he firmly believes, (and the data very much supports), that schools are the safest places to be, and that they should remain open, no matter what zone we are in.
The bad news is that the Fingerlakes area currently has the highest infection rate in the state, at 7.81%. The Governor is going to change some of the criteria for entering a yellow, orange, or red zone on Monday, and is also going to announce new zones for areas. My concern for the community is that we will be designated as an orange or red zone based on the data. It shouldn’t impact us, in terms of being able to keep schools open, and we have trained plenty of people to conduct testing, should we need to do that, but I am afraid for community members and parents who own businesses, or work in fields/areas that will be closed due to a zone designation status. Many people are already stretched thin and are hurting, and this will just add to it. I will keep you posted as we learn more, but we as a school district are ready for any eventuality. We will continue to help you where and when we can. We are in this together.
In speaking to Yates and Ontario Departments of Health yesterday, I offered up myself, as well as any of our schools, to receive and be host sites to give the vaccination, should/when it becomes available. They were unable to give us any sort of timetable for when a vaccine will be available in our community.
Until after break at the earliest, we will not be having any more adult larger group, in person trainings, meetings, or get togethers. Our administrative cabinet and Board of Education are aware of this, and are planning accordingly. On the Board of Education side of things, our Monday Board meeting will not have the public in attendance (it will be available on our YouTube channel), and we are postponing the ribbon cutting ceremony for the capital project (art/music wing, gym, and auditorium) that was scheduled for Monday evening. I appreciate your patience and understanding, but we need to control what we can control if we want the best shot at keeping school open.
Knock on wood, we have not had a direct adult COVID case this week, and we had very few student cases. We are hoping to continue that trend into break. Barring anything unknown, we will almost be back to full strength, employee and student wise, by the middle of next week.
Next Thursday is our next Foodlink distribution, from 3-5PM at the HS, DO side, hope to see you there.
Thank you for your continued support, hang in there, and enjoy the weekend.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
December 6, 2020
Good Evening-
I hope everyone had a great weekend. We spent the weekend contact tracing three employee COVID cases (one was not positive, but lives with someone who is). The result was having to quarantine 18 employees (6.5% of our workforce) from various buildings and departments. We also had to quarantine several students (their parents have already been contacted). We will be able to open our schools and supply transportation because the rest of our employees are going to cover when they can, and try to make everything happen.
We all need to be aware that we are getting closer to having to make the difficult decision to close buildings from time to time. Again, we are not there yet, and we hope not to get there, but I want to make sure that you are aware that the day could come if the number of positive cases, and especially quarantined people, continues to rise.
We are learning that the positive cases are not from anything at school, and we continue to keep our schools safe and clean. We are just in a spot right now where we are experiencing a higher volume of cases than we have been accustomed to. Our geographic area is as well. We will get through it if we continue to work together. Wearing masks, social distancing, washing hands, and avoiding gatherings outside of school are critically important right now.
Thank you for your continued support.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
November 20, 2020
Good Afternoon-
After going over a month with no COVID cases, we played a little bit of catch up this week. Just to provide a summary, three students and one employee tested positive this week. Through contact tracing and an abundance of caution by the department of health, this led to the quarantine of twelve employees and 43 students. We wish for our COVID positive students and employees to feel well, and for our quarantined students, staff, and parents to not go stir crazy until their return to work and school.
Our numbers seem high, because they came this week, but our positive rate is very, very low. The CDC, Dr. Mendoza, and our local elected officials all feel that schools are the safest places to be, and are lobbying for schools to remain open even if we enter an orange or red zone someday.
Attached is an updated Yellow Zone presentation that reflects changes up to today. Here is the link to the updated YouTube video…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWIH50NfLk8&feature=youtu.be.
Thank you for returning those permission slips, they are coming it at a steady rate. We will be training 17 employees in addition to our nurses on December 1 to conduct COVID testing should we enter the yellow zone.
Wear masks, social distance, avoid large gatherings, and wash your hands. We need to continue to work together to keep moving forward.
Thank you and have a good weekend.
Chris
Yellow Zones Final.pdf Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
November 18, 2020
Good Evening-
I wanted to bring everyone up to speed on our COVID cases as of 10PM tonight, share the permission slip for COVID testing with you, and also provide a link to a video of me taking the same COVID test that our students and employees will be asked to take should we enter a "Yellow Zone". There will NOT be a phone call to accompany this email.
We continue to learn that the COVID cases we are experiencing did not come from school. They are the remnants of gatherings that took place around Halloween. We are also learning that the county health departments are widening who they are quarantining, with the hopes of stopping the spread.
Today, we also learned of one additional COVID positive student at the high school. The case is directly related to the case we made you aware of yesterday. This case may cause a few more students to be quarantined, once contact tracing is completed.
The now three cases (one in second grade, and two at the high school) over the past twenty-four hours have led to the quarantining of thirty-seven students and seven employees.
If anything changes, I will let you know. We need to continue mask wearing, distancing, and washing our hands. The Department of Health asked us to also stress the importance of not having large gatherings.
Attached is the permission slip we are using District wide for our students to be tested, should we enter the Yellow Zone. If you had a chance to check out our virtual town hall from yesterday, there is a full explanation of Yellow Zones, how we will select people for testing, how they will be tested, as well as other pieces of the process (if you missed it, you can find it on our YouTube channel...https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCF57RFmgBLyxbxSNsWCCwUA.) I sent the presentation to you last night as well. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me. I apologize in advance if you receive several permission slips. We are trying to make sure that everyone receives one in the format they prefer. Completed permission slips can be returned to the school your child(ren) attend. Please complete one slip per child. Thank you!
Lastly, here is the link to a video that was recorded today of me taking the rapid COVID test that our students and employees will be asked to take should we enter the Yellow Zone. I found the process to be non-invasive, and it actually took about three minutes for the result to appear (negative). https://drive.google.com/file/d/1e_uZBc7KFNqO2tXtV87gmsE_IlIZzzo9/view?usp=drivesdk.
We are trying our best to keep school open, and will continue to do so. There may be some inconveniences here and there due to employee quarantines, but we will get through it; we always do. If you see any of our employees, please give them an extra "thank you". They, like you, are doing all they can to help get us through this.
Thank you in advance for reading this, and for your continued support.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of SchoolsParent Consent Form.pdf
November 17, 2020 (Follow up, COVID cases)
Good Evening-
As promised, there will be no phone call associated with this message. Thanks to all who attended our virtual town hall. You can watch the recording later tonight on our YouTube channel...
As of 6:15PM, all parents who have students who will need to quarantine have been contacted by a school official. Those parents will also be contacted by a NYS contact tracer within the next 36 hours. Parents were given direction on what they can do between now and the time the NYS contact tracer reaches them.
Attached are several documents that were used in the virtual town hall. Tomorrow, you will begin to receive permission slips for testing, should we enter a yellow zone.
As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to your child's principal, or me.
Have a good evening.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of SchoolsTesting Algorithm.pdf Yellow Zones Finalpdf2.pdf Cost of Covid Powerpointpdf.pdf
November 17, 2020 (Yellow Zone and COVID Cases)
Good Afternoon-
We learned today that two students, one in second grade, and one in eleventh grade, tested positive for COVID-19. They were last in school on November 10th and 12th, respectively. The attached letter provides more detail, and I am always available to answer any questions. I will provide another email update (no phone call unless we have a new positive case) tomorrow.
Today is our virtual town hall. It will be live-streamed on our YouTube channel. The topics will be the cost of COVID, Yellow Zones, and we will spend time with our school nurses. You will be able to ask questions using the chat feature. The link to our YouTube Channel can be found here...https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCF57RFmgBLyxbxSNsWCCwUA.
Thank you and enjoy the rest of the week.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools Parent Letter 2.pdf
November 13, 2020
Good Evening-
Thank you to all who participated in our special day yesterday and either picked up Foodlink, the Thanksgiving dinner, or both. Bringing the community together is something that we very much enjoy, and I would like to thank all of the volunteers who made it happen.
