Dear Families:
We hope you are enjoying a restful holiday break with your family. As we look ahead to the New Year, the health and safety of our students and staff remains our highest priority. Our schools will be open, as scheduled, on Monday, January 3 for all students. However, we are putting additional health and safety measures in place to mitigate the spread of COVID and keep our schools open for learning.
On Tuesday afternoon, Governor Hochul held a webinar with superintendents to discuss her desire to keep schools open across the state. She pledged millions of test kits to provide to school districts through their local Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES).
While the Governor’s goal was for families to administer these tests at home prior to their children arriving from break on Monday, there are many obstacles with this given the timing of the holiday break. In a memo to school districts yesterday, State Health Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett indicated that districts could use the kits to implement Test to Stay, test on the first day back (for those who previously consented to testing), or as part of ongoing surveillance testing.
COVID Testing After Returning from Holiday Break
- Questar III will distribute test kits to students attending our full-day programs only – this includes Special Education, Full Day Programs @CGEC, Tech Valley High School, and the STEM High School at Hudson Valley Community College. Students in our CTE and New Visions programs will receive communications from their home districts about test distribution.
- Families of our full day programs are asked to please complete this brief survey indicating their interest in Questar III sending home a test kit with your child. Parents can also contact their child’s school main office to request a test kit. We will not provide a kit if you do not want us to send one home.
- Anyone who tests positive on a take-home test should immediately report their results to the school and begin isolating.
- Students in Rensselaer and Columbia counties testing positive using an at-home test kit must complete a lab-confirmed COVID test. Please visit https://coronavirus.health.ny.gov/find-test-site-near-you to find a nearby testing site.
- Families in Greene County must report any positive at-home test result through their school and the county’s website at www.greenegovernment.com/report-positive-covid-test.
- Families living in other counties should report their positive test result to their local health department.
- Students who test positive must isolate for 10 days and can return to school on day 11 if there is symptom resolution. At this time, individuals cannot test out of quarantine or isolation.
- Taking part in testing is voluntary. We strongly encourage that you utilize these home test kits for your children when they are available. If you or others in your household need to be tested, please visit https://coronavirus.health.ny.gov/find-test-site-near-you to find a nearby testing site.
Test to Stay Update
- Last week, the state updated guidance on Test to Stay to reduce the number of students and staff who would be excluded from school following a COVID exposure. At this time, our local health departments are reviewing and assessing the equity and feasibility of this Test to Stay strategy throughout our counties. Local school districts and the BOCES will continue to monitor local conditions in partnership with our local health departments.
Quarantine Notifications
- The New York State Department of Health has not yet adopted the CDC updates on shortening quarantine and isolation for the general population. The state has only adopted this reduction for essential workers. As a result, the quarantine period remains at 10 days. If there are any changes, we will communicate them as soon as possible.
We are seeing the impact of the omicron variant throughout the region and state. We ask for your continued cooperation in following our established COVID protocols, including mask wearing, physical distancing, and staying home when sick. We will continue to keep you updated with any changes to conditions or protocols. Thank you for your continued partnership and patience.
Sincerely,
Anthony Taibi
Chief Academic Officer
Questar III BOCES
