Hyde Park Central School District students will return to in-person instruction twice a week with three days of remote learning, if approved by the state, said the district’s re-opening plan. 

On Thursday afternoon the district released its plans for re-opening in the Fall, plans that Deputy Superintendent Aviva Kafka said will change as the situation evolves. The 60-page document is the first of many that will be released by Dutchess schools in coming days, as the deadline for submitting plans to the state approaches. Gov. Andrew Cuomo is expected to make a decision regarding re-opening next week. 

As Dutchess schools release re-opening plans, they will be added to this story. While each district is creating a unique plan to fit its needs, school leaders in the county have been sharing ideas through regular meetings. District Superintendent of Dutchess BOCES Richard Hooley said school leaders initially aimed to create a uniform plan that could be adapted by districts, but he said with varying district sizes it was difficult to come up with a consensus that accommodated each school. 

“Although schools will have submitted a plan, the plans at this point remain a skeleton over the next four weeks with information from the department of health we expect to make them more robust,” Hooley said. “The real plan they follow will be finalized closer to the start of school.” 

What the rest of Dutchess schools do remains to be seen, but Hyde Park serves as a preview as to what others will release in the coming days. 

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Hyde Park Central School District

The document released by the district lays the groundwork for a hybrid model, and complete remote learning model. All parents will have the option to decide if they feel comfortable sending their children to school, or continue distance learning. 

In the Hybrid model, students will be in classrooms four days a week, however they will be split into two groups. The “green group” will attend classes on Monday and Tuesday, and will learn from home Thursday and Friday. The “gold group” will do the opposite. Students and faculty will participate in remote learning on Wednesdays, the plan said. 

In a presentation to the school board on Thursday evening Kafka said 75.7% of parents that participated in the district wide survey said they will send their children back to school, while 24.3% said they will not.  She said that while students are given a choice when it comes to full-time learning or the hybrid model, parents should take a “careful” look at the remote-learning model. 

“Unfortunately our teachers can’t be in two places at once, when they are at school they are not available full-time to the students that are remote full-time,” Kafka said. “So (parents) should look carefully when making the decisions to forgo hybrid learning.”

Daily health screening 

When heading to school, students and faculty will have a longer process to undergo in the morning with a daily health screening. Days will begin with a daily message reminding parents to check students’ temperatures before heading in to school. Faculty will undergo the same screening and contact their supervisor if they develop symptoms. 

Kafka said students that report symptoms to an online application will be given directions through the messenger immediately with how they will proceed. Classes in which a student that tests positive will be moved to online learning immediately she said. 

The district said screenings can also be done when students enter the building. To attend school, students will be signed in as “without fever/symptoms,” she said there will be no penalties for students that choose to do remote learning full-time or need to quarantine. 

Transportation 

On the bus students will no longer have the luxury of sitting with friends or jumping from one seat to another as capacity on each bus had been reduced by roughly 90% the plan said. A 68-passenger bus will now hold roughly 22 students allocating one student per-row with the exception of those in the same household. 

Face masks will be required for bus drivers and students. However, hand sanitizer will be prohibited from being used on buses, the plan said citing a combustible composition and liability issues. High contact spots on the buses will be cleaned twice a day, while the entire bus will be cleaned once a day. 

Kafka said  of the parents that participated in the district survey 817 said they would let students ride the bus with reduced capacity while 684 parents said they would arrange transportation or have their high school student drive to school. The plan encourages parents to drive students or allow them to walk to school, to reduce bus capacity. 

In-person  and remote instruction

In the classroom students will be socially distanced and required to wear masks at all times. Kafka said there will be mask breaks for students, and they will not be required to wear masks while eating spaced six feet apart.  

Classrooms will be cleaned regularly with students socially distanced. The movement of students will be minimized, which could mean eating lunch in classrooms, eliminating field trips, assemblies and other large-group activities, the plan said. 

Remote learning would entail synchronous learning once a day, and daily office hours with teachers for elementary students. Secondary students will meet twice a week for synchronous learning in core subjects and once a week for asynchronous learning in encore subjects, the plan said. 

Confirmed cases

According to the guidance provided by the state each school building is required to have an isolation room for students or faculty that develop symptoms during the school day. Hyde Park’s plan says the isolation room will be a separate room close to an outside entrance. It will be used for those who present symptoms of COVID-19. 

Kafka said the district plans to hire extra staff for cleaning and supervising isolation rooms. However she noted that the district is limited as too how many additional positions it can create due to its current financial situation.

Once a student presents symptoms they will be sent to the health office, where the school nurse will asses the individual’s health. Those suspected of having COVID-19 will be sent to the isolation room until a family member can pick them up. 

In order to return to school individuals who exhibit symptoms of the virus must have documentation from a healthcare provider, a negative COVID-19 test result, and symptom resolution, or a release from isolation. 

When deciding if the school should close due to confirmed cases, the district said it would do so with the guidance of the local health department. The district has the ability if necessary to return to a full-time remote learning model. 

This story will be updated. 

Katelyn Cordero: [email protected]; 845-437-4870; Twitter: @KatelynCordero. 

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