More and more areas are entering the yellow, orange, and red zones due to COVID. We have been fortunate to stay out of those zones, but we need to plan for what happens if we do. To that end, we will be holding a virtual community forum on Tuesday, November 17 at 4:30PM where we will discuss the yellow zone, testing of students, the cost of COVID to the District so far, and we will also hear from our school nurses. This event will be live-streamed on our Youtube Channel and you will be able to ask questions. If you miss the forum, you can always watch it later.
We all play important roles in keeping schools open. Wearing our masks, distancing, washing our hands, and limiting gatherings are all things we can to together to help. We are doing all that we can at school to stay open, and appreciate you helping us with that at home.
Thank you for your continued support, and enjoy the weekend!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
November 10, 2020
Good Evening-
Our next Foodlink distribution and our hot Thanksgiving dinner grab and go are both on Thursday. Unfortunately, they will need to be held as two separate events because we cannot keep the Foodlink cold and the Thanksgiving dinner warm if we hold them at the same time. My apologies if some of you have to make two trips to the high school, district office side. Foodlink will be from 2:30-3:30PM, and the Thanksgiving grab and go begins at 5PM. If you have an absolute hardship and cannot come to campus twice, please call Carla Woolston at 585-554-4848 x1802. I hope to see you at one or both events. The next Foodlink distribution is on December 3rd, and the last is on December 17.
Wednesday is Veterans Day, and I wish to sincerely thank our Veterans, not because it is the politically correct thing to do, but because I truly understand what their service has meant for my freedom, and the freedom of everyone else in our country.
Thank you, and enjoy the rest of the week!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
November 2, 2020
Good Afternoon-
I hope that everyone had a great weekend. I wanted to bring you up to speed on a couple of topics that I hope you will find useful for planning purposes.
As I mentioned earlier in the school year, there is a PILOT program that New York State made available for this school year that allows schools to eliminate snow days and instead have virtual instruction days. We are choosing to NOT participate in the PILOT, and we will have snow days this year.
This pandemic is taking a toll in different ways on everyone in a variety of ways. My educated guess is that for next year, snow days will not be an option, and we will be directed to have virtual days on snow days. I hope I am wrong.
If we exceed our allotted four snow days, we WILL have virtual days, so we can maintain the 180 days of instruction that New York State requires.
Second, the governor changed travel guidelines. There is no longer a list of “hot” states. Instead, ALL states that do not border New York State, are being treated as “hot” states. If your child travels to another state for more than 24 hours, they must get a COVID test in that state three days before they return. When they return, they must quarantine for three days. On the fourth day, they must get another COVID test. If the result is negative, they can return to school. If they refuse to get tested, the 14 day mandatory quarantine is still in effect.
If they travel out of state for less that 24 hours, they must fill out the traveler form and get a COVID test on the fourth day they have been back in New York State. They do NOT need to quarantine for those four days.
Clear as mud, right?
If you have questions, let me know.
If you can find something made of wood, knock on it. All of the schools around us are dealing with weekly cases of multiple COVID infections. We have been VERY fortunate, I hope we can keep it that way.
Thanks and have a great start to the week!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
October 26, 2020
Good Afternoon-
I hope everyone had a good weekend. I wanted to bring you up to speed on a few things that are happening this weekend. First, our next "Virtual Town Hall" will be taking place this Wednesday from 4:30PM-5:30PM on our YouTube channel, which can be found here...https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCF57RFmgBLyxbxSNsWCCwUA/videos. We will be discussing any COVID related news, reviewing the recent community survey, and we will have interviews with Brenda Lehman (Director of Technology) and Dan Blankenberg (Director of Facilities). They (and I) will also be taking your questions via the chat feature within YouTube. If you cannot make the live broadcast, you can always watch the recording at a later time.
If you have not had a chance to fill out the survey for our free, hot, grab and go Thanksgiving dinner on November 12th, please do. The survey can be found here...https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf4GxmB3zDWRZqkbNo0gt-O6S3K81UEH87zOYKyvX0nxtdKYw/viewform?fbclid=IwAR2dEgED1x_LaXcLgc0cX8yf9HWTwW7uZmQV5hr0F520tmrJISQDOLSlLAo, and we hope that you will come up and enjoy the great cooking of Carla Woolston and her crew of volunteers!
Many more schools and nursing homes in our county have had positive COVID cases recently. We are keeping a close eye on this, and if the numbers get high enough, New York State may place us in a "yellow zone", (we do not know the exact metric they will use yet), which will mean that we will need to randomly test 20% of our students and employees over the course of a week. Again, we do not have the metrics they will be using or how the tests will be deployed, but I wanted you to be familiar with the terminology should schools in the county be told that we have to enter the "yellow zone". If we ever need to enter that zone, I will let you know ALL of the details as soon as I get them.
Also this week, be on the lookout for another read aloud that you can find on our YouTube channel. The book this week will be "Ruby Finds A Worry", by Tom Percival.
We are still hiring for bus drivers, teacher aides, and groundskeepers. If you are interested, or know someone who is, please contact Sharene Benedict at sbenedict@mwcsd.org or 585-554-4848 x 1815.
Thank you and have a great rest of the week.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
October 19, 2020
Good Afternoon-
The National School Lunch program will be continuing free breakfast and lunch for all students in UPK-12 for the remainder of the school year. There is nothing that you need to do on your part. If you feel that your financial circumstances have changed where you may qualify for free or reduced lunch for next school year, please contact Carla Woolston at 585-554-4848 x 1802. There may be other benefits outside of school that you qualify for based on your new income level.
More and more students are returning from all virtual to in-class or hybrid instruction. That has been wonderful news for us. More students returning is putting some pressure on our transportation department in terms of number of students on buses, so if you are able to drive your child to school, especially in the morning, we would really appreciate it if you would.
Also, because we have more students attending classes every day, we are now only allowing students who currently attend school, to attend fully remotely if they have a medical note for themselves, explaining that for a medical reason, they cannot attend school in person. Thank you.
The Marcus Whitman YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCF57RFmgBLyxbxSNsWCCwUA) is becoming a source for many different types of broadcasts, including our town halls, Board of Education meetings, messages from principals, and our sporting events.
Beginning this week, I am going to be starting a reading series geared for students in grades UPK-8, with topics related to change, managing anxiety, and feeling comfortable in the uncomfortable. They will be available on our YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCF57RFmgBLyxbxSNsWCCwUA) beginning every Thursday morning for the next seven weeks. Each book video will be narrated by me, and will be about fifteen minutes or less in length. Thank you to our librarian, and to some of our sixth graders, for helping to pull the books that I will be using.
Lastly, there will be a live streamed town hall this Wednesday from 4:30PM-5:30PM. It will be broadcast on our YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCF57RFmgBLyxbxSNsWCCwUA) and you will have an opportunity to ask questions. The topics will be the most recent COVID updates related to Marcus Whitman, the results of the Thought Exchange that you participated in, and we will have two special guests who will talk about their departments and will answer questions. If you cannot watch live, you can always watch the recording at a later date.
I will be sending an email with this information as well. Thank you and enjoy the week!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
October 14, 2020 (Survey)
Good Evening-
I hope you are doing well. This is a reminder that tomorrow is our last Foodlink distribution of this calendar year. It will take place from 3-5PM at the high school, district office side. I hope to see you there.
Part of working together is reaching out to get your honest feedback about how you feel the school year is going so far. Please take a few moments to participate in this ThoughtExchange survey...https://my.thoughtexchange.com/775464640. The deadline is Monday, October 19th, at 4PM. Thank you and have a great rest of the week!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
October 8, 2020
Good Evening-
Today we learned through the Department of Health that a student teacher from an area college, placed at the Marcus Whitman high school, tested positive for COVID. The student teacher worked in the high school, in rooms that we have identified, all day Monday, October 5th, and the morning of October 6th. The Department of Health was quick to point out that this positive case is NOT connected to the positive case we had on Monday.
