A message from the Superintendent

Superintendent's Update #1

July 20, 2021

Dear Chappaqua Central School District Families,

I hope this email finds you enjoying your summer. I am writing to share our first COVID-19 update for the 2021-22 academic year.

While we have not been issued formal guidance from the New York State Department of Health, the Westchester Department of Health, or the New York State Education Department for the 2021-22 school year, we are busy planning for September. I thought it would be helpful to share our current thinking around a few key issues to inform your planning, with the understanding that the District may make adjustments once the NYSDOH guidance is released this summer.

The Instructional Program
All schools will return to our pre-COVID bell schedule. Classes will take place in traditional classrooms with students spaced three-feet from each other. We do not anticipate having cohorts at any level.

The Lunch Program
The federal government has extended the free lunch program for another year. We will offer free lunch for students as well as a la carte offerings for purchase in all six buildings. To reduce student density in our cafeteria at Greeley, students will be permitted to leave campus during free periods. We will wait for the NYSDOH guidance to determine where students will eat lunch in our buildings.

Remote Instruction
All students and staff will return to campus for onsite instruction. We will only allow students and staff placed in quarantine by the Health Department due to COVID-19 exposure or diagnosis to access our classes remotely.

Extra Curricular Activities, Extra Help and Athletics
We are planning to resume all after school programs onsite and our late bus schedule.

Field Trips
We do not anticipate, at this time, allowing our K-8 students to travel off-site for school trips. The high school administration will consider permitting a limited number of day field trips based on curricular and extracurricular priorities. We do not anticipate approving any overnight trips this academic year.

Visitors & Special Events
We will welcome our parents back to our campuses for scheduled appointments during the school day. We also anticipate allowing our families to attend athletic contests, concerts, principal coffees, musicals, and other similar events. We will hold as many of these events as possible outdoors. At this time, we are planning to hold our September Open Houses (SCHEDULE) virtually via zoom for all grades.

COVID-19 Vaccination Status
Students and staff are not required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to attend school or to participate in our programs. NYSDOH may have different expectations for individuals who are unvaccinated while in our buildings. We will share any such information with you as soon as it becomes available.

Masks, Operoo & Sibling Considerations
In anticipation of changes in regulation and guidelines, we will wait to review the NYSDOH guidance before we share our mask expectations, screening requirements, class placement for twins, and seating assignments for siblings who ride the same bus.

Please understand that the above information is based on current NYSDOH guidelines as well as our projections for September. They are subject to change. I am optimistic that school districts will receive the necessary NYS guidance to finalize our planning in the next few weeks. I will share this guidance when it is received and will schedule a District parent meeting as soon as we have finalized our plans for September.

Thank you for your continued understanding and support.

Sincerely,

Christine Ackerman, PhD
Superintendent of Schools