New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced during his May 1 press briefing that school buildings statewide will remain closed through the end of the 2019-20 academic year and that districts will continue to educate their students remotely.
Fayetteville-Manlius School District students and staff will continue with their remote education activities and routines, and the district’s Food Service Department will continue offering pre-packaged breakfast and lunch meals so that students have access to nutritional foods each day school is closed.
The meals are provided at no cost to F-M students regardless of family income. Families who have not already signed up for the meal service should contact F-M’s Food Service Director at 315-692-1809 or catering@fmschools.org.
For those parents and guardians who are considered essential workers during this closure, there are several options for childcare as well as a scholarship for childcare.
Principals will be reaching out to students’ families about how and when they may pick up personal belongings currently in the schools.
Also, administrators are working on plans to still hold end-of-year celebrations, such as graduation, in a way that recognizes students but maintains social distancing practices. More information will be shared on these types of events when they are finalized.
The governor said he will issue a decision at the end of May on whether in-person summer school programs will take place.
The governor also announced Friday that schools will be asked to develop plans for reopening to in-person learning. While he did not go into detail about the requirements for these plans, the governor did note that the plans should have protocols in place “that incorporate everything we are now doing in society, and everything we learned” to bring precautions into the classroom.
The governor asked schools to consider some of the following in developing plans for reopening to in-person learning:
- How can schools monitor the spread of COVID-19?
- How do we instill parent confidence and reinforce student safety?
- When, and how, will extra-curricular activities reopen?
- Do protocols for special student populations change?
- What steps need to be taken to ensure student mental health?
- Would any alternative calendars work?
The governor said that schools should start preparing their plans now, but the time frame for submitting the plans was not specified.
Continued communications
The district will continue to update the community via the district website with any new information and frequently asked questions.
Any time-sensitive, critical information will be shared via the district’s SchoolMessenger notification system, which sends email, text message and phone call notifications, depending upon how parents subscribed to the system.
More COVID-19 information and previous F-M COVID-19 communications.