Because there is a high rate of infection on college campuses, the Department of Health is attacking this case very aggressively, and with an overabundance of caution, quarantining the staff and students who were in the identified classrooms. This equates to nine employees, and ten students. Those staff and students are in the process of being contacted by us tonight, and will be contacted by the Department of Health tomorrow.
Again, because of the mask wearing, social distancing, and cleaning that we have been doing, all other areas in the district are “clean” in terms of quarantine or contact. I was told that the high school could remain open tomorrow for in person classes. Because I am the “responsible party” for the school District, and for the safety of our staff and our students, I have made the decision to have the high school ONLY (Valley, Gorham, middle school and FLSS will operate as normal) have a virtual day tomorrow for students. We have thoroughly cleaned the identified classrooms, but the high school has the capability to immediately go virtual, and I would like to give the three impacted rooms a deeper cleaning. FLTCC students will still attend their programs, and Jenn Taft will put out a call to them later. This will NOT impact outdoor athletics at this time, but may have an impact on the swim meet tomorrow evening, but we will get more information about that in the morning.
This case will NOT be on our state COVID dashboard. It will be on the dashboard of the college where the student teacher attends.
Unfortunately, this is the “new normal” that none of us want, but we are one big family, and we need to continue to work together and support each other. Thank you and I will send something else out tomorrow or over the weekend should it be necessary.
Thank you and have a good rest of the evening.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
October 5, 2020
Good Afternoon-
Thank you for your help so far this school year. Our average daily attendance has been almost 97% since the school year started. This is exactly where we are when all of the students are allowed to attend during a “normal” school year.
The New York State Department of Health finally released some updated guidelines for schools and COVID. I will be sending them to you via email (attached), and they will be posted on our website and social media platforms. The major changes are that if a student has COVID symptoms, but they represent pre-existing conditions (allergies, migraines, etc…) the doctor can write a note about those pre-existing conditions, and the child can return to school without needing to stay home for ten days. Also, children who have symptoms can go to the doctor and the doctor can write a note explaining that it isn’t COVID, or can administer a COVID test. In either case, the child can return to school immediately if the test is negative or if the symptoms go away. If you have any questions, please contact your school nurse.
Now that we are well into the school year, school bus pick-up and drop off times may have been adjusted from what they were the first few days of school. This would happen on any school year, but is more pronounced this school year with more parents driving their children than normal. The pick-up and drop off times you are experiencing now should be solid as we move into the rest of the school year.
If you signed up for grab and go meals to be delivered to your child(ren) on virtual or all remote days, that service will begin on October 13th. If you have any questions, please contact Carla Woolston at 585-554-1802.
Foodlink distribution will be this Thursday from 3-5PM at the high school, District Office side. The final distribution of the Fall will be October 15th.
We will be sending home lack of attendance letters ONLY for students we have not been able to make contact with, or who have not been participating in their schooling. This is different than normal school years, where we would send letters home for ANY students who have been missing a lot of school days.
Lastly, this Friday, October 9th, IS a school day. The paper calendar has it listed as a conference day, but we used it at the beginning of the school year. We are expecting students to attend school this Friday, October 9th.
Thanks for your continued support, and have a great week!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
October 6, 2020
Good Afternoon-
Late this morning we learned from the Department of Health that a student at the high school tested positive for COVID. After the Department of Health informed us of the situation, contact tracing began immediately.
We were able to trace the student’s every step from the time they left their home on the day that was specified to us by the Department of Health, until they left the building early morning that same day, using video and witness accounts.
We contacted the Department of Health and told them what we knew. They were very complimentary that our employees and students were following proper safety and social distancing guidelines, and that we were able to contact trace so definitively.
As a result of our employees and students following the proper safety protocols, and the results of the contact tracing, we will NOT need to quarantine anyone, or close any buildings for this particular case. In addition, no employees or students were deemed to have been at risk at any time.
Due to privacy concerns, we are not at liberty to share the name of the student. Obviously, we are not out of the woods of this pandemic, and I will continue to inform you about positive cases that we become aware of in the future, and what the outcomes are.
Thank you.
Chris
September 30, 2020
Good Afternoon-
I hope that everyone is having a good week. This is a reminder that our next Foodlink distribution is tomorrow, from 3-5PM at the high school, district office side. The USDA has changed how they are packaging the food, and instead of three, twenty pound each boxes of meat, dairy, and produce, they are sending one box that contains 40 pounds of meat, dairy, and produce. We are being given a quantity limit of 294 boxes, so we are only going to be able to give each car one box. If we are able to satisfy all of the cars that come through, we will send a call out and will give out the remainder until they are gone. As a reminder, the next pickup will be the 8th from 3-5PM, and the one after that will be on the 15th, from 3-5PM. Thank you, and I hope to see you there.
Attached are the athletics spectator guidelines for the Fall season. Mr. Lahue and I will be recording a livestream tomorrow to explain the guidance in more detail, and if you have any questions, you can contact Paul Lahue at plahue@mwcsd.org.
We will be holding a few more "live-streamed", virtual town halls on our YouTube channel in the coming weeks, and we want to offer them when you will be most available, so you can actively participate. If you could help us by completing this short survey(https://forms.gle/rrmFm76RsVjpPbB87), I would appreciate it. Thank you.
Thank you for continuing to complete the daily health assessment with your children each morning before school. We are hoping to stay open and even get more students back sooner than later, and it will continue to take all of us working together to make that happen.
Thanks, and have a great rest of the week!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of SchoolsEvent Protocols & Expectations for Spectators - Fall 2020.pdf
September 25, 2020
Good Evening-
Well, we made it to Friday. Thank you for your continued support and for your patience as we continue to work through this pandemic. We have had EXCELLENT student attendance both in person and remotely since the beginning of the school year, and that is a tribute to you as parents and to our staff, so THANK YOU.
Our capital project continues to really progress. We are expecting to be using our new gym and auditorium by as soon as Thanksgiving, and we are excited about that. You can see that our second floor on top of the high school is moving right along as well. That will take about 15 more months to be completed.
Thank you to those who attended our recent town halls/parent nights on remote/virtual instruction, as well as athletics. You can view them and any other town halls we have had on our YouTube Channel which is located here… https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCF57RFmgBLyxbxSNsWCCwUA. We will be scheduling more in the near future.
While we have been fortunate to not have a positive COVID case yet, a quick look at the news shows that schools around us have had positive cases. If we do have a positive case in a student or employee, we will be working with the Department of Health on what they would like us to do. Also out there is what we will need to do if too many bus drivers, custodians, food service workers, or teachers are out on any given day.
As parents, I would ask you to plan for the worst, and hope for the best. The worst would be that we have to close schools and go fully remote for a period of time. The best would be that a particular classroom has to stay home for a period of days due to quarantine, etc…. We will be ready to handle that here, but you may want to plan for childcare, if you need it, for anything that might happen. I am keeping my fingers crossed that we can keep moving forward the way we are, and even get more students back to school, but we have to be ready in case that cannot happen for a period of time.
On Monday, I will be emailing an updated flowchart from the Department of Health for our students and employees. The biggest concern we are receiving from parents and employees is being able to obtain a COVID test if the employee or children do not have symptoms. You can get them, but there is quite a process involved, and I find that unacceptable.
I have been in contact with the Department of Health and have asked to pilot the COVID saliva test in our district, if and when they become more available. This would allow parents and employees the convenience of being able to get tested locally if they need to be. We would also be able to get results very quickly and that will help with the timeframe to be able to return to school and work. When I hear more, I will let you know.
We are following the flowcharts very closely, as we have zero flexibility, unfortunately, and we are closely monitored by the state. You can keep track of our daily COVID “positives” (we currently have none) by clicking here… https://schoolcovidreportcard.health.ny.gov/#/home, clicking public schools, and entering “Gorham” and you will find our school district.
