“New York State has designated much of the City of Syracuse and all of our Syracuse City Schools, with the exception of Corcoran High School and Roberts PK-8, as in the Orange Zone. We have been working with the City, County and State to determine our next steps and what exactly this designation means for our students and staff. Providing in-person learning in a safe and healthy learning environment is a top priority, and we feel we have been able to do that since October 5 th , when we first welcomed students in person this year.
We recently tested 3,179 students and staff, with only 19 of those resulting in a positive test. Now, with this Orange Zone designation, we must test every student and staff member again, at every school except Roberts and Corcoran. This is a huge undertaking that we are currently trying to logistically figure out with the help of the City and County.
We want to return to our hybrid model with students attending school in-person, but at this time the only way we can do that is to test every student and staff member before they return to school. We will communicate with families and staff again as soon as we have a plan for moving forward, and we appreciate their patience and understanding as we work to serve our students, staff and families during these challenging times.”