Just a reminder that next Thursday, October 1, is our next food link distribution, from 3-5PM. Hope to see you there!
Thanks again for your continued support, and we will continue to get through this together.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
September 28, 2020
Good Afternoon-
Attached are the most up to date student flowcharts from the Department of Health for either being exposed to COVID, or having COVID symptoms. The two major changes are that the temperature was reduced from 100.4 degrees to 100 degrees, and if a child has any of the COVID symptoms, they MUST get a note from their physician AND either a negative COVID test, OR remain out for ten days. The previous flowchart from the Department of Health allowed students to remain out for ten days and not have to go to the doctor or get a negative COVID test. We have been told that there could be an update coming from the New York State Department of Health, but it may be at least a couple of weeks.
Also, a reminder that we DO have school on October 9th. The school calendar indicates that the 9th is a conference day, but we borrowed it and used it at the beginning if the school year, which is why the school year started one day later than indicated for students.
Thank you and have a great week!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
September 17, 2020
Good Afternoon-
I hope that everyone had a great week. I want to say thank you for helping with the daily health checks and for your communication with us. I also want to thank the students and parents for helping to make mask wearing a priority. The students have been been great understanding the importance of mask wearing, social distancing, and hand washing. We will need to continue those three things as we move forward, and I am certain that we will.
Yesterday, the Department of Health gave us un updated COVID flowchart (attached). It contains an updated symptoms list and also a roadmap of what the school will be doing should a student or employee exhibit any of the listed symptoms.
There are a few frustration points that my colleagues and I are trying to get clarified by the Department of Health, and they have indicated that there may be changes to this flowchart again in the coming weeks.
Under the current guidelines, with NO exceptions, if a child wakes up with any of the symptoms or comes to school and exhibits any of the listed symptoms, they are to remain home or be sent home through our isolation room process. That has worked well so far. Unfortunately, we cannot take pre-existing conditions into consideration for students at this time (allergies, migraines, etc...). That has been frustrating, and that is the thing we would like to see changed by the Department of Health.
If a child needs to use the flowchart, they MUST have a negative COVID test either at a testing site or through their physician AND be symptom free before they can return to school. If they do not get a test, they MUST stay out of school for ten days and be symptom free in order to return. We are sorry if this causes an inconvenience as we move forward but we are required to follow the Department of Health guidance. Again, I hope that that we are provided with flexibility in the near future for students with pre-existing health conditions.
This link will take you to all of the COVID testing sites in our area... You can call them ahead of time to see if there are any fees (many are free) and to set up appointments (many do not need appointments).
Thank you again for working with us to keep our students safe and learning. Have a wonderful weekend!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
September 15, 2020
Good Afternoon-
I hope everyone is having a great day. I wanted to provide you with a few updates. We have been working through some of the technology glitches that have caused issues with Zoom. Our local BOCES has been monitoring the Internet connection as well as our hardware, and it appears that the sporadic issues are outside of our control, but that doesn't mean that we are not working with whomever we need to in order to find solutions. One of the pieces within our control is our email. In order to make it work most efficiently for our employees and for you, BOCES has begun migrating our email to a new server and version of our email program. We expect the process to be completed by the end of the week. This should not impact anything, but I wanted to let you know in case it somehow temporarily does.
As a reminder, tonight is our town hall regarding fall athletics from 5-6PM. We will let you know everything you need to know about the new look of athletics from the perspective of the student athlete, parent, and general spectator. You can view the town hall on our YouTube channel live or the recorded version, also on our YouTube channel later tonight. This is the link to our YouTube channel...https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCF57RFmgBLyxbxSNsWCCwUA?reload=9.
On September 22nd and 23rd, we will be holding two parent nights, one for all remote learners, and the other for our hybrid learners. The remote learner night will be on the 22nd from 4-5PM for grades UPK-5 and 6-7PM for grades 6-12, and the hybrid learner parent night will be the 23rd from 4-5PM for grades UPK-5 and 6-7PM for grades 6-12. These will also be on our Youtube channel and we will send the links as we get closer to those dates. I just wanted you to have them on your calendar at this point.
Thanks for reading, and have a great rest of the week!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
September 8, 2020
Good Afternoon-
We are excited for the first day of school tomorrow, and appreciate your patience these first few days, as we use and adjust to our new systems. We would much rather err on the side of caution than rush things and cause us to move backward.
The FamilyID process that we use for athletics will be opening so students can sign up for Fall sports, with the understanding that things are rapidly changing, and we do not know what the season will exactly look like. Stay tuned for more details from the Athletic Director.
The school district will still NOT be a COVID testing site, however, we are now required by the state Department of Health to provide a daily update to them about any positive COVID cases in students and employees. We would get the testing data from the local Departments of Health. They are calling the interface a "dashboard" and as soon as there is public access to it, we will make it available on our website.
Our next Foodlink distribution will be Thursday from 3PM-5PM at the high school, district office side. Because of increased traffic due to school, we will have a slightly different traffic pattern, and we will not begin to load cars until exactly 3PM. Thank you for understanding.
I am looking forward to this school year. Challenges bring opportunities, which means that we will have plenty of opportunities for success this year!
Take care and enjoy the rest of the week.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
September 3, 2020
Good Afternoon-
We had a very successful week with all of our employees back in the buildings. We do have some glitches to work out before students arrive next week, but we will. What isn’t a glitch is our commitment to our students and our community. That came across loud and clear yesterday; and I am proud to be the leader of such a dedicated group.
I do want you to know a concern that is occupying space in my brain as we head into the weekend, with the hopes that maybe some of you can help.
Our building schedules are tight, meaning, we have spread the people we have to the max. To be more comfortable, we really need to hire four to five more teacher aides (full-time), several temporary cleaners (probably for the school year at least), and bus drivers (both permanent and substitute). If you know anyone who is 18 or older and looking for steady work, please have them contact Sharene Benedict at sbenedict@mwcsd.org, or 585-554-4848 x1805. Thank you very much.
I hope to have more updated information from the Department of Health about everything COVID related. One thing that I think will be coming is a ban on gaiters and bandanas as approved face coverings. I have heard chatter about it for a few weeks now and was told it would be in the next DOH update. For now, they are allowed, but don’t be surprised if they aren’t in the near future. I have also heard enough chatter about updates to COVID testing in schools to know that something is probably coming related to that topic as well. I will keep you posted.
The District Office will be closed tomorrow due to construction, and will reopen next Tuesday.
Enjoy the weekend, and I am very excited for next week!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
September 1, 2020
Good Afternoon-
Attached is the most updated list of COVID symptoms as of today. If an employee or child exhibits symptoms before coming to school or work, they are to stay home and contact the nurse or principal/director for further direction. We expect more updated information from the Department of Health this week.
Thank you.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools CDCSymptomList.docx
August 28, 2020
Good Afternoon-
The purpose of this message is to provide you with a few updates as we get ready for the start of school.
We held an administrative meeting yesterday, and I am very confident with where we are in the reopening process. There have been no changes to our reopening plans, frequently asked questions, or Department of Health guidance since my last phone call, so we are full speed ahead.
By now, you should be receiving schedules, bus run information, orientation videos, dates and times for Chromebook pickup, and other important information related to the start of school. If you have any questions about the materials, please contact the building principal or director as soon as possible.
There are three things that you can do as parents to really help us out as we start the school year. The first is to get your child used to wearing a mask if they will be attending school. We will provide training when they get here, but having them used to the feeling of wearing a mask before they get to us will be very helpful.
Early next week, you will be receiving a student health checklist from me to put on the fridge. It will contain a few very basic questions that you will answer at home, and keep at home, including taking daily temperatures. You can consider it your child's ticket out the door in the morning, and we will be spot checking temperatures when children arrive for the day.
The last thing you can help us with is creating an environment at home that closely matches a classroom, if your child needs to have virtual days until we can all get back to school. This means using headphones for Zoom, having your children in an uninterrupted place, and letting them be students. With those three things from you and what we are doing at school, we will have a very successful school year.
The Governor announced that high school sports can begin on September 21st, but there are too few details about how they will work for me to give you a proper update. Once I know more, I will share the information with you.
Thanks for your continued support and enjoy the weekend!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
August 21, 2020
Good Afternoon-
Thanks to all of you who participated in our community forums or watched them on our Youtube Channel. Your questions and input helped us to make our reopening plans better. We added all of the questions and answers from those forums to our website and the link to the page can be found here...https://www.mwcsd.org/covid-19/updates.
We spent this week fine tuning our plans and I thank our administrators and employees for working as hard as they have to prepare us for a safe opening to school in a few weeks.
Parents and guardians should be on the lookout next week for emails, phone calls, and mail from the principals and directors containing class lists, bus route information, Chromebook pickup dates, and any other information that you and your children will need to begin the school year.
We did learn something new about transportation today. Before today, the use or possession of hand sanitizer by students and bus drivers on school buses was prohibited. Today, the Department of Health and the New York State Education Department announced that students and bus drivers CAN have hand sanitizer on the bus.
Thank you for your continued support, and have a great weekend.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
August 10, 2020
Good Afternoon-
I hope this is finding you cooler than I am. My office is currently 88 degrees and has been for most of the day. It is my new weight loss plan. Actually, they put temporary cooling in the district office while construction is happening but it just doesn’t reach my office well. No worries though, I could stand to drop 10!
I wanted to get you up to speed on a few things as we head into the bulk of the week. For starters, we are going to make a calendar change. The first day of school for students will be September 9th, not the 8th. The 8th will be used as a conference day so our employees can complete all of the required COVID related trainings.. We are taking a conference day away from October so we can have the conference day on the 8th
This week, we will be making updates to the FAQ document as well as the one page infographic. The biggest change for the infographic is that high school students will have limited use of lockers to begin the school year. Just about everything else will remain the same as of right now.
Thank you, stay cool, and have a great rest of the week!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
July 24, 2020
Good Evening-
I hope that this message finds you doing well and getting ready to enjoy the weekend. I wanted to bring you up to speed on where we are with plans to reopen in September. In my last message, I indicated that we would be able to have ALL students return to school at Valley, but we would be unable to do the same in our other buildings due to social distancing requirements. I can now provide more detail and will continue to do so into next week and beyond.
Planning for, organizing, and operating Extended School Year at Gorham this summer has given us an awesome opportunity to see what the Fall could look like, just on a much smaller scale. We tapped into the teachers, drivers, custodians, and administrators of the program to get their take; things that are working well, things that need improvement, and considerations that hadn’t been thought of when the program started.
We combined those thoughts and suggestions with the results of the surveys and the seemingly endless number of ever changing regulations into the best working schedules we could come up with, by building, to start the school year. Many thanks goes to the entire administrative cabinet for their long hours and collaboration to help us get to where we are today. There will certainly be changes between now and the start of school, but it is good to know that we have a solid plan…for now.
As I mentioned earlier, we will be able to have ALL students at Valley attend five days per week. We are going to keep UPK and K as full-day programs. You may hear about other schools moving those grade levels to half day programs, but we feel strongly that the programs need to remain full-day. All Valley grades will be taught using the cohort model, meaning that students will stay with each other all day. Cohorting, especially at the younger levels, was a very strong recommendation in all guidance documents.
At Gorham, third graders will attend in person Monday through Thursday. Friday will be a virtual day. Fourth grade will attend in person Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Virtual instruction will happen on Tuesday and Thursday. Fifth grade will attend in person on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Virtual instruction will take place on Monday and Wednesday. Gorham students will also be taught using the cohort model.
At the middle school and high school, students will attend in person every other day, using an “A-Day”. “B-Day” schedule. Middle school students will be taught using the cohort model, and the high school will as well when they can. Students will be split into “A” groups and “B” groups by alphabet (roughly A-K for group “A” and L-Z for group “B”), and great care will be taken to be sure that children with different last names but living under the same roof end up in the same group.
While no hybrid model is ideal, this plan represents the absolute best we could come up with considering the constraints we are facing. As we can get more students back to school, we will. We will also have plans for students who will be instructed from home.
These are just the schedules. Attached for your review are the 18 pages of assurances that we also have to have written plans for before we can allow ONE student to enter the building. We have until July 31st (a week from today) to have these assurances completed and submitted. We will, and when we do, we will share them, along with opportunities for us to connect, answer questions, and get ready for the start of the school year.
The Commissioner of Education resigned yesterday, and the Governor indicated that he would give his final answer about schools the week of August 3rd. Both of these things could bring changes, as could an increase in COVID cases. For now, this is the plan, and I feel fortunate to be working with such a great team and in such an awesome community2020-21 School Re-Opening Plans - Public School Districts and Charter Schools - 2020 re-opening - 2020 re-opening - GORHAM-MIDDLESEX CSD (MARCUS WHITMAN.pdf .
Thank you and enjoy the weekend.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
July 21, 2020
Good Afternoon-
We have been working a lot of uninterrupted hours trying to come up with the best scenarios to reopen school, while keeping our students and employees safe, meeting all of the Department of Health and State Education Department guidelines, and trying to meet the needs expressed in the surveys that we recently administered.
We do NOT have final schedules worked out at this time, but hope to have close frameworks finished by the end of the week. What we do know is that Valley Elementary is the only building that will be able to bring students back five days per week. Gorham, the middle school and high school will have to start the year with some type of hybrid model in order to have enough space and staff to maintain social distancing according to the most recent guidelines. If the guidelines change, so will our ability to include more students at school every day.
We do know that the school year will start without athletics (delayed until September 21st at the earliest), extracurricular activities that cannot run completely virtually, and field trips, unless they are to school owned properties and/or are virtual. We will also not be able to allow use of our facilities by outside groups to start the school year.
We know that whatever we start the school with will likely not be what we finish the school year with, so our initial schedules need to have the flexibility to be changed.
We have been wrestling with students and mask wearing and received clarification from the Department of Health today that masks will be mandatory for ALL students unless they have a medical or mental health exemption, in which case we will make accommodations for them. Students who refuse to wear masks when they need to (hallways, common areas, buses, classrooms when 6 ft cannot be maintained) will be given the option to wear their mask or learn virtually at home.
We know that some parents will be homeschooling their children in the Fall, or will not send their children if they need to wear masks, so we are planning for those types of scenarios in our scheduling as well, and we will have an additional survey about this topic in the very near future. Rules related to COVID are not our rules, but we need to enforce them, and respect the wishes of those who choose not to follow them by giving alternate means of education.
We WILL be able to provide busing for our students, BOCES will be running a five day per week schedule, and we will have some sort of ECO program for our sixth graders who were selected for the program.
The key word for the school year is going to be “flexibility”; especially if we want to retain the maximum number of opportunities for students throughout the school year, and if we want to keep our collective patience!
Attached are the community stakeholder survey results, and I will write again when we have schedules completed by building, which I hope to be by the end of this week.
Thank you for reading, and I will send more information as soon as we have it.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools MWCSD Stakeholder Input about Reopening - Fall 2020 - Google Forms.pdf
July 16, 2020
Good Afternoon-
I hope that you are finding ways to keep cool. I wanted to provide you with some updates with regards to the reopening of schools. First, thank you to the over 500 people who completed our reopening survey. I will share the results with you on Monday, and we are using them in our reopening planning.
Our first choice for the Fall is to have all students back in our schools five days per week. Our second choice is to have a hybrid model, where students would attend a portion of the week, and would use the rest of the week to learn virtually.
We will be using math to make the decision for us. The regulations we have been given state that we must provide 36 square feet of space for each student in their classroom, and 144 square feet of space in music the physical education. Students must have six feet of social distance on the buses as well.
Today, we determined that with student drivers, and some parents driving their children to school, we WILL have enough buses to keep our school times normal whether we go with a regular five day per week schedule, or an alternate/hybrid schedule for students.
We are in the process of measuring every space in every building to determine if we can safely house all of our students and staff. We hope to have that completed over the weekend and that will determine if we can go with the first or second scheduling model.
The regulations also state that students must wear masks when they are not socially distanced unless they have a medical reason not to wear a mask. We will be updating our Codes of Conduct to reflect this regulation.
As you know, everything is subject to change at a moment's notice, but we are going to be using the information above to create our first base plan for reopening. I won't be letting a single student or employee enter our buildings in the Fall unless I would feel comfortable enough to send my own children or grandchildren.
I am going to apologize in advance for the amount of communication you will be receiving over the next few weeks, but I feel that it is very important to keep you in the loop at all times.
Thank you and have a great rest of the week!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
July 8, 2020
Good Afternoon-
Today, the governor informed us that he will have guidance for the reopening of schools available by July 13th. We will then have until July 31st to submit our plan for reopening, and he will make the decision to open or not open schools in September between
August 1st and 7th. To prepare for the guidance, you will be receiving a link soon to a survey that we would like you to fill out so we can include you input in our reopening plans. Thank you for taking the time to complete the survey; we are all in this together.
Our next Foodlink distribution is tomorrow, July 9th, from 2-4PM at the high school, district office side. Each vehicle can pick up for a maximum of two people. In the event that we may run out of food, we may limit the number per vehicle to one. Thank you for understanding, and hope to see you there!
Thank you, stay cool, and enjoy the rest of the week.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
June 25, 2020
Good Morning-
Tomorrow night (Friday) is high school graduation, and I could not be more excited. Our grounds crew, technology department, and high school administration have worked out every detail to provide a safe and unique graduation ceremony that falls within the Governor’s Executive Order for capacity limits and social distancing.
Senior families will be receiving two tickets each, and we have figured out a way to rotate loved ones who received tickets through our football field during the ceremony without exceeding the 150 person capacity limit. We will be live-streaming the ceremony, and the link will be available on our website tomorrow (Friday). The ceremony will begin at 6PM sharp, and we are keeping our fingers crossed for cooperative weather!
If you did not receive a ticket to attend graduation, we ask that you watch the livestream from home. The last thing we want to happen is to have more people than we are allowed to have on site, and jeopardize the ceremony for our students. Thank you!
On July 2nd, we will have our second Foodlink distribution at the high school, district office side. The time will be 2-4PM and this is open to any community member in Ontario and Yates counties. I will send out a reminder next week.
Thank you and enjoy the weekend.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
June 15, 2020
Good Afternoon-
As we get closer to the end of the school year, I wanted to provide some updates regarding the summer and pre-planning for next school year.
The last day of dinner grab and go for the school year will be this Thursday. A special thank you to our food service workers and volunteers for providing an excellent service.
Breakfast and lunch grab and go and will end on June 26th and will restart again on July 6th. Beginning July 6th, breakfast/lunch will be on Monday’s and Thursday’s until August 13th. The Monday breakfast pick-up will provide enough food for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The Thursday pickup will provide enough food for Thursday and Friday. In order for us to staff properly and make enough food, please complete this short survey…https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScaXVRk7vAJ2dllOvXN4lzuwmYc-i8Bz7G4G-DlMqwUSUWdGg/viewform. Thank you.
Governor Cuomo announced that a limited number of recreational, non-school sports can begin July 6th. Our facilities are not available for possible use by Executive Order until we enter Phase 4 and the Governor opens school facilities to students. As soon as we receive that information, we will let you know. Our playgrounds, track, and fields are open to individuals as long as you properly socially distance.
We do not know what the Fall will bring as of yet, but we will be ready for any eventuality. We do know that we will be changing the start time of Gorham Intermediate to match the start time of Valley Elementary. This will allow Gorham to have its own bus run, which will have fewer students on buses, shorter bus run times, and will allow us to provide more thorough cleaning of buses. Gorham parents will hear more from the building principal in the near future.
School budget vote day is tomorrow, beginning at 5PM. We will have the results posted on our website and all of our social media sources. We will also give the results to the local media.
Lastly, a socially distanced, in person high school graduation is still scheduled for June 26th at 6PM, with a rain date of June 27th. Seniors were given directions and two tickets. The event will also be professionally live streamed for all to view. We will have more details as we get closer to the big day.
Thank you and have a great week!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
June 9, 2020
Good afternoon-
I wanted to take a few moments to bring you up to speed regarding the school budget vote, and graduation.
Governor Cuomo extended the vote date for school districts. The original date and time that absentee ballots were to be counted was today, beginning at 5PM. The new date is June 16th, beginning at 5PM.
The Governor also stated that between 5PM today and 5PM on June 16th, we can only accept ballots that are received by mail, and after 5PM today, we cannot give out additional ballots. We have received over 1,400 ballots so far and we will keep you posted about the results next week.
Governor Cuomo also changed his mind regarding graduations. We can now have a socially distanced, outdoor graduation on our football field with no more than 150 people in attendance.
The class would like to graduate together, and we will accommodate their request. When we add the class, plus the school employees necessary to conduct graduation, that gives us 110 people. We are working on ways to be able to include parents in some way, and will have the full plan available in the next day or two. We will also have the event professionally live-streamed, and a recording of the event made available. Graduation will on June 26th, with a rain date of June 27th. The time will be 6PM, but it is subject to change.
It’s Taco Tuesday on the menu tonight as well as goulash for the dinner grab and go at the HS from 4:30-6PM, and as a reminder, we will be conducting the Foodlink distribution from 2-4 on Thursday, also at the HS and will have 60 pounds of meat, dairy, and produce available to give to families.
Thank you, stay cool, and I will reach out later this week with any other updates that come our way.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
June 4, 2020
Good Afternoon-
A few moments ago we received information from the Department of Health, outlining parameters for graduation. Unfortunately, and regardless of how hard we pushed, socially distanced in-person graduations were not approved for this school year.
The options we have been given include virtual graduations, drive-in graduations, drive-thru graduations, in person but fewer than 10 people graduations, and home graduations (school officials will not be allowed to get out of their cars).
Ms. Taft and her crew worked tirelessly to provide the best experience they could for the socially distanced, in-person graduation. With these new parameters, the team will develop a new graduation plan, taking pieces from the drive-thru, virtual, and in-person but fewer than 10 people categories. We need to give them a few days to put their vision on paper, and I will relay the new plan once it is completed.
Keeping positive is something that I have mentioned during this whole COVID thing, and this time is no different. We did the absolute best we could to provide an outdoor graduation experience for students and families, and by no fault of our own, we need to change course.
We will be in touch with the new plan, date(s) and time(s) shortly.
In other news, thank you for returning your school budget ballots. We have received over 500 so far. You have until 5PM on June 9th to have your ballot in the District Office. You can mail the ballot, use our drop box located at the District Office, or drop it/them off during breakfast/lunch/dinner pickup.
I will write again soon about
Thank you.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
May 29, 2020
Good Afternoon-
I hope this finds you keeping cool and allergy free. Thanks to all of you who have returned your school budget ballots, and as a reminder, they can be returned by mail, in person during breakfast, lunch and dinner pickups, or at the district office between the hours of 8AM and 2PM M-F. They can also be placed in the drop box that is outside the district office. Ballots must be in by 5PM on June 9th to be considered. If you need a ballot, please contact Sharene Benedict at 585-554-4848 x1805.
The big question continues to be whether we will be allowed to have an outdoor, socially distanced graduation, and there is still no word on that, except “no”. We will keep pushing, and I have a Zoom call with Bob Duffy, the person heading up the re-opening of NY for our region, on Monday. Outdoor graduation will be the very first question I will ask about.
We also did receive some clarification about summer school. We will NOT be allowed to have any students on campus this summer for any type of summer school, Extended School Year, or summer reading program; even if the number of students is less than 10. I specifically asked that of the regional people yesterday and was told that bringing students onto campus for educational purposes would be a violation of the Executive Order of the Governor. All of this can change, obviously, but these are the rules as of now.
We will have Extended School Year and Summer School but they will be virtual. At this point, we will not have summer reading, but if that changes, I will let you know. As details become available about these programs, we will let you know as well.
Mickey Frieda once again helped us to get more Blessings in a Backpack, so we will have more food to hand out with our usual breakfasts/lunches. That is great news, and thanks to Constellation Brands for their generosity in paying for the shipment.
Thank you for your continued support, hang in there, and enjoy the weekend.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
May 26, 2020, Budget Vote
If you are wondering why you got an extra ballot or two for the June 9th school vote, here is the reason and what we are doing about it...
“I hope that you are finding shade or air conditioning somewhere today! You will never hear me seriously say “is it hot enough for you?” but I certainly feel like saying it!
I wanted to reach out to solve the great mystery of why some of our community members received more than one ballot, what we are doing about it, and what it means on June 9th.
First, we consulted with our school attorney to generate a master list of qualified voters. That list included people who are registered voters and live within the school district boundaries, as well as people who voted in last year’s school budget vote. We also captured students who turned 18 in time to register to vote on June 9th.
That list contained duplicates, which our Board Clerk began the process of removing. At the same time, we worked with a company to print the ballots. That company indicated that their computer system would remove the duplicates, and for us to just send them the master list, which we did.
Once ballots were mailed, we began to receive calls and emails from people who received duplicate ballots. We reached out to the company as soon as they opened this morning and they indicated that the system removed several of the duplicates, but not all of them. We are working with the company now to recoup the costs of the duplicate ballots that were sent in error.
Every voter is entitled to cast their vote one time, and we will be using the master voter list on June 9th to make sure that we do not receive duplicate votes. If you received extra ballots, please recycle them. If you did not receive a ballot yet, and think that you should, please contact Sharene Benedict at 585-554-4848 x1805.
In speaking to our school attorney this morning, this scenario is not unique to us, and is a sign of working through the growing pains of this “new normal”. Once we go through the complete voting process, we will make corrections and adjustments, so it is much more efficient should we need to do this again next year.
Thanks for reading, please help spread the word, and have a great rest of the week!-Dr.B”
May 20, 2020
Good Afternoon-
I hope this finds you well. I wanted to bring you up to speed on several items. First, we submitted our plans for a potential in-person but socially distanced graduation to the Department of Health and NYS. If and when we receive feedback or a decision, I will be sure to let you know. If in-person graduations are not allowed, we will have a virtual ceremony, but a socially distanced in-person graduation is our top choice.
By now you should have received a budget postcard, and today, the electronic newsletter about the budget, called the Annual Report, will be made available. Tomorrow, absentee ballots will be mailed to all eligible voters in the school district. If you have not received your ballot by Thursday of next week, please call our office at 585-554-4848 x1805 and we can help you to get a ballot. Also, please complete and return the ballot as soon as you can because we have to have them at the district office no later than 5PM on Tuesday, June 9th. If you do not want to return your ballot by mail, you can drop it off to the district office between the hours of 8AM-2PM M-F, or use the drop box that will be located outside of the district office. Thank you!
New York State is looking for feedback from community members and parents about the reopening of school and they are using Thought Exchange, the same tool that we used to get feedback from you a few weeks ago. The link to the survey is... https://my.thoughtexchange.com/333518046 and we are in the Wayne Fingerlakes BOCES when you get to that question.
Speaking of our survey, I would like to test out some new broadcasting software we have tomorrow night at 6:30PM. We now have our own YouTube channel so you can watch "town hall" and other meetings that we will have. Our YouTube channel will also give you the ability to send questions to us via the chat feature. You can find this link at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCF57RFmgBLyxbxSNsWCCwUA. The test meeting tomorrow, which you are all invited to attend, will have the survey results, plans for graduation, and other end of the school year items on the agenda. If you cannot make it to the live event, it will be available at the same link to watch after the fact. Thank you in advance for helping us to test out some of our new communication software.
Thank you for reading and have a great rest of the week!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
May 1, 2020
Good afternoon-
Governor Cuomo announced that schools will remain closed through the end of the school year. Decisions about any type of summer school will be made by mid-may.
I am saddened and disappointed for everyone, but COVID is larger than Marcus Whitman, and largely out of our control.
Our breakfast, lunch and dinner programs will continue, and I will release more information about graduation, grading for the rest of the year, and when the official last day of school will be after I receive information from the state education department next week.
Thank you, and we will make it through this by continuing to work together.
Take care.
Chris
May 8, 2020
Good Afternoon-
I had a really busy day wading into the weeds of COVID life. One of the meetings was about academics, one was about the budget, one was about the operations of keeping buildings and classrooms clean when students are allowed to come back, and one was getting teachers back into the buildings to collect their personal belongings. Today, I am going to write about academics. Next week, I will give an update about everything else.
Academically, Valley and Gorham will be delivering instruction as they have been since schools originally closed. Report cards will contain narratives only, for the third trimester. We are coming up with a plan for the last day of new instruction and how we will get Chromebooks back. Mrs. Cazer and Mr. Pasho will be working with Valley and Gorham staff, parents, and students next week to go through all of the details.
For the middle school and high school, instruction will continue to be delivered as is has been since the original closing of school. The numerical grade that will be used on the report card will be the first three marking periods for the middle school, and the first three marking periods and the mid-term for the high school.
The fourth quarter will be graded using a rubric (attached). Students will need to receive a score of “7” or higher in order to pass the fourth quarter. The report card for the fourth quarter will have a drop down box for the various degrees of passing or failure, plus any comments.
The importance of the fourth quarter for middle school students is that the results will carry into the next grade level for each student, and students may be able to improve their overall grade by how they perform on the rubric. For high school students, not receiving a score of “7” or higher may mean not being given course credit, or receiving a grade of exempt from a Regents exam (because the course will not be “complete”). High school students can also improve their numerical grade by how they perform in the fourth quarter. Dr. Cole and Ms. Taft will be providing much more information to middle school and high school staff, students, and parents next week. We will also have a Chromebook return plan developed for the middle school and high school.
Thank you for reading and Happy Mother’s Day to all of the super hero moms out there!
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools Marcus Whitman CSD - 4th Quarter Grading Rubric.pdf
April 29, 2020 (Public Survey)
Good Afternoon-
As was mentioned in my phone call, we are using a survey company called Thought Exchange to help us create the best balance between school work and home life. The link for the survey is... https://my.thoughtexchange.com/549348430. It is a one question survey. Once you provide an answer to the question, you will be asked to "star" other comment answers that others have already entered. Over time, the answers that have the most "stars" will rise to the top as the most important points, and we will be able to make decisions around the answers that are most important to our school community. Thank you in advance for participating.
Take care.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
May 7, 2020
Good Afternoon-
You will be receiving several email messages from me over the next couple of days. This email is about the 2020-2021 school budget vote. As you may have heard, the school budget vote this year will be held by absentee ballot only, and the official budget vote date is June 9th, 2020 at 5PM.
We will be trying to reach every eligible voter in our community by using the Ontario and Yates county voter registration lists, our list of voters from previous school budget votes, as well as our list of 18 year olds who will be eligible to vote by June 9th.
By law, we will be required to send you several mailings including budget postcards, news letters, a financial "report card", and absentee ballots (that will have postage paid return envelopes included).
You will be able to return your ballot via the pre-paid envelope, come to the district office between the hours of 8AM-2PM to drop it off in person, or use a drop box that will also be located at the district office. More detailed instructions will be found in the different mailings that you will receive, but I am always available for help if you need it.
Tomorrow, I will be sending an email that will include the last day of school for students, how they will be graded for the end of the school year, and what to expect from each building from now until the last day of school.
Thank you and have a good evening.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
April 24, 2020
Good Afternoon-
First, congratulations to our Board of Education, employees, students, parents and community members for Marcus Whitman being recognized as a New York State Recognition School for 2020, and a US News and World Reports Best High School for 2020. We work and live in a very special place, and I am honored to be at the helm.
Second, we still do not know when or if we are returning to school this year. The most up to date information is that we will be returning on May 18th, but the Governor is expected to make an announcement about schools next week. As soon as I hear more, I will relay the information to you.
Be on the lookout next week for a survey regarding instruction. We are continuing to work together to provide the best balance between school and home and we need your feedback.
Thank you, hang in there, and enjoy the weekend.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
April 16, 2020
April 9, 2020
Good Afternoon-
I wanted to provide you with an update as we near the end of the week, and head into Easter weekend. First, ALL of our buildings will be closed tomorrow. Second, new instruction will begin for middle school and high school students on April 14th, and April 15th for Valley and Gorham. Completed work will be evaluated and counted. Once we know the status of the remainder of the school year (hopefully in the next two weeks), we will formalize what type of grading we will be using for report cards at each level. Building principals will be sending building specific instruction and grading information home in the coming days.
Third, breakfast/lunch service will be Monday through Friday next week from 11:30AM-1PM. Dinner service will be on Tuesday and Thursday from 4:30PM-6PM.
Our website (mwcsd.org) has a link dedicated to all things COVID. If you missed an email, want to find mental health information, or see anything else that we have sent during this time, you can use the new COVID link.
Thank you for your support, hang in there, and enjoy the weekend.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
April 7, 2020
April 6, 2020
A message from the Superintendent:
Good Afternoon-
I hope this finds you full of fresh air on this awesome weather day! The Board of Regents met today and decided to cancel June Regents Examinations. August Examinations are TBD at this point.
At the same time, Governor Cuomo extended school closures until April 29th, at the earliest. We are supposed to be receiving details on both items by tomorrow, and I will update you when I can.
Breakfast and lunch is available this week from 11:30AM-1PM at the HS (Tuesday through Thursday; we will provide enough food for Friday on Thursday's pickup).
Thanks and “see” you soon.
Chris
April 1, 2020
Good Morning-
I want to thank all of you for your patience as we continue to adjust to this new life we are living. School is just one of things on our minds these days, but I wanted to provide you with some important updates.
First, we simply do not know when or if students will be returning to school. The information we are working with right now is that we are out of school until April 15th, unless we are given further direction. We are planning for any eventuality,
Next week is the traditional spring break week, but the New York State Education Department as well as the Governors' office has directed that each school must provide for "continuity of instruction", food availability, and childcare options.
In response to that directive, as well as also finishing the third quarter in an equitable way, we have created a plan. The grade that students had on March 13th, will be their third quarter grade, unless they complete material that improves their grade before the end of the third quarter, which is April 17th. Next week, teachers will NOT provide new content, review, or material. It will be a time for students to make up work if they choose, and catch a breather.
I will send another message about how the fourth quarter will progress once we have a better idea of how much longer we will be out of school. New material will be delivered during this time.
Our meal program will continue this week as normal. Next week, we will provide breakfast and lunch from Monday through Thursday. There will be no dinner service next week.
As we are all adjusting to our new lives, it is important to create a balance for your children and yourselves, but we need to also move their education forward. The strength of our continued partnership will pull us all through this.
Thank you for your support, and as always, if you have any questions, please let me know.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of School
March 27, 2020
Good Afternoon-
This is your Friday afternoon Covid-19 update. First, we had a very successful week in food service. We provided over 3,000 breakfasts and lunches, and roughly 1,600 dinner meals. Thank you to our food service workers and volunteers for providing such a needed service.
Governor Cuomo announced today that schools will remain out of session until April 15th, at which time, he will re-evaluate.
School construction is now considered non-essential. We will let you know what impact this will have on our Capital Project timeline, once we know when construction can begin again.
Thank you for listening to and reading all of the information we continue to send out, it is much appreciated. Enjoy the weekend and goodnight.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
March 23, 2020
Good Afternoon-
Our breakfast and lunch pickup was heavily used today, and that is great news. Due to the volume of meals that people are picking up, as well as the number of deliveries we are making, we are going to use the High School, District Office side as our only point of pickup moving forward. The pickup time for breakfast and lunch is 11:30AM-1PM. If you need meals delivered, please call Carla Woolston at 585-554-4848 x 1802.
Dinner service will begin tomorrow from 4:30PM-6:00PM, again at the High School, District Office side. Tomorrow only, we will will also have non-perishables available for families from the 4:30PM-6PM time. You will be directed where to go when you enter the parking lot to get both the non-perishables and the meals. At this time, we are only able to service families who have students currently attending Marcus Whitman. If we find that we have food remaining, we will send out an alert. We currently do not have delivery available for dinner, but people can take meals for other families when they pick up their own. All meals are cooked, refrigerated, and packaged. Directions will be included on how to reheat the meals.
We met today as a faculty group to discuss how the education process is going. We are using this week to finish working on how we communicate with families and students, and getting homes and teachers used to the balance of home life and school work life. We appreciate your patience and help.
I could not be more proud of what everyone is doing at school and in the community to help us work through these challenging times. We need to stay positive, and understand that there will be bumps in the road during all of this. Keeping the lines of communication open will be more important than ever.
Thank you and have a good evening.
March 20, 2020
Good Afternoon-
I wanted to provide you with a Friday, March 20th, COVID update. We handed out or delivered 650 breakfast and lunch packs today to students and families in our community. I would like to give a huge thank you to all of our employees and volunteers who assisted. Our food service distribution process will be deemed "essential", so grab and go breakfast/lunch Monday through Friday next week, from 11:30AM-1PM will continue, and we will have grab and go dinners from 4:30PM-6PM Tuesday and Thursday. Also on Tuesday, we will have boxes and bags of non-perishable foods for Whitman families. That pickup will coincide with the dinner pick up time of 4:30-6PM. More details will follow next week.
Parents and Students should continue to check their Schoology accounts for information from their teachers. We have ordered 20 Verizon MIFI units for students who do not have the Internet at home. They are currently back ordered but will be made available when they arrive. If you do not have Internet access, you will still receive information and communication from teachers as you have been.
Grade 3-8 assessments have been canceled for this year. We do not have information as of yet regarding Regents Exams, Gemini, or AP exams.
Thank you for being a resilient community. That being said, this is a time of anxiety for all of us. We all need to catch our breath over the weekend, figure out what our family, work, and personal needs are moving forward, and hit the ground running (or in our homes), On Monday. Please remember that I am here for you 24/7 at cbrown@mwcsd.org or 585-554-4848 x1800 or x1805.
Thank you and I will update you with more information as it becomes available.
Have a good weekend.
March 16, 2020
Good Evening-
I want to personally thank all of you who were able to make it tonight to gather work, clean out lockers, and pick up last minute items. While I was very proud of the efforts of our staff to have everything so organized, I was sad to say goodbye to students, not knowing when I will see them again.
As a reminder, there is no school tomorrow, but the buildings will be open from eight until noon if you did not get a chance to pick up items tonight. We will arrange delivery at a later date for any items that remain.
We still plan to begin our grab and go breakfast and lunch process on Friday. Pick up times will be 11:30-1PM at each of our buildings. Food will be available for all family members. A dinner grab and go will begin on Monday, March 23rd, if we are permitted. More information about dinner service will be sent out at the end of the week, including times of operation.
I met families tonight who have already lost employment due to COVID-19, and others who are unable to get to the grab and go sites. We will have free and reduced lunch forms at our sites to be taken and filled out if you think you will need it when the students return. Please call Carla Woolston at 1-585-554-4848 x1802 if you need the grab and go breakfast and lunch delivered. We will do our best to make that happen.
Many of you are under a great deal of stress. We are here to help you in any way that we can. Thank you, and I will send another message toward the end of the week, or sooner if necessary.
Chris
Christopher R. Brown, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools