Corning-Painted Post Area School District

SUPERINTENDENT MESSAGES

2/28/20 THROUGH 6/6/20 - Superintendent Ginalski

7/10/20 THROUGH 5/25/2022 - Superintendent Caulfield

Please note, links referenced to various content may no longer work as they were part of our previous website and no longer active

Messages were sent to the community / public via the StayConnected App and via School Tool email to families.

2/28/20

Dear Parent/Guardian

The Coronavirus has been a major topic in the national news. We believe it is necessary to share information with you about what we know and what we are doing in our District to ensure the health and safety of our students.

We are working closely with the Steuben County Department Health and our School District Physician to ensure we have the most up to date information. We are also following guidance provided by the New York State Department of Health and the New York State Education Department. These protocols as well as our District Pandemic Response Plan are in place.

In regards to student travel, per the New York State Department of Health and the New York State Education Department, all student health is confidential and may only be shared in accordance with FERPA. Students should not be excluded from school or any school activities based on race, country of origin, or recent travel.

We encourage you to follow the procedures below at home.

Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. Use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol if soap and water are not available.
Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.
Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
Stay home when you are sick.
Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when coughing or sneezing. If you use a tissue, throw it in the trash.
Routinely clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces.

Included on the second page of this letter is information directly from the New York State Education Department. For additional information, please go to the following link (http://www.p12.nysed.gov/sss/documents/FINALJointNYSDOH-NYSEDCoronavirus020520.pdf)

If you have any questions, please contact me. (607) 936-3704 ext. 1001

From State Education Department:

A new coronavirus called 2019 Novel (new) Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) was first found in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. This virus had not been found in humans before. This coronavirus can lead to fever, cough and trouble breathing or shortness of breath. There are thousands of diagnosed cases in China and new cases being diagnosed in a number of countries including the United States.

What do we know?

Since this virus is very new, health authorities continue to carefully watch how this virus spreads. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is working hard to learn as much as possible about this new virus, so that we can better understand how it spreads and causes illness. The CDC considers this virus to be a serious public health concern. Based on current information the CDC recommends avoiding travel to China. Updated travel information related to 2019-nCoV can be found at

https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices/warning/novel-coronavirus-china

How Does 2019 Novel (New) Coronavirus Spread?

Health experts believe the virus probably spreads from animals to humans and from person to person. It’s not clear yet how easily the virus spreads from person-to-person.

The 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCov) is not currently a concern for the general public and is not actively circulating among New Yorkers at this time. Therefore, there is no need to cancel school or social events, and there is no need for students or school staff to wear surgical masks at school.

Prevention

There are currently no vaccines available to protect against this virus. The New York State Department of Health (DOH) recommends the following ways to minimize the spread of all respiratory viruses, including 2019-nCoV:

• Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. Use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol if soap and water are not available.

• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.

• Avoid close contact with people who are sick.

• Stay home when you are sick.

• Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when coughing or sneezing. If you use a tissue, throw it in the trash.

• Routinely clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces.

• CDC recommends that travelers avoid all travel to China.

Symptoms

Information to date suggests that 2019-nCoV causes mild-to-moderate illness and symptoms like the flu, including fever, cough, and difficulty breathing.

Are visitors from China being screened?

Yes, as of February 2, 2020 new screening protocols are conducted for individuals entering the US from China at designated airports.

PreK-12 schools may have students who attend school and have traveled to various areas in Asia, including China. Students should not be excluded from school or any school activities based on race, country of origin, or recent travel (or a family member’s recent travel), including to any part of China. Schools may only exclude a student if a local health department informs the school that a student must comply with a quarantine order or the student is symptomatic of a communicable or infectious disease pursuant to Education Law §906.

Important Health Information for Those Who Have Recently Traveled to Wuhan, Hubei Province, China and Experience Symptoms

If you recently traveled to Wuhan, China and feel sick with fever, cough or trouble breathing; OR you develop symptoms within 14 days of traveling there, you should:

• Seek medical care right away. Call ahead and tell them about your travel and symptoms.

• Avoid contact with others.

• Stay home, except for seeking medical care.

• Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when coughing or sneezing.

• Wash hands often with soap and warm water for at least 20 seconds. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol.

• Contact your local health department.

This is an emerging, rapidly changing situation.

For questions please contact your local department of health or the NYS DOH Novel Coronavirus hotline at 1-888-364-3065.

We encourage you to keep up to date about 2019-nCoV, its treatment and prevention by visiting the following websites:

Additional Resources

CDC’s dedicated 2019-nCoV website at https://www.cdc.gov/nCoV.

NYSDOH’s dedicated 2019-nCoV website at https://www.health.ny.gov/diseases/communicable/coronavirus/

NYSDOH directory of local health departments

https://www.health.ny.gov/contact/contact_information/

New York State Center for School Health website at www.schoolhealthny.com

Steuben County Health https://www.steubencony.org/Pages.asp?PGID=36

What are we doing at CPP Schools?

We clean and sanitize daily as well as part of our normal procedures and with attention due to seasonal influenza. We follow the guidance issued by New York State Education Department (NYSED) and the NYS Dept. of Health. http://www.p12.nysed.gov/sss/schoolhealth/schoolhealthservices/InfluenzaGuidanceFebruary2018.html
We have increased frequency and reminded staff to be diligent on hard surfaces and frequently used items.
Teaching and practicing good hygiene, including washing hands and covering one’s mouth when coughing or sneezing, is part of what we do every day in our schools on a K-12 basis.
We ensure that schools have the necessary cleaning and hygiene supplies, as described in the NYSED/NYS DOH memo.
We are following the February 2020 memo issued by NYSED and NYSDOH specific to the coronavirus.

http://www.p12.nysed.gov/sss/documents/FINALJointNYSDOH-NYSEDCoronavirus020520.pdf

We check the NYS Dept. of Health website on the coronavirus each day: https://www.health.ny.gov/diseases/communicable/coronavirus/

We check the CDC website for updates on the coronavirus: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html

We have a Pandemic Response plan as part of the District’s Emergency response plan. The Pandemic Response plan is based on guidance from the NYS Department of Health and the CDC for K-12 schools. https://www.cdc.gov/nonpharmaceutical-interventions/pdf/gr-pan-flu-ed-set.pdf and https://www.cdc.gov/nonpharmaceutical-interventions/pdf/pan-flu-checklist-k-12-school-administrators-item2.pdf

We have met with the Steuben County Public Health Department to review our Pandemic Response plan. We have a longstanding partnership with that agency in responding to public health situations, both in our schools and in the larger community.

3/13/20

NOTE - for the latest information please refer to the current active message (Saturday 3/14)

Below is from 3/13

Click here for the latest list of postponed / cancelled activities / events

Dear CPP Students, Parents and Community Members,

We are in the midst of an unprecedented situation with the Coronavirus. As you are aware, information and guidance is changing daily from both federal and state agencies. Yesterday, we participated in a conference call with the Steuben County Department of Health and they strongly advised us to reschedule or cancel all large group gatherings. The number of what constitutes a “large group” was undefined but the bigger concern was limiting opportunity for the virus to be brought into the community from an outside source. That was the focus of that discussion. Governor Cuomo later in the day defined a “large gathering” of 500 but said that schools are exempt from that requirement. As we see cancellations across the country from major sports leagues to Disney World we would be foolish to not do our part and follow the advice of the Dept of Health to limit opportunities for exposure. So, we are announcing wholesale cancellations or postponements of various events which bring in a variety of people from our school community and beyond. That list is here. It encompasses a number of events K-12 so you should look closely at the entire list. In addition, I am looking at cancellations and postponements only through the end of Spring Break at this point. We want to reassess over Spring Break and make more long term decisions then. Students have asked about the prom, senior activities and even graduation. Right now, the schedule for those events is unaffected and we feel it’s too far away to make decisions on those events at this time.

School is still open as the Department of Health and Governor are the only entities which can close school and to date, as Steuben County has no identified positive cases there is no directive to do so. We are striving to keep things as normal as possible for students until the situation improves. The normal school day is intact with clubs still operating normally along with other after school activities. You’ll see the focus is on the events in which people from the outside enter our schools. Of special note, as of right now Spring Sports have not been cancelled or postponed however we are awaiting word from the section and the state athletic association relative to any next steps.

We have tried to be mindful of our responsibilities as an educational entity. First, we have a responsibility to keep people safe and that’s everyone from our students to the staff and community. By allowing business as usual we would not be doing our part. Secondly, we also have a responsibility to create some level of normalcy for our students during this time and we tried to find that happy medium. Nothing is ideal in this situation and we know students and adults alike will be disappointed. But, we are being affected by an event which all of us will always remember because of the seriousness of it and the impact on American life. So, business as usual does not apply in these types of circumstances.

As always, if you have questions please reach out. I will do my best to respond to each. Stay safe people…

3/14/2020

Dear CPP Parents, Students, Guardians and Community,

This afternoon at 1:00 pm, Steuben County announced that it is declaring a county wide State of Emergency in response to Covid-19 effective 12 am on Wednesday, March 18. Many of you heard the soundbite from the Governor relative to relief towards the 180 day requirement. Buried within that legislation was a requirement that a declaration of a State of Emergency was necessary by the county in which the district is located in for relief for that legislation to be applied. Since that action has now occurred, Steuben County officials have directed schools to dismiss students “beginning Wednesday, March 18 through their first day back from Spring Break the week of April 13.” For CPP kids, if the State of Emergency is lifted the return to school date for all CPP students will be on Tuesday, April 14. Steuben County Officials and all Steuben County Superintendents met late into the night on Friday to create a unified plan for an extended dismissal of students. As a result, we’ve had to make some challenging school calendar adjustments but I believe all of you would agree that this is an unprecedented event which is severely disrupting normal life around the world. In CPP, we have made the following calendar adjustments:

-Monday, March 16 will now be a Superintendents Conference Day. This day was originally scheduled for Friday, March 20. This is the most important internal date change to ensure that work and assignments for your children are prepared and easily accessed during this long absence. So, students are not in attendance on this date. We know this is late notice but there is no other way for the teachers to complete preparation for the students.

-Tuesday, March 17 is scheduled as a regular school day. This is also an important day as it will allow teachers to send students off for this long period of time with instructions on the work assigned, how to access teachers and in this unprecedented time…a reassurance that all will be ok. Our students value the relationships with their teachers as important “go-to” people in their lives. This situation is upending their lives. A final check off, I believe, is important. However, if you choose to keep your child home you can arrange to pick up their work sometime during the week of March 16. After that, there will be limited access to our buildings. More information regarding the specifics to pick up work can be expected later this weekend or on Monday.

-CPP athletics and Spring Sports in particular are suspended until further notice. Athletes will not have access to the facilities during this period of time. Our Athletic Director Damian Saks will be communicating directly to parents of athletes regarding Monday, March 16 and Tuesday, March 17. More to come here also.

We have also developed a plan for feeding students during this time. Information will be released on that in the next couple of days. All districts are working with the Food Bank for additional assistance.

I am a father who has raised kids to adulthood and a grandfather of a CPP elementary student. The kids’ safety and everyone’s safety for that matter is paramount in my mind. I have also raised my own kids in a household with two working parents so I can understand the challenges this places on families. So, I will say upfront that I know this presents great challenges to working parents in many ways. We are not blind to that but in this case, we have no choice. This is an unprecedented event therefore we probably should all expect the need to take unprecedented actions.

We plan on providing daily communications with parents for at least the first week the kids are off because we don’t know what we don’t know yet so we realize we will have to be engaged with parents. So anything you don’t know today, we’ll be able to answer as the days move forward.

As for high school kiddos, particularly our seniors we recognize this is concerning depending on the length of time we are off. We will say up front that we recognize the questions you may have. I’ve been asked about the prom, senior awards, banquets….you name it. Until the State of Emergency is lifted, I just don’t know. All I can say is that CPP Administration and Staff will do everything humanly possible to protect those key events as the time progresses. We may have an absolutely crazy May-June calendar but it is what it is. It’s my hope we have you all back on April 14 as planned.

This is an unprecedented time in the entire world and therefore “school” as we know it will be disrupted for a period of time. We are doing our best and will strive for that daily. More to come…

3/15/20

Dear CPP Parents, Students, Guardians and Community,

We are in Day 2 of the implementation of our extended closure plan. Moving an entire school system off line is a monster of challenge. Credit to my people...all of them...they are all coming from a place of, “How can I help?” - I’m proud of my people. You learn about people in a crisis and the culture of this organization is healthy.

- Check our website and social media (Facebook, Instagram and Twitter) frequently for updates. We’re trying to stay ahead of everything but it’s a challenge. Just to reinforce yesterday’s message, the calendar the next two days is as follows:

Monday, March 16- Superintendent’s Conference Day NO SCHOOL
Tuesday, March 17- UPDATE - CLOSED / NO SCHOOL (updated on 3/16 1pm)

-FAQ- My goal is to have a parent FAQ tomorrow and a student FAQ on Tuesday. We will keep that document live online and will be adding questions as they come in.

- UPDATED Monday, March 16: Student Meals- We will of course provide breakfast and lunch for students at the following locations (link). We will be assessing this daily. There is a lot of energy in the community wanting to help to ensure no child is hungry. We are currently looking at the week of Spring Break for meal access as well. We traditionally do not offer meals that week but I feel like we should. What came out today represents current planning efforts and this will evolve as the week progresses.

-Kids- I’m striving to complete a video hopefully with kids answering any question they may have. I know Juniors and Seniors must be a bit anxiety ridden wondering when this ends and what the heck happens next? We don’t have any real guidance from the New York State Education Department, but I expect that as time goes on, we will. I am praying and hoping that the 3-8 state testing is wiped out.

Feel free to contact me with any questions you may have. We will continue to provide daily updates throughout this week.

3/16/20

Dear Parents, Students and Community Members,

This is the Monday, March 16th briefing of what is transpiring in the district to basically move the whole CPP operation off line. It is a massive undertaking even with three weeks preparation planning for a long term absence. That became more complicated today with the midday announcement regarding tomorrow’s closure of school. Basically, the Governor came out and said he was closing all schools by Wednesday. The Steuben County Superintendents then asked Steuben Public Health for a recommendation and that recommendation was to close tomorrow. So, we apologize for this…we did not see this coming after the Governor said we could close school anytime we wanted. The difference this time is that he has now stated that he is the only one who can “re-open schools” which is also new.

Here are some points of note for today:

Tuesday, March 17- You will receive notice from your child’s Principal as to how you can access your child’s work for these next three weeks. At the secondary level it will be a mix of paper packets and electronic learning as many students are already interacting with students using the Google Classroom or Zoom format. We’re urging people to come tomorrow but in the event you cannot, call your child’s school and they can fill you in on how to get the work. If students at the high school or middle school do not have their computers, they will need to be picked up as well. We will have teachers available in every building to assist.

Preparing Student Work- Teachers worked intensely today preparing assignments for your children. Of special note, they were so incredibly disappointed that they could not send off your kids appropriately. Every elementary teacher has written a letter to their class, social workers and others have done the same. All letters have teacher access info within the letter. I expect that this whole process is easier frankly at the secondary level in particular where many of the teachers are already using Google classroom frequently. So, please look for messages tonight and on our webpage and social media.

Making up Classroom Time- We have not been provided with any guidance in this area from the New York State Education Department. I can commit to CPP doing everything possible to build in review/catch up sessions. This is not easy but we’ll do all we can. I am getting messages from students concerned about diploma requirements, Regents exams, you name it. This is what the Governor said TODAY:

After a question regarding making up lost classroom time was posed, the Governor said “we’re planning to do that either through telecommunication, electronic communication, or possibly summer school if this has abated to that point by summer time.”

This leaves many questions that we will work to answer in the coming days and weeks.

For High School Students and Parents- I have cut and pasted a section from a March 13, NYS Education Department Memo relative to high school students earning course credit. This should help ease some minds for now.

Earning Course Credit and Meeting Unit of Study Requirements

In districts where distance and online learning methods are available, or other continuity of learning strategies are utilized, the priority for the instruction should be that which best prepares students to meet the learning outcomes for the course and prepare for the culminating examination if applicable. Any student who achieves the learning outcomes for the course should earn the applicable course/diploma credit without regard to the 180-minute/week unit of study requirement in Commissioner’s Regulations Part 100.1.

Further, in the event that extended closure interferes with a school or district’s ability to provide the full unit of study by the end of the school year, either in face-to-face instruction or through other methods, as long as the student has met the standards assessed in the provided coursework, the student should be granted the diploma credit.

Admission to Regents exams- I am hearing questions from terrified parents regarding lab requirements in science and the ability of students to sit for their science examination. This is great news!!! Again, from the March 13 NYSED memo:

Commissioner’s Regulation 8.2(a) states that all pupils who have studied a subject at an approved school for a period of time not less than that prescribed by the commissioner shall have the right to be admitted to the Regents examination at such school. In such instances where the COVID-19 virus has caused either an extended absence of individual students, or an extended closure of an entire school or program, thus preventing either the school’s ability to provide or student’s ability to meet the unit of study requirements, the superintendent may admit students enrolled in such courses to the culminating Regents examination.

In cases where the COVID-19 virus has caused either an extended absence of individual students, or an extended closure of an entire school or program, thus preventing either the school’s ability to provide or student’s ability to meet the mandatory laboratory requirement for admission to a science Regents examination, the superintendent may admit students enrolled in such courses to the culminating Regents examination.

Special Education- You can trust that we will move heaven and earth to make up any therapies missed during this time period.

Food Plan- We continued to discuss opportunities to provide food to children and we have updated our communication from yesterday. Every area of the district is covered one way or the other…if you have transportation challenges let us know and we will find a way to get food to your children. The Food Bank is also ramping up their own efforts. There will be family meal boxes and the backpack program will continue.

Lastly…………..teachers showed up today completely energized and ready to work. They were so disappointed they were not going to see your children off for what will be the length of half of a summer vacation. Your child’s teachers will stay close, you can count on that…they have all committed to doing so and they will be more than ready for your children when they return. Please continue to look for updates as this week transpires.

3/18/20

Dear CPP Parents, Students and Community,

We are now moving towards the tail end of this first week of chaos but all in all I feel like we came out of it well. Teachers were energized , happy and collectively disappointed that they were not going to be with kids for a long period of time at an unusual time of year. As I got into buildings I asked some elementary teachers, “What do we do if this goes into May?” Most were unsure but the best response I got was to “Allow the kids some normalcy for the first time in months.” I think that’s the best answer because all of us will be craving normalcy by that April 14 date and in my case, I wouldn’t mind it right now. Kids will definitely want some normalcy. People are asking me repeatedly if I believe that we will be back on April 14. My answer is always the same…all we have to do is look at Italy, Spain and France to potentially find the answer. It would not surprise me if we were out longer. In that vein, my team will begin making plans for that very “what if” next week.

The Governor passed another Executive Order yesterday which has created some chaos. First, he has now officially closed all NYS schools through April 1 and within that Executive Order he also added that he is the only person who can reopen schools and going forward he is the only one who can close them in this situation. This order superseded the order last Friday, as you’ll recall where he said we could close when “Superintendents wanted” and was willing to lift the 180 day requirement IF there was a State of Emergency in the county the district is located in. That no longer applies. Why did he change when he said that Superintendents could decide? I don’t know. So, this will lead to some calendar chaos potentially. Based on the situation now, in terms of his order if we reopen April 1 (per his new directive) there will be no Spring Break. But as I stated in the paragraph above, I don’t see us reopening on April 1. More to come on the calendar…if we come back. I can tell you that the Friday, May 22 scheduled day off is now a day of school where students will be required to attend. I think many parents won’t be disappointed about that.

I want to thank you for coming in to pick up the work packets these last couple of days. I can report that every elementary school hit 100% as did CPPMS. At noon today, CPPHS had 1313 packets picked up with less than 100 left. Remember, you can get these packets until the end of the week. Call the high school to arrange pick up. I saw many pics today of kids working at home. I want to thank my staff and a large group of individuals who did the work behind the scenes who were beyond helpful putting packets of work together:

Jill Durkin Tom Moffitt

Karen Hill Bridget Freelove

Denise Knowles Tammy Townsend

Patty Thornton Karen Welch

Leslie Kapur Paula Smith

Pat Overstrom

Assistant Superintendents Kerry Elsasser and Michelle Caulfield and our administrators worked very hard as well nailing down the details around distribution. It seemed like it was a very smooth process.

We are in the process of developing a Frequently Asked Questions for students. That list of questions is growing by the day and unfortunately a lot is unknown. I’m getting questions about IB/AP testing and right now, the tests are scheduled for the current dates that are noted. However, that may change. Obviously the longer this goes the more likely it is that there is a change. By the way, if kids need a teacher or would like to speak to a counselor or social worker either email the teacher, counselor or social worker OR call the school. We will be releasing soon a different general number for students who may need social/emotional assistance who would like to talk to someone. This is just one of the thousand or more things that we have been forced to think about. For high school kiddos, your counselors will be contacting you to schedule courses for next year so make sure you look for those contacts. This is scheduling season and regardless of what’s happening around us, that really has to be completed during this time of year.

We appreciate all of the questions, emails and calls. If you have any questions please contact me at any time at 936-3704 ext 1001 OR mginalski@cppmail.com. As most know, I get back to people quickly.

Thanks for your support and patience as we work through this crazy time. Stay safe please!

3/20/20

Dear Parents, Students and Community Members,

I spent the morning with our 26 member administrative team tying up loose ends for the week, plotting out all of our next steps from a communications standpoint along with a great deal of future planning. I will say that it was a very somber meeting. The faces I was looking at were sad, nervous and unsure of what is next. Frank Barber, Assistant Principal at CPPHS stated something to me in an email yesterday that I think sums up all of our feelings on this entire situation and it doesn’t matter if you are a parent, a student, a CPP employee or a community member because everyone’s life has been turned upside down. Frank’s statement is simple…yet so profound in this moment. He said, “I’ve taken normalcy for granted and I’d give anything to have it back.” Trust me here…..our leaders are hurting too. I don’t think anyone views this as a “vacation” of any kind. Teachers, admin and support staff are missing the kids badly and the day to day interactions and rituals we all experience as a part of this public school life. It stinks.

On to other news, going forward, based on the Governor’s Exec Order today we will be closing the Board of Education Building effective Friday afternoon to the public. In addition, all of the buildings will be closed and a result of this latest order the Principals and secretaries will not be in the buildings. The best way to get a Principal is via email. We are also establishing an Ask@cppmail.com which goes directly to a number of central office administrators. We will direct your questions to the correct person. This will be every bit as effective as a phone call.

In the “what have we heard today” realm there are two testing things of note which should be of interest to parents and students. First, the New York State Education Department has cancelled the administration of the grades 3-8 assessments for this school year. I just received word on this today. This is very telling. First, I would hope that it came from a place where because of Covid-19, even if students are back to school who cares about state testing? The students will need normalcy, reassurance and a routine. Jumping into state testing would just be…ludicrous. Secondly, for students who are planning on taking the AP assessments The College Board will be doing the following:

· developing 45 minute assessments that students can take on any platform (to be available if schools continue to be closed)

· only holding students accountable for what was covered through March

· offering free tutorial lessons to anyone in an AP school (starting Wed. March 25)

These are the courses affected in our High School.

· AP Calc AB/BC

· AP Stats

· AP World History (Modern)

· Exam only (but still review eligible): AP USH, Physics C Mechanics, Chemistry, Macro-Econ, Comp Sci A, Physics 1, Physics C Electricity

201 students/233 exams

If there are families who wish to have internet who currently do not, Spectrum is offering free internet to households which have school age children. A link to a news article with the details is below:

https://www.syracuse.com/coronavirus/2020/03/coronavirus-spectrum-to-offer-free-high-speed-internet-to-households-with-students.html

Lastly, I want to give much love to our food service, transportation folks and our custodians and cleaners. They are doing a great job. Below is breakdown of the number of lunches and breakfasts served on Wednesday and Thursday this week. They are killin it:

MARCH

B=BREAKFAST L=LUNCH

Gregg Elementary

Middle School

Coopers Boces

Watson Homestead

Gibson Fire Dept.

Severn Elementary

Erwin Elementary

Lindley Church

Smith Elementary

Hornby Fire Hall

Winfiel Elementary

Grace Wesleyan Church

High School

Carder Elementary

Home Deliveries

TOTAL MEALS

243

258

307

324

Keep the faith everyone…

3/23/20

Hello CPP Parents, Students and Community,

By the time you receive this, students have completed their 5th day off as a result of the Covid-19 situation. I know many are still working through the packets they received. If you or they need help please contact teachers directly. If you can't get them, you can contact a Principal or I and we'll make sure kiddos are getting the help they need. I know our teachers are missing your children badly and in some cases, desperate to connect. No one is looking at this as a break. I've heard from many students directly...everything from needing notebooks to questions about activities and I love it. So please, contact me at any time.

For Juniors and Seniors who are taking IB classes, you may have heard that IB has cancelled their May exams. I applaud this as we need to relieve pressure from these students as managing this situation is difficult as it is. I expect at some point in April to hear about Regents exams. Many students are asking about Regents exams and right now there's nothing new to report.

We are expecting information on the development of the 20-21 school budget and Board of Education vote. This creates great challenges for districts because it's challenging to carry out the various requirements remotely. April is a key month for board candidates and the development of the budget so if we are still closed, clearly something has to give. Obviously with the state of the economy and so many individuals losing jobs we are expecting the state to put forth a bare bones budget (and understandably so). So, LOTS more to come here.

I have been asked by many parents about resources for talking to their child about Covid-19 and this situation in general. Obviously these kids are experiencing being home from school because of a national emergency for the first time in generations. They are seeing people buying toilet paper like it is going out of existence and hearing about people dying from this..and eventually those people will be local. I thought this was a pretty good resource for those conversations:

https://www.verywellfamily.com/talk-to-your-kids-about-coronavirus-4798953

Kudos once again to our heroes...our Food Service, Transportation and Custodial folks. They come to work every day to serve the community and their dedication is something to behold. On Friday, March 20 we served 823 meals!!! Clearly these people are providing a great service to the community.

The spirit of CPP is alive and well, all one has to do is take a look at our website and social media. I love the idea of this spirit week as a means to stay connected and show our Hawks pride. Take a look if you get a chance, there are some amazing pics!

As we receive new information from the state and the NYS Education Department I promise to pass it along immediately. In the meantime, we all have do our part as Americans and stop the spread of this virus. Please stay inside....and stay safe.

3/25/20

Dear Parents, Students and Community,

We are now one complete week into this "work at home" format for students and staff. I'll say this, I have a new respect for people who work in the home and have to work remotely using technology. I am busier than I am while physically at work, but everything is more difficult so for those of you who do this regularly...kudos to you! I do not like it in any way, shape or form.

To date, we have not received any new updates from the New York State Education Department or the Governor. We have a million proverbial "balls in the air" where we need guidance from them but there have been no new developments. I know everyone is anxious but you can trust that when I receive something you will be informed that same day.

I have received many questions from parents the last couple of days about "what's next" in the event this goes longer, meaning...beyond April 14?? We have broken our planning into chunks or phases because frankly, it's massive and takes an inordinate amount of coordination and planning to move education out of buildings. We also did not know how long this would go and what we were up against when the students were sent home last week. Some people say "move to on line learning" and believe me...you just don't hit a button and that happens. So, we are in the midst of planning for the second phase now...the post April 14 time period. First, we will be assessing who has internet and who does not. Many areas of our district do not have connectivity and we have to provide equity in assignments (hence the reason for the paper packets). We also have teachers who have the same problem. But there are other considerations as well. The legal considerations alone are significant because of FERPA and the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. So, we are doing our homework and hope to have an actual plan to parents in the days to come. But, I'll say up front...this is not going to be easy to accomplish for all. Regardless, difficult or not it's our job to execute a plan and we will. I'll release pieces of this as we move forward because I know parents are looking for consistency and normalcy if at all possible

Parents have asked for resources in many communications directly to me. We are partnering with the Corning Leader where they will post a number of resources a few times a week that you can utilize. Tomorrow, we will also publish a full list of resources compiled by our Instructional Department. Look for them on our website.

Our meal numbers continue to be fairly consistent and today we offered a toiletry pick up as well because we know those needs exist as well. We're also partnering with local agencies on food boxes and CPP is acting as the hub of some of these activities with our community partners. As you can see from the lunch/breakfast numbers below the need exists.

BAR GRAPH

I'll go on record and say that I really appreciate all of the support from parents and community. It has been awesome and frankly, provides the motivation to continue to provide good service and improve on areas where we can. This is an unprecedented situation and you have our word that we will provide make up/catch up sessions wherever we can, whenever we are back. In reality, no one should really think "school" as we know it can be moved offline and be "school." One of our great teachers, Winfield teacher Julia Hickey sent me a screenshot of this Facebook post from a teacher who obviously went through a pretty significant event. In reality, this is probably what is needed right now:

FACEBOOK POST

We will be back in touch on Friday and if I receive any updates from the state prior to that, I will send those out that same day. Stay Safe everyone!

3/28/20

Dear Parents, Students and Community Members,

We have now completed our second week of schools being closed as a precaution with COVID-19. Without question, this is a time that we will always remember. It has been a monumental undertaking to move "school" physically offline but I have never been more proud of the people who work in this school district everyday. Whether it's CPPHS Math teacher Tim Ball delivering a donut to each student in one of his classes at home on Friday morning because that's what they do every Friday, or CUS Kindergarten teacher Tricia Rosno dressing up like her grandmother in reading her students a story during CPP Spirit Week to EV teachers and Principal Kate Merrill volunteering at the Pantry of Angels food pantry, everyone is rising to the occasion. I feel strongly that we have an army of 1000 right now....fighting to provide normalcy to the children in this community and I could not be more proud of them! This includes obviously the folks on the front lines like our Food Service Workers, custodians and cleaners and transportation folks. If there really is a "Hawk Nation" you find out for sure during tough times and our people have shown up in a big way! Hawk Nation is alive!!

By now, you may have heard that Governor Andrew Cuomo announced yesterday that he is keeping schools closed "until at least April 15." So, we now know...the kids are off until April 15. I believe the key words in his statement are "until at least." I think everyone recognizes that until the cases of COVID-19 tail off it's very likely that schools will remain closed. I feel for our students...in particular the little ones and the Seniors frankly. I wonder how our younger students are handling this emotionally. For our Seniors, again...I stress that if any portion of the year is given back we will do everything humanly possible to give you those key events back. But, as the calendar trudges on I know those seniors are seeing the end of their high school time rapidly closing out. I received a message the other night that puts it into perspective. A good friend messaged me the other night and said..."my babygirl is supposed to be on that stage tonight and it's heartbreaking that she's not." I concur...but keep hope alive...we will try to reschedule as much as the calendar will allow.

On the instructional side, I want to thank everyone for participating in our survey on internet and device access. One of my big takeaways is that it's a travesty that people in the 21st century do not still have access to internet connectivity. For us, its safe to say that 8 out of every 10 has internet and a device to use in CPP. As we begin planning for our phase two instructional plan, the students will all receive the same work and like now it will be a mix of paper packets and for those who have internet, work through Google Classroom. At the elementary level we will begin creating a plan to get devices into our students' hands to use at home after April 15.

You may have heard that the Board of Education directed me to request an Executive Order from the Governor relative to extending the date for people to pay school taxes. The deadline currently is March 31 and we have officially made that request. If the Governor approves the request, look for messages across media sources and on our website and social media pages. Unfortunately the Board or I cannot legally extend the March 31 date. Per Real Property Tax Law, the Governor is the only one that can do that. I give tremendous credit to our Board because to our knowledge, no other school district is attempting to do this.

Lastly, Steuben County is getting really serious about social distancing. The flyer noted on this page comes directly from the county and as a result of recent Executive Orders, gathering in parks and on our fields are prohibited. So please, be mindful of kids gathering on our property. What they pick up from each other they could be bringing it home to you, hence the reason the County is taking a stand.

We appreciate your support very much. Please trust that we are doing the best that we can and we are going to continue to strive to do that. We will get through this together!

3/31/20

Good Evening Parents, Students and Community Members,

This will be a fairly short update tonight. First, we received word from the Governor’s Office last night that in return for school districts to be eligible for the 180 day forgiveness, we had to give up Spring Break. So, the week of April 6-13, your children will be expected to continue to complete their packets or anything assigned through Google Classroom. Bluntly, it’s now a week of school. We thought that perhaps this could happen hence the reason our Phase 1 work went through April 15.

Speaking of schoolwork, we will begin the roll out of our Phase 2 work next week. Our teachers have participated in a tremendous amount of training this week getting ready for Phase 2. At the Elementary level students will receive paper packets OR have the ability to participate in virtual learning. Obviously we more than recognize that internet is not available in all parts of the CPP community. The work assigned will be the same of course but students will have the opportunity to use their school computer for that work if they wish.

At the Secondary level it’s a mix of e-learning and paper packets as well. Many students are already engaged with teachers through Google Classroom and it will be more of the same. A formal communication to all parents will be sent to you next week. This will include directions on how to get access to the paper packets and computers.

Some have asked this week about construction and whether that was continuing or not. In our case it is. We have a pool, a roof and a science lab (greenhouse) in various levels of construction and stopping would potentially affect the operation of school next year. So, we will be continuing. But work crews are being asked to maintain the CDC recommendations associated with social distancing, etc.

Today, Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Education Michelle Caulfield and I had a chance to participate in a meeting interactively with PTA Council on Zoom. It was great to interact with parents and to share our planning, concerns and to just talk about the current state of affairs. Special thanks to PTA Council President Bob Lecher for setting this up. I think the format lends itself to greater parent communication and interaction in the future.

Lastly, to our students. We really have limited “new news.” We were told that we would hear this week about whether Regents Exams would move forward or not. If I receive notice, we’ll let you know right away. In terms of key events, like the Prom, you can trust we are talking about these things daily and you will have a Prom...eventually. Just know that the staff misses all of you greatly! They want back in the action as much as you do.

Stay safe everyone..

4/3/20

Good Morning Parents, Students and Community Members,

I am getting many calls and emails regarding a rumor that we are going back to school on May 1. This rumor is completely false. People are confusing President Trump’s social distancing until April 30 “recommendation” as the final determination as to when life as we know it will resume. In NYS, Governor Cuomo issued an Executive Order on March 16 in which he is the only entity which can close OR reopen schools during the COVID-19 crisis. In an Executive Order later he directed that schools be closed until “at least April 15.” We expect that he will issue an Executive Order in the next week closing schools beyond April 15. So, technically speaking the return to school is April 16 but you shouldn’t get your hopes up.

The President’s recommendation is just that- a recommendation. Cuomo’s Exec Order is law. Unless the President declares a national “stay at home” order his recommendation is moot in terms of school opening or closing. Right now, Trump is leaving it to states to take their own formal action.

I know everyone is anxious to get back and believe me, we are as well. But we have a responsibility to put the correct information out there. The President’s recommendation carries no weight from a legal standpoint so in reality, we don’t know when we are coming back to school.

4/6/20

Dear Parents, Students and Community Members,

You probably have heard that earlier today two significant actions were taken by the state which affect the district and all of you directly. As expected, the Governor has closed school until “at least” April 29. If we are lucky enough to go back I can confirm that the date to return is April 29-not April 30. Clearly the situation is really fluid and unless cases, hospitalizations, deaths, etc from COVID-19 decrease I can’t say for sure when we are going back. People are asking- I just don’t know.

In that regard though, we can and should do what they are asking. Stay home. Our parents and grandparents had to endure five years of food rations, gas rations and life came to a complete halt in the country with everyone focused on America’s efforts in World War 2. Jack Wheeler, the Steuben County Executive, is all but begging for us to do our part, much like Americans did in World War 2 but we are only being asked to stay home, social distance and not congregate. I’d like to think that we can do what they are asking. This is all pretty simple- the more we do now, the sooner life gets back to normal. So please stay home.

Also today, the Board of Regents cancelled all Regents exams for June 2020. There will be guidance provided later this week as far as how that impacts graduation requirements. I will share those the same day once they are announced. I am hearing from many seniors who are concerned about everything from summer school to graduating on time. This future clarification should help answer many of those questions.

Many of our CPPHS kiddos excited to attend the Prom probably saw that Mrs. Sheehan postponed the Prom until June 20. Our desire here to give these kids as much of their school year as we can. We are going to be looking at many events and will reschedule what we can. The staff very much wants the students to have these opportunities so the students can trust we’ll do everything in our power to reschedule everything that we can.

Lastly, you will all be receiving a communication from me later this week about accessing work for the April 15-May 15 period. There will be specific instructions noted in the letter and you’ll be informed how to access work. Obviously some will either need or prefer paper copies and my staff is working really hard to provide those. But the instructions will be clear. It’s a little trickier now because of the social distancing recommendation.

Also for all of our parents who have special needs children, a specific message will be coming from Jennifer Batzing, Director of PPS. This will include direction on accessing work and staff along with a FAQ for parents.

I’d like to thank all of you for your patience as we work through this. From the many conversations I have had with parents these last three weeks, I can tell that normalcy and what is “school” is being seriously missed right now. On the flip side, we miss the kids and have such great appreciation for what you are going through managing this new normal. While planning and work at our end is not easy, your patience and support keep us going. Thanks for the support!

4/16/20

Hello Parents, Students and Community Members,

I hope you are doing well as we are almost to the end of another COVID-19 week. I have heard from many parents in the last week and all I can say is that I know everyone is doing the best they can right now....parents, teachers, admin...you name it. This is Phase 2 work week and in that regard, I stress from the district end that we really are doing the best we can. Our teachers are giving about as much effort as they can in staying connected and working hard to find that "sweet spot" between providing relevant assignments and trying to avoid kids (and families) feeling overwhelmed. This is clearly a transition week...as EV Principal Kate Merrill said in a meeting earlier today....a week for all to get their bearings. Give us time, my people have great intentions. E- learning is tricky, regardless of whether you have experience with it or not. We will eventually find that sweet spot. Here are some things of note:

Schools Closed Until May 15- The Governor extended his "NY ON Pause" order today and closed schools through May 15. Guess we got that one right, huh?? So, the current Phase 2 work is assigned through May 15. I just cannot stress enough that my staff hates this-they miss your kids, the traditions from this time of year and each other. No one is looking at this as a break. BUT....we have jobs to do and we will do our best to help your children and all of you...get through this. I don't think anyone was surprised by this action today but none of our 1000 employees is jumping for joy.

Class of 2020- My heart breaks for these kids, potentially missing so much of that end of year stuff that every student lives for. We are discussing many ideas from how to do a graduation ceremony (and yes...there will be one for sure) to various awards ceremonies, etc. We've talked about the Drive In idea that is making the rounds for graduation, having kids graduate 50 at a time and spreading everyone out on the turf or gym or using streaming or video to hold a virtual graduation. We have our first official meeting coming up to begin to plan for these things. CPPHS Principal Robin Sheehan has shared that her Senior Class Officers are hard at work talking and planning for various activities to honor seniors.

End of Year Events- In the event we are not back in school OR even if we are and cannot do large gatherings we will find the way to do 5th and 8th grade graduations also. This will likely expand into other events but like the instructional piece...pulling these things off are harder than one would think and take a tremendous amount of planning. But we have started conversations internally around how to provide these opportunities.

"Hawks at Home"- I want to be sure that you are all aware of a great resource developed by our new Assistant Superintendent for Secondary Education Linda Perry. This is a great resource for parents with contact info also available for just about anything. I'd also urge you to use "ask@cppmail.com" whenever you have a question. Those go directly to me and I will find the answer to any question that you may have. The link for Hawks at Home is here: https://www.corningareaschools.com/News/520#sthash.t0zYB2Pb.dpbs

School Breakfast and Lunches- I want to thank everyone working daily in our food service operation. Bill Pierce and Joe Kilmer are the connection to the district level. Wendy Rosenwinkel is the Lead Manager, makes sure the proverbial "trains run on time." Brian Rook is the Assistant Manager and leads a daily production time of about five people. Tracie Reed is the High School Cook Manager, also leading a group of five. These folks are providing leadership daily on site and doing a tremendous job because let's face it, they're in the trenches so their contributions are major and this doesn't work without them. The whole group...workers and leadership....deserve a long standing ovation. They all walk the walk and come to work everyday with a smile on their faces. We are providing 600-800 meals a day to kiddos because of these people!! Also, in that regard...if you want to help in any way, the local food banks and the Food Bank of the Southern Tier can use everything from donations to volunteers. Food Bank usage is up over 500% locally.

From here, we will begin talking internally about grading, retention, and unfortunately what Phase 3 instructional plan could look like...whether students are home...or not. There is still plenty to do in other words!

Thanks for your support and patience. Please be safe..

4/24/20

Hi Everyone,

I hope you are all staying safe and sane during what will be a time that we all will remember forever. I can say that my generation has largely avoided national and worldwide crises that affect society in ways not experienced, so this is a first for those of us born in the mid '60s and '70s. The flood of '72 is probably the closest thing to this for some of us who are local. However, it still does not mirror the life my grandparents experienced with major event after major event starting with World War 1 in 1914, the pandemic (Spanish Flu) of 1918, the Depression in 1929, followed by our entrance into World War 2 in 1941. So, while we are socially distancing, this does not compare to that era. When I get frustrated, I think of all the things people went through in that era and then I shut up and get back to Netflix. Regardless, this will change society forever....and schools are dramatically affected by the current state of affairs. Here are some brief updates in CPP:

- Governor Announces That He Will Make a Decision on Schools Next Week: In his daily news conference the Governor was asked a question about when to expect a decision on whether schools will reopen or not this year. He replied "next week." Obviously, I have no insider information here or scuttlebutt. I will share my thoughts however. I think it would be highly challenging to return to school this year with the number of restrictions that will likely be required. If we come back, as my team has begun to plan/discuss for this....will it be required that every person entering a building be required to have their temperature taken? Will everyone be required to wear a mask? How do you constantly sanitize and clean door knobs and door handles? How do you socially distance on a bus, in a cafeteria or in a classroom? I have been studying how districts overseas have approached this, and most have closed completely. However, Denmark has moved to an alternate schedule with no more than 10 students in a class at a time, attending on alternate days, groups of 5 on a playground, primary age students began school first, and there is constant sanitization and cleaning. By my estimation it appears that about one quarter of students attend their elementary school daily in Denmark. IF the Governor resumes the school year we will do everything we can to make sure everyone is safe, but I will admit, it would be a very heavy lift under the circumstances. Regardless, we will know one way or the other next week and we have begun planning for both scenarios.

-Class Rank, Naming of Valedictorian and Salutatorian: At this past Wednesday night's Board of Education meeting we made a change to the current policy associated with Class Rank and the naming of the Valedictorian and Salutatorian. Both policies previously noted that grades at the end of the third marking period were utilized to make these determinations. I made the recommendation that we change this for this year to the end of the 2nd marking period. We felt that because the 3rd marking period basically came to a stop in the middle of the marking period, in fairness ...this was the way to go. If you have questions about class rank, feel free to check in with your child's school counselor. High School Executive Principal Mrs. Sheehan will be announcing the Valedictorian and Salutatorian soon.

-Sports: Our Athletic Director, Damian Saks attended a meeting earlier this week with his counterparts in Section 4 to discuss the viability of Spring Sports the rest of the way. Damian is a great guy, loves kids and is our athletes' strongest advocate. He contacted Mrs. Sheehan and I to ask what we could support in terms of a sports season prior to this meeting, and we both told Damian that CPP would vote to hold a season that runs to June 30 if necessary. This is what Damian was thinking as well. So, we are on record that if the kids are back and athletics are allowed we will do everything humanly possible to accommodate these kiddos. I want everyone to know also, our coaches are as upset about the current state of affairs as the students. THEY need a season too. Both athletes and coaches have my word...we will do all we can. Our section intends to have a season if school is in session and it's allowed. Many sections downstate have already cancelled their Spring Sports seasons.

Graduation and Other Key Events- As stated previously we are building the proverbial plane while it's in the air flying and this is also the case in terms of future district and school events. The Principals have begun the discussion briefly around virtual events if that's what is required. This is another one of those things where we are in a holding pattern until we have some definitive guidance from the state. But, we are starting the conversation. A graduation ceremony is a whole other monster to try to plan and carry out in this environment. I know Mrs. Sheehan met with her Senior Class student leadership on Thursday to discuss ideas and specifically what kids want. It's clear that the kids want to be together as one class and have as close to a regular graduation as possible. Both she and I desperately want to support the kids and like sports, we'll do just about anything within the guidelines established, to meet what they want. I think everyone would like to avoid a virtual graduation, us included. I'm thrilled that Mrs. Sheehan is working with her students directly on this. There will be more to come. Both Mrs. Sheehan and I are hoping to get some specific guidance from the state and county soon on what could be allowable.

I hope you are all staying safe and upbeat. We are doing the best we can in this situation to support kids and will be doing so until the last day, whenever that is. As always, thank you for your support, we could not ask for more support from our school community right now than what you are giving us!

4/27/20

Hi Everyone,

I hope you are all staying safe and sane during what will be a time that we all will remember forever. I can say that my generation has largely avoided national and worldwide crises that affect society in ways not experienced, so this is a first for those of us born in the mid '60s and '70s. The flood of '72 is probably the closest thing to this for some of us who are local. However, it still does not mirror the life my grandparents experienced with major event after major event starting with World War 1 in 1914, the pandemic (Spanish Flu) of 1918, the Depression in 1929, followed by our entrance into World War 2 in 1941. When I get frustrated, I think of all the things people went through in that era. This is not to say, that this is not a challenging time. Families have experienced job loss, the ability to be with loved ones in hospitals, not able to visit family in nursing homes …everything you’ve seen, heard, or may be experiencing. This will change society forever....and schools are dramatically affected by the current state of affairs. The bottom line is, we are doing our best to support you as we all navigate this ongoing situation, and please know, we are here for you.

Here are some brief updates in CPP:

- Governor Announces That He Will Make a Decision on Schools This Week: In a daily news conference last week, the Governor was asked a question about when to expect a decision on whether schools will reopen or not this year. He replied "next week." Obviously, I have no insider information here or scuttlebutt. I will share my thoughts however. I think it would be highly challenging to return to school this year with the number of restrictions that will likely be required. If we come back, as my team has begun to plan/discuss for this....will it be required that every person entering a building be required to have their temperature taken? Will everyone be required to wear a mask? How do you constantly sanitize and clean door knobs and door handles? How do you socially distance on a bus, in a cafeteria or in a classroom? I have been studying how districts overseas have approached this, and most have closed completely. However, Denmark has moved to an alternate schedule with no more than 10 students in a class at a time, attending on alternate days, groups of 5 on a playground, primary age students began school first, and there is constant sanitization and cleaning. By my estimation it appears that about one quarter of students attend their elementary school daily in Denmark. IF the Governor resumes the school year we will do everything we can to make sure everyone is safe, but I will admit, it would be a very heavy lift under the circumstances. Regardless, we will know one way or the other soon and we have begun planning for both scenarios.

-Class Rank, Naming of Valedictorian and Salutatorian: At last week’s Board of Education meeting, we made a change to the current policy associated with Class Rank and the naming of the Valedictorian and Salutatorian. Both policies previously noted that grades at the end of the third marking period were utilized to make these determinations. I made the recommendation that we change this for this year to the end of the 2nd marking period. We felt that because the 3rd marking period basically came to a stop in the middle of the marking period, in fairness ...this was the way to go. If you have questions about class rank, feel free to check in with your child's school counselor. High School Executive Principal Mrs. Sheehan will be announcing the Valedictorian and Salutatorian soon.

-Sports: Our Athletic Director, Damian Saks attended a meeting last week with his counterparts in Section 4 to discuss the viability of Spring Sports the rest of the way. Damian is a great guy, loves kids and is our athletes' strongest advocate. He contacted Mrs. Sheehan and I to ask what we could support in terms of a sports season prior to this meeting, and we both told Damian that CPP would vote to hold a season that runs to June 30 if necessary. This is what Damian was thinking as well. So, we are on record that if the kids are back and athletics are allowed we will do everything humanly possible to accommodate these kiddos. I want everyone to know also, our coaches are as upset about the current state of affairs as the students. THEY need a season too. Both athletes and coaches have my word...we will do all we can. Our section intends to have a season if school is in session and it's allowed. Many sections downstate have already cancelled their Spring Sports seasons.

5/1/20

Dear Parents, Students and Community Members,

As expected the Governor made the announcement earlier today to close schools for the remainder of the school year. On a personal level I expected this because of the number of unanswered questions along with the fact that we are approaching the end of the 19-20 school year. The obvious questions are how do you social distance in a classroom, on a bus, on a playground, a cafeteria...the list goes on and on and on. These will be questions that have to be answered in the months to come along with many others. As far as the current school year is concerned we have started working on Phase 3 (which is mid-May through the close of the current school year in June) and will have more on that in the days to come.

The vibe in the district amongst staff can be summed up in one word: sadness. Today was a sad day for our people. We miss your kids. I think collectively that all of our hearts break for our seniors in particular. It's certainly not a happy Friday by any stretch. We'll do our best to bring the year to a conclusion in a positive way.

The Governor made some key points in his Power Point today in terms of thinking about re-opening school and how he arrived at his decision to close. This includes questions that will need to be answered in terms of re-opening in the fall. Clearly right now, some of these are challenging to answer.

-The state will be the only entity which can re-open schools.

-How can schools monitor the spread of COVID-19??

-When, how and will extra curriculars re-open??

-Do protocols for special education change??

-What steps need to be taken to ensure student mental health??

-Would any alternative calendars work??

I can assure you that we are already discussing all of these things but we are firmly in "finish the year the right way" mode. So, we have started the work on next steps in what will be Phase 3 (May 18-mid June). Also, as stated previously we are starting to plan end of year events, some of which could be stand alone, combined with other events or even cancelled. Like I said, we are going to do all we can to honor these kids.

There are a number of things which have to be resolved in the weeks to come:

- What is the official last day of school?

-Will there be a traditional summer school, a virtual summer school (the Governor said he'd make that decision at the end of May)??

-How can parents provide feedback on Phase 1,2 and 3?

-Will there be sports camps or off season training this summer??

-How can computers be returned to the district??

-How can students pick up their personal belongings, etc??

-What is the grading process, how will final grades be determined??

-Will the district be able to offer academic catch up sessions?

-How will Yearbooks be distributed??

We have started some of this planning but now that we know for sure, we can bring some of it to a conclusion. I will provide that info as we make decisions as soon as possible.

Please stay safe..

5/14/20

Greetings Parents, Students and Community members,

I thought I would provide an update to you regarding items being discussed in the district or that may be of interest to you. Obviously we are all well aware that school is closed physically for the remainder of this year but with that in mind there are some key discussions and announcements I want to share as the school year begins to enter the homestretch. Here goes:

End of School Year- While it may feel that the school year has ended, it really hasn't legally speaking. The last official day for students this school year is Monday, June 15. Why did this change from the original school calendar?? Well, the main reason is that Spring Break was directed to be a week of school and the other two scheduled days off (April 13 and May 22) were also school days. We also had a couple of unused snow days. Food will continue to be provided until June 26 unless the Governor issues another Executive Order extending that date. Please note, Memorial Day, Monday, May 25, is a day off for everyone.

Phase 3- The district has been hard at work planning Phase 3. Michelle Caulfield, Kerry Elsasser and Jennifer Batzing sent letters home this week discussing key items at their respective levels which shared how grading would be conducted, retention and other items. If you did not get those in the mail they are on the district website under the “news” section.

Feedback from Parents and Students regarding the March/June Instructional Period- After the school year ends, the district will seek feedback from all of you regarding this March-June E-learning/Paper Packet period. Seeking feedback prior to this was borderline impossible because there were just too many moving parts. But, we know we absolutely need to do it now that the year is near the end. We did our best but we know it wasn't perfect. I think every district feels this way. Your feedback will guide and influence future planning if this continues.

20-21 School Year Planning- I know people want to know what September may look like. I think we all do. Speaking really frankly, we cannot begin to plan until we know what the state will allow. I expect that the district will send many updates throughout the summer in terms of planning but really as of right now, we are nowhere with this because we don't know what we are dealing with. I know the Governor has created a Re-Open Education committee which is supposed to drive the planning but we don't know what will be allowed. When we find out, you'll know. We desperately want the students back, I can tell you that much.

CPPHS Class of 2020 Graduation Ceremony- As I have said previously, this is a daily conversation within the district and amongst Superintendents in the region. CPPHS Principal Robin Sheehan and I will be sending a letter to families this week regarding our planning and where things stand. I can say that we are simultaneously planning a virtual graduation and an in-person graduation. What that in person graduation could look like, we don't know-again because we don't know what will be allowed. I think I can say with certainty that whatever we are allowed to do will look nothing like the 3000 people in the CPPHS Fieldhouse graduations of the last five years. Obviously, in late June...we will still have many restrictions. We have 360 graduates who will need to social distance and not touch each other...and this goes for spectators as well. So, we'll do what we can and I can promise we'll do all that we can.

Thank you for your support and patience as we work through this. I know this has placed a tremendous burden on all of you and for the kids, has created a great sense of loss. It stinks. But, I am really appreciative for your support and understanding. We really are doing the best that we can!

5/19/20

Tuesday, May 19th Update Message in Collaboration with GST BOCES

Governor Andrew Cuomo has announced that New York school facilities will remain closed for the remainder of the 2019-20 academic year. The Governor will make a decision about summer school by the end of May. As we look to the future, we must think about what a return to school buildings might look like and how best to support students, families and staff.

We know that we are stronger together. We need all voices to be heard on this important matter. Please participate in a statewide virtual conversation about reopening schools. You will be able to read and rate other participants' responses. Based on those ratings, the most important thoughts will rise to the top. All contributions are anonymous.

This is a statewide exchange facilitated by the 37 New York BOCES (Boards of Cooperative Educational Services). The exchange results will be shared with our elected officials so that they will have a more global understanding of the thoughts and ideas our community members have about returning to in-person schooling.

I encourage everyone to use the link below to share your thoughts and help evaluate the critical issues. If English is not your first language, there is a translation feature.

Thought Exchange Link: https://my.thoughtexchange.com/333518046

Your BOCES is Greater Southern Tier (Schuyler-Steuben-Chemung-Tioga-Allegany)

Thank you in advance for your participation,

6/16/20

Here are a few of things of note:

Graduation Ceremony/Prom- What do I know right now?? Not much more than you. I know we have a date on the calendar for a Virtual Graduation on June 26 at 7:00. IF we end up doing multiple in person ceremonies, we are looking at holding those on June 27 with a rain date of the 28. So no matter what, we know that a virtual ceremony is definite on the 26. In using the Governor’s limit of 150 in an outside venue (which frankly….I do not understand) with parents, graduates and all of the people who need to be present to support the graduation, we’d need to have 10 or 11 ceremonies. That makes no sense and if this stays at that number, I see no way that we can do that. What we need is a capacity % identified by the Governor. IF the Governor would increase the number to say 25 % of a venue, we could hold 1-3 ceremonies based on that capacity percentage. So, speaking frankly, we are in a holding pattern at the moment. If the Governor changes the number, we can move quickly to develop a ceremony but the sooner the better. Regardless, we need your feedback. This could go a number of ways (with parents, without parents, with limited guests, no face to face ceremony, etc).

To gauge what parents and guardians of seniors and Seniors would like to see, look for a link to a survey from Mrs. Sheehan. Please note that any graduation ceremony we hold at this point will be much different than normal. Students will need to be in masks, chairs will be 6 feet apart on the turf, no hugs or handshakes, pictures, etc. Regardless, we need to know what you are thinking! We’ve identified some possibilities and need your help. I have provided a document that I received from the Department of Health today relative to guidance for graduation ceremonies and what is allowed and what’s not. That document is in the link directly below:

updated interim guidance for graduation celebrations

As for the Prom, you’ll note that it was never removed from the calendar and was previously scheduled for June 20. Sadly, we have decided to cancel the Prom not seeing an opportunity in sight to hold an event that large anytime soon. You know that most events locally which have large crowds have been cancelled for the same reasons. If we thought there was still a chance, we’d hang in there but we aren’t seeing it right now.

20-21 School Year- Like above, we do not know a lot at this point. I will go on the record and state that we very much want school to reopen normally. There are two committees working simultaneously at the state level. One is the Governor’s Committee and the other is being led by the New York State Education Department, with both working on the guidelines for re-opening school in September. This is pretty maddening if you are us. We will need weeks to plan as we saw the recent Special Education Summer School guidelines which were very complicated with many requirements and we expect that the return to school guidelines will be more challenging. They are talking about social distancing on buses, in classrooms, etc and if that’s the case we need a tremendous amount of time to develop those plans. I know when the district begins the work, parents will be looped in quickly on progress. Believe me, everyone here wants the kids back as much as you do and for those of you who do want to keep your kids home, we hope they provide us with the flexibility to allow that without penalty.

Equity Work- The district started on a journey to address issues of equity three years ago. We knew that students of color, particularly our African American students not only did not feel like they always have had a good experience in our schools and community but that other marginalized groups had a similar experience. A one year study by the Equity Collaborative proved this and for many of us, we knew this was the case. The trick was to get others to recognize it. That’s still the trick. Recent events notwithstanding, we know racism is real and exists in many forms locally and across the US. The CPP School District is well positioned to do their part in helping all students participate and live in a safe and inclusive environment. CPP is our house....and we want to make it better. In the last three years, we have formed an African American Parent Support Group, an African American Culture Club at CPPHS, a 50 student high school group which promotes equity activities, a parent engagement team at each school, a Special Education PTA and a tremendous amount of training for all administrators , teachers, support staff and the Board of Education. That work will continue in 20-21. We were all in…..we’ve been all in…..and will remain all in going forward. The current climate needs to change and silence only promotes the status quo. We condemn racism in all forms and are committed to providing a healthy and safe environment for all children.

Lastly, this will likely be my last update to you this year and forever. Some of you may know that I am retiring June 30, so my time in CPP is coming to an end. I want to thank you for your support, as that is one thing I have always felt. I always valued parent relationships highly and while it wasn’t always perfect...I did care about your kids a great deal and wanted you to feel like your child was in good hands. Michelle Caulfield will officially take over for me on July 1 as the new Superintendent and I know, she will be great. It’s been a honor….truly!

Friday, 7/10/2020

Friday, July 10, 2020 - from Superintendent Michelle Caulfield

CPP Community – I would like to take this opportunity to officially introduce myself as your new Superintendent. This is a lengthy message, so I ask that you stick with me until the end as I provide you with the latest information about our planning for school re-opening this Fall.

I have worked in education for 25 years - twenty of them here in Corning. I am also a parent of three girls – two of whom just graduated with the class of 2020 and one upcoming Junior. Each of the different roles I have held taught me a little bit more about myself as an educator and as a parent. I am truly honored to be a leader in our school district and community. What I want you to know first and foremost is that I am an advocate for all students, as it is my belief that all students can be successful, and that the definition of that success may vary for each student. We have the most incredible teachers and support staff in our schools. This was more than evident over the course of the last few months when everything we knew about school was turned upside down.

I need to thank all of you for helping us stay connected to your students while we were all home this past Spring. It was because of our school and home collaboration that we made it. I would like to continue this collaboration by asking for your feedback.

Here is what I know as of July 8th.

· Governor Cuomo announced yesterday that he will provide us with guidelines for the re-opening of schools on Monday, July 13th.

· Our District then has until July 31st to submit a plan for re-opening to the New York State Education Department.

· Plans must be approved by the State Education Department.

· Governor Cuomo announced that his decision about school re-opening in September will be made between August 1st and August 7th.

· The reopening scenario we ultimately select will be driven by guidance from State agencies and our local health department.

Here is what we have been working on in CPP.

· We have established a School Re-Opening Task Force. This committee has been meeting weekly to discuss details, plans and scenarios. We will submit our official plan by July 31st.

· We will be launching a CPP Family Re-Opening Survey on Monday, July 13th to gain valuable insight from families not only on the re-opening but also on the Phases 1-3.

· We will be hosting in-person and virtual sessions for teachers and support staff to offer feedback.

· We will be meeting with a parent advisory task force.

· We will be meeting with a student advisory task force.

I am aware of the many challenges our families, students and staff have faced during the closure. I know that each family had different needs, as did my own, and that every one of us did the very best we could to stay connected with each other. Our kids have had to carry the weight of the world on their shoulders, and as we have seen, that weight seems to get heavier by the day. This is why your feedback and input are so valuable.

It is vital that we continue to build a strong family and school partnership – one in which our students feel safe, cared for and well-prepared for their futures. I look forward to the days when my messages focus on the little things that make every day lighter and brighter. In the meantime, we will the face the future of education without fear, together.

My commitment to you is to communicate often and to protect, respect and cherish the immense responsibility of caring for and educating our children.

Thank you,

Michelle

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Friday, 7/17/2020

Update from Superintendent Michelle Caulfield, Friday, July 17

Happy Friday CPP Families – I want to start by saying thank you to those of you who have completed the survey to date. We have had over 2000 responses so far. A reminder that the survey will close on Monday, July 20th at noon. In addition to your feedback this week, we have also received updated guidance from New York State and the Department of Health. There is a link to a website below that includes a pdf version of the PowerPoint if you are interested in learning more about the New York State Education Department's guidelines.

What have we done this week to prepare?

The Re-Opening Steering Team met.
The Central Office and Administrative Teams met.
CPP Staff have had 24 opportunities to meet.
Our Parent Advisory Task Force is scheduled: 1st meeting next Thursday, July 23rd.
Our Student Advisory Task Force is scheduled: 1st meeting next Friday, July 24th.
We continue to offer a survey to our families through Monday, July 20th at Noon.

Our plan moving forward will cover the following elements:

Health and Safety
Facilities
Child Nutrition
Transportation
Social Emotional Well-Being
School Schedules
Budget and Fiscal Matters
Attendance and Chronic Absenteeism
Technology and Connectivity
Teaching and Learning
Special Education
Bilingual Education and World Languages
Staffing
For the whole presentation from New York State Education Department, please click the following link: NYS Guidance

Each week, I will update you with more information regarding our planning. Your input so far has helped us narrow our potential models.

For this I am thankful.

Michelle

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Saturday, 7/25/2020

Update from Superintendent Michelle Caulfield, Saturday, July 25

Hello CPP Community –

Over the last few weeks we have spent much of our time requesting feedback from our families and staff. Your response has been tremendous. Safety is our main priority and the driving force behind our planning each and every day. At this time, based on the New York State Reopening requirements and the Department of Health guidelines, we WILL NOT be able to return to school as normal. Social distancing has required us to look at our student capacity in our buildings and on our buses. These two factors alone will demand we are in a BLENDED MODEL which entails both in-person and off-site (virtual) learning or a full off-site virtual model.

Here is a what a normal High School classroom looks like and what one looks like meeting the social distancing requirements.

I know that this entire experience is creating anxiety, has unknowns, and changes frequently. I am confident though that our plan will provide a step toward normalcy, prepare us for adapting to any possible changes as we go through fall and winter, and will engage students and families with the best possible instruction given the circumstances.

What are we doing to prepare?

-Our Parent Advisory Team met this week. It was a powerful 3 hours and the collaboration is appreciated.

-Our Student Advisory Team met yesterday. Fifth through twelfth-graders represented their families and our school community thoughtfully and creatively.

-School Reopening Survey – Instructional Model launched yesterday for families and will close on Monday, July 27 at 6PM.

- Staff Meetings will begin today, Saturday, July 25 and close on Tuesday, July 28 at 3PM.

-Communications Committee is ready to launch next week.

What do I know?

- Department of Health guidance must be met.

-New York State Education Department Reopening guidelines must be addressed.

-The Board of Education will review and approve our plan for submission on July 30 at 5:30PM.

-Our plan must be submitted by Friday, July 31.

Please continue to go to www.corningareaschools.com to visit Reopening C-PP for the most up to date information.

Thank you for your support and your thoughtful questions!

Have a wonderful weekend.

Michelle

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Friday, 7/31/2020

Friday, July 31 Update

This week we have a short video update from Superintendent Michelle Caulfield. Please watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HI6zo3F1r3M

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Friday, 8/7/2020

Friday, August 7

Good Evening CPP Families and Community,

I have an important update to share with you. First, the Governor announced that schools in New York can open this fall if they meet the guidelines set forth by the New York State Education Department and the Department of Health. Our next step to provide families with a commitment form is underway now.

CPP Families: You will receive an email from building principals this evening, Friday, August 7, with an online Commitment Form link and a parent information attachment, that will help you determine which model is right for your family – either blended A/B model or 100% virtual. For families that do not have the ability to complete the form online, please contact your child’s school on Monday, August 10th or Tuesday, August 11th between the hours of 8AM and 3PM.

Your commitment will determine transportation, scheduling of students into the A(M/T) or B (TH/F) cohort for the blended A/B model, food service, technology supports, and special education services.

The deadline for the online form is Tuesday, August 11th at 8 PM.

We appreciate your continued partnership.

Thank you,
Michelle Caulfield, Superintendent

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Friday, 8/14/2020

C-PP Families,

Thank you for taking the time to fill out the commitment form for your family this past week. I know these were not easy decisions to make.

I would like to invite you to join us for one of our three Parent Town Hall meetings next week. We will be providing you with updates regarding the Reopening of our Hawk Nation. You can join us via Zoom or by phone. You can submit questions in advance to ask@cppmail.com or you can use the chat feature during the meeting to pose a question. We will have recordings of the meetings available after as well for those of you who cannot attend.

Today, we posted our Remote Learning Plan and our Testing and Contact Tracing Plan. You can find these plans at www.corningareaschools.com at "Quick Links" or the "Reopening C-PP" link.

I look forward to the opportunity to hear from you all next week. C-PP remains committed to reopening our schools for our students safely.

Thank you for working through each of these hurdles with us since March.

Michelle

Clickable PDF version here

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Friday, 8/21/2020

Friday, August 21 Update from Superintendent Michelle Caulfield

CPP Families,

I continue to be grateful for this community and for each of you. Each week, as a district, we ask you to make more and more challenging decisions, yet we rise! Over 600 of you attended our Town Hall meetings this week. Your questions and concerns keep us moving in a positive direction. If you were unable to attend, you can find all three meetings on our YouTube channel. We are also releasing a Family FAQ this evening based on your questions this week. Click here for the FAQ.

Thursday evening and today, we released the Cohort assignments via Parent Portal. If you are having difficulty logging in, please contact techsupport@cppmail.com or call (607) 654-2740. Please contact your building principal if you have questions about the assignments.

Next week, we expect further clinical guidance regarding health and safety protocols. Once we have those, we will be sure to communicate those out to you. Please continue to use ask@cppmail.com for any questions you have.

Have a good weekend.

Michelle

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Friday, 9/4/2020

Good Evening CPP Families –

We are just a few days away from starting our 2020-2021 school year, and we could not be more excited. Our administrators, teachers and staff spent much of this week together collaborating and making decisions about what our school and classroom environments will look like this Fall.

I would like to invite you to a virtual Townhall on September 8th from 5-6pm. You can find the information HERE. I will provide you with the most up to date information we have at that time.

The safety of our students and staff is the most important aspect of re-opening our schools. Our student screening app is ready on SchoolPointe. With your help and support of these practices at home, we are confident we can remain in this hybrid model this Fall. We cannot do this without you. We will share a flyer with you on how to use it on Tuesday.

Please know we have been anxiously awaiting the start of school since March 16th. We are ready to see your children and are excited to welcome them back to school - where we all belong.

Have a great weekend.

Michelle

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Monday, 9/21/2020

Update from Superintendent Michelle Caulfield 9/21

CPP Community,

We are officially in Week 2 of the 2020-2021 school year, and I have to say it just feels right to have our students and staff back. Whether students are learning at home or in our buildings, we are happy to be back doing what we do to support them. Our hallways, classrooms and campuses feel alive again.

Tonight, I am sharing an update with you from the Steuben County Department of Health. This updated guidance provides us with a couple revisions and clarification for our families regarding how to resolve symptoms for return to school. Students will still be sent home for having 1 of the 11 symptoms; however, siblings or household members do not have to go home as well. In addition, families then have three options to consider to determine how to get their student back to school:

COVID testing- negative test and must have symptoms resolved and be fever-free without medication for 72 hours.
Alternative diagnosis from a licensed health care provider and must have symptoms resolved and fever-free without medication for 72 hours.
Keep student home for 14 days and must have symptoms resolved and be fever-free without medication for 72 hours.

If you have any questions, please email me ask@cppmail.com.

Our school community is coming together for students in ways I never thought possible. For this, I am grateful to our CPP family – staff and community.

Thank you,
Michelle

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Friday, 10/9/2020

Friday, October 9 Update from Superintendent Michelle Caulfield

Good afternoon CPP Families,

We have been in school for one month today! I want to start this weekend's message by saying thank you for helping us make that happen. As a community, we have made our hybrid and 100% virtual models work. Our goal is to keep this positive momentum moving forward.

To do this, we need your help and support with a few things.

1) We have a three day weekend starting and often times, this means getting together with friends and families, picnics, parties and getting out in the community. I ask that this weekend you do your best to follow the guidelines that we know work. Wear a mask, stay 6 ft. apart, wash your hands frequently and keep your family safe. These decisions keep us all safe.

2) Please answer the student health screener honestly each day. It is very easy to ignore the runny nose and congestion. This is a symptom, and right now, we cannot ignore it. All symptoms must be taken seriously. These precautions keep us all safe.

3) If we need to trace a student or staff member because of exposure to a positive case, you will be contacted by the school and by the Steuben County Public Health Department. Please follow the quarantine timeline and answer all questions honestly. Following these procedures lessens the chance of spread. This decision keeps us all safe.

What does direct contact mean? You were within 6ft of a person who tested positive for 10-15 minutes or you were following the 6 ft distancing guideline and were with a person who tested positive for more than an hour.

Your help with these three things will not only help our community slow the spread, but also keep our schools open. Next week, we will be mailing home an update from NYS Department of Health in regards to when you should send your student to school, so look for that by the end of the week.

Enjoy your extended weekend and take the time to rest and re-energize with your family. We will see you all again on Tuesday.

If you have any questions, please email me at ask@cppmail.com

Michelle

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Thursday, 10/15/2020

Update from Superintendent Michelle Caulfield

October 15, 2020

To our C-PP Families and Community,

Below is a message shared by Middle School Executive Principal Mr. Barber that the Middle School will be transitioning to 100% remote learning starting tomorrow through Friday, Oct. 23rd. We do not make these decisions lightly and our focus, as always, is the safety of our students and staff. Please note this transition to 100% remote learning is for the Middle School only.

-Michelle

Message:

Thursday, October 15, 2020

Message from Middle School Executive Principal Mr. Frank Barber

Good Afternoon CPP Middle School Families,

As you know from our daily phone calls home this week, the Middle School has been affected by multiple COVID positive cases. Although these cases are not related to each other, this has led to multiple staff members being required to quarantine which is resulting in staff coverage challenges at the school. At this time we need to pause in-person learning at the Middle School and give our school community a chance to regain its strength in terms of numbers. We recognize the stress this may cause for you at home, but the health and safety of our students and staff is our priority.

We will transition to 100% remote learning for all middle school students beginning tomorrow, Friday, October 16th through Friday, October 23rd, 2020.

Students will follow their normal daily school schedule from home. Food will be delivered on Friday, October 16th between 9:00 am and 12:00 pm for those families who are already on the remote day plan.

On Monday, October 26th, our hybrid in-person learning will resume.

Although we have prepared for this transition, we know that it will not be perfect. Please reach out to your teachers, building administrators or the superintendent to ask for help and resources. We are here to support you and your students with this transition. Our goal and focus is to get back to our hybrid model on Monday, October 26th.

Hawk Proud!

Frank Barber, Middle School Executive Principal

If you have questions about COVID-19, please contact Steuben County Public Health at (607) 664-2438. For questions about the health of your child, please contact your health provider. If you have questions about Food Service, please call Food Services at (607) 654-2720.

For general questions about your child’s education, please contact Superintendent Michelle Caulfield at ask@cppmail.com.Facebook Instagram YouTube Facebook ADA Link

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Wednesday, 10/21/2020

Update from Superintendent Michelle Caulfield, Oct. 21st

Good Evening C-PP Families - this is Superintendent Michelle Caulfield with an important message. Today (Oct 21), the Governor announced that a portion of Steuben County was placed in a Yellow Zone due to the increase in the COVID Infection rate. This area includes all schools in our district. We are working in conjunction with the Steuben County Public Health Department to plan our next steps.

This is not an emergency closure, so we plan to stay in our hybrid model the rest of this week, with a transition to 100% remote learning for all students sometime early next week. We will communicate the specific date of that transition as soon as we are able to.

A factor in the decision to move to 100% remote learning is the capacity of the district to meet the State guidance to COVID test 20% of the district population while we are in this zone. Because this would require almost 1100 tests per week, we are unable to remain in our hybrid model.

I know this is a challenging and difficult time but we are committed to doing all we can to support you and your children. I invite you to an online Parent Town Hall tomorrow evening, Thursday, October 22nd from 6 to 6:30. I’ll provide more information about this transition and do my best to answer your questions. The link will be posted tomorrow morning on the district website at www.corningareaschools.com. A recording of the town hall will be available Friday morning.

Please know that we will return to our hybrid model as soon as we are cleared to do that. Continue to look for information from me and from your building principals. As always, the health and safety of our students and staff are our priority.

Thank you for your time Hawk Nation and have a good evening.

Michelle Caulfield

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Saturday, 10/24/2020

As we communicated with you earlier in the week, per the Governor’s Executive Order, part of Steuben County is now in the Yellow Zone. This means that schools are required to COVID test 20% of the population in the buildings each week the County remains in the Yellow Zone. For CPP, this would mean testing 1100 people including students and staff. The State nor County has the capacity for us to do that. Due to this testing capacity issue, we will move to 100% remote learning beginning Wednesday, October 28th.

All schools, including the Middle School, will be in their regular hybrid schedule on Monday, October 26th and Tuesday, October 27th.

-Superintendent Michelle Caulfield

Click here for a Food Services Update

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Friday, 11/6/2020

Friday, Nov. 6, 2020 Update from Superintendent Michelle Caulfield

Good evening CPP Families and Community,

We are excited to announce that we are able to return to our hybrid model for our HeadStart/Pre-K , K, 1 and 2 students as well as some specific special education classrooms. These specific students will return on the dates listed below:

Cohort B - November 12, 2020

Cohort A - November 16, 2020

As you know, Steuben County is still in the Yellow Zone. This zone does not require that schools close. It requires that schools randomly COVID test 20% of the people in the building. Testing capacity has been a hurdle; however, over the past two weeks, we learned how to meet this requirement with our staff and feel confident that we have the capacity to test the students and staff in the grade levels and groups listed below:

Cohort A and B students in Head Start/PreK, and grades K, 1 and 2
Integrated Co-Teaching and Pre-School Special Education class(Severn Elementary)
Students in the 12:1:1program (Severn Elementary, Mrs. Lebaron)
Students in the 8:1:1 program (Severn Elementary, Ms. Sheering)
Students in the 8:1:2 program (Smith Elementary, CPP MS and CPP HS)
Students in the 12:1+(3:1) program (Smith Elementary and CPP HS)

Click here for a link to the letter that we are sending home to the families of the students listed above, so as a community, we are all aware of the plan. These families will also receive a consent form for testing. Meeting the 20% testing requirement is the key to opening our doors. We are hosting a Family Town hall on Monday, November 9, from 6 - 6:30 PM to share the testing process and answer family questions. The link to the meeting is tinyurl.com/cppupdate119

It is our goal to get all of our students back in our hybrid model as soon as possible. This is a positive step in that direction. Please let your building administrator or me know if you have any questions.

- Michelle Caulfield

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Thursday, 11/12/2020

Thursday, November 12 Update from Superintendent Michelle Caulfield

CPP Families,

I am following up on Wednesday night’s announcement from the Governor that Steuben County is no longer in the Yellow Zone designation.

For our school community this will mean:

As of today, November 12, we will no longer be required to COVID test 20% of the students and staff in our buildings

Tomorrow, Friday, November 13, we will continue as planned with our PreK-2 and special class Cohort B students in person

On Monday, November 16, we will return to our full hybrid model, for all students, PreK-12, beginning with Cohort A in person

We would like to thank our staff, families and community for all of their support and efforts. We will continue to follow all of the Health and Safety protocols and practices including:

Wearing a mask or face covering

Practicing good hand hygiene

Maintaining social distancing whenever possible

Completing the health screening tool prior to arrival to school each day

We are excited to be back in our full hybrid model for all students starting on Monday, November 16th!

Please reach out using ask@cppmail.com with any questions.

-Michelle

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Friday, 11/20/2020

Update from Superintendent Michelle Caulfield, Friday, November 20th

Although this year has been like no other, it is still moving quickly. As a district, we are already planning for the second half of the year. On Tuesday, November 24th, all Cohort C families will receive a link to an online Commitment Form from their principal similar to the one we sent in August to confirm placement of your student for February 2021 through the end of the year. Cohort C families will be able to choose to move from the Cohort C all-remote model to the Cohort A/B hybrid model, or to remain in the Cohort C model. Once we have collected this information, we will work with transportation and our building administrators to place students in the Cohort A or B model. Families of students who are already in the Cohort A and B model will remain in that model. If you do not wish to stay in the Cohort A or B model, you may request a change to Cohort C at any time by contacting your building principal.

Please know that we are hopeful that the availability and administration of a vaccine will allow us to open our school once again to 5 days of in-person learning. Until that time, we will remain in our hybrid (A/B) and all remote models.

As we approach Thanksgiving, I find myself focused on the incredible strides each of us has made personally during this pandemic. I am thankful for the powerful partnerships we have made with families, childcare providers, and our community. I am grateful that we get better every day at connecting in meaningful ways, and I am confident we will get through this together. I remain honored and thankful to be leading our Hawk Nation.

Happy Thanksgiving

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Tuesday, 12/1/2020

Update from Superintendent Michelle Caulfield, Tuesday, December 1, 2020

CPP Family – We would like to announce a few cohort schedule adjustments for this month, as well as share our procedures and schedules for Snow Days and 2 hour delays as we prepare for the winter season.

SCHEDULE ADJUSTMENTS:

December 4th, 2020

Elementary Change ONLY: December 4th will now be a full day for all Elementary students. Cohort B students will be in-person. Cohort A and C students will be remote.

December 21st and 22nd, 2020

Elementary, Middle and High School Change: ALL Cohort B students will be in-person.

We know that in-person instruction is essential to student success and have been monitoring our Cohort A and B schedules closely. Although we cannot predict closures and will not change schedules week to week, we do see the opportunity to allow our Cohort B students 2 additional days of in-person instruction to help with balance. While we wish we could balance our in-person days across Cohorts perfectly, we also realize that such schedule changes can affect family child care and work schedules. We understand the need for consistency and will honor that while we remain in the hybrid model.

Monday, December 21: Cohort A Remote
Cohort B In-Person
Cohort C Remote

Tuesday, December 22: Cohort A Remote
Cohort B In-Person
Cohort C Remote

INCLEMENT WEATHER UPDATES:

Snow Days

We will have traditional snow days this school year. Students will not join classes remotely on these days.

2-hour Delays

Due to our in-person and remote school models, we are sharing our 2 hour delay schedules for M/T/TH/F and Wednesday. These schedules will be sent via email tonight from your school principals for each level: elementary, middle and high school and will be placed on our school building and district websites.

You will be notified about school closures or delays on our school district website, our social media sites and the School Pointe app. You can also tune in to local radio or T.V. stations for the same information.

If you have any questions, contact your building principal or ask@cppmail.com.

-Michelle

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Friday, 12/18/2020

Update from Superintendent Michelle Caulfield, Friday, December 18th

CPP Families,

On Monday, December 21st and Tuesday, December 22nd, we will be in our Remote Learning Instruction model only for all three cohorts. Students should log-in and follow their regular Thursday/Friday remote schedules on both days as these were scheduled to be in-person days for Cohort B.

As you know, this Fall has been extremely challenging and the last two weeks have been no different. As COVID positive cases increase in our county, tracing of direct contacts in our schools has been a challenge that we cannot overcome. As was the case today, we simply do not have the staff to appropriately cover our in-person student classes. This is truly not the way we wanted to head into our holiday break, but it is the best decision for our families and staff at this time.

Food Service Information

Emergency Meal Request for Monday, December 21st:

· Families of students in need of meals on Monday, December 21st may call the Food Services office at 654-2720.

· We will work to have a delivery made the same day.

· Requests for same day delivery should be made in the morning before 11am.

Delivery Date Change for the Upcoming Week:

· To accommodate the holiday, meal deliveries will take place on Tuesday, December 22nd.

Meal Delivery over Holiday Break:

· Meal delivery is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, December 30th at the normally expected times.

Return to School on January 4th:

· Food Services would like to remind all families in need that by way of special funding from the USDA, all meals served will be at no charge.

· Every child under 18 is entitled to receive one breakfast and one lunch per day (whether in-person or remote).

· Additional food items beyond the breakfast and lunch meals in the cafeteria will continue to be available for sale.

Material Pick-Up

Cohort C Materials Pick-up:

· This information will be shared with you by your building principal.

Cohort A and B personal item pick-up:

· This information will be shared with you by your building principal.

I hope over the holiday break that you are able to unplug and enjoy time with your family and friends safely. As we leave 2020 behind, I am thankful for the support and strength of our school community. We have rallied around your children, our students. Whether we had the role of teacher, school administrator, CPP staff, Board of Education, family, parent, sibling, classmate or community partner, we have modeled and shown compassion, love, kindness, grit, resilience and grace. Our Gators, Koalas, Road Runners, Lions, Cougars, Roos and Hawks deserve nothing less.

Thank you. We will begin in-person instruction with Cohort A students on January 4th, 2021. If you have questions, please contact your child’s principal or email me at ask@cppmail.com.

Have a safe and quiet holiday.
Michelle

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Sunday, 1/3/2021

Message from Superintendent Michelle Caulfield, Sunday, January 3rd

Good Afternoon CPP Community,

I hope you had a quiet, restful, and safe holiday season. Although we faced many challenges as a school district and community in 2020, we are excited to enter 2021 with a renewed sense of purpose and resolve.

Educating and caring for our students and families remains our #1 priority. Part of the work necessary to sustain our success is enforcing and following our established health and safety protocols.

As we see the numbers of positive COVID cases around us increase, we must all do our utmost to mask up, wash our hands frequently and answer the screening questions honestly daily. CPP has been able to remain in a hybrid model for most of the 1st half of the year because we consistently follow the guidance from the New York Department of Health. Our partnership with the Steuben County Public Health Department has been essential in regards to tracing. Please know that I recognize that the tracing and quarantining process has been a challenge - I would be remiss not to acknowledge that. However, I appreciate the kindness and understanding our school community has shown throughout, so we can remain in our hybrid model. Today, I ask for your continued help and assistance with this at home. When you answer the screening questions (https://www.cppasd.com/prescreen/), please do it honestly. It is necessary for our students and staff to stay home if the answers to all four questions cannot be “no”. Your support with this keeps our doors open.

Tomorrow, January 4th, we are excited and ready to have our Cohort A students back in-person and our Cohort B and C students learning remotely. We will welcome our Cohort B students back in-person on January 7th with our Cohort A and C students learning remotely.

We still have many challenges ahead of us, and I am confident we can overcome them together. Please reach out to your child’s teacher or principal if you have questions or concerns or email me directly at ask@cppmail.com.

2021 - our Hawk Nation is ready and waiting for you.

Michelle

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Monday, 2/1/2021

Monday, Feb. 1st, 2:30pm (note 9 pm update at the bottom of this message)

Good Afternoon CPP Families,

Due to the fact that the District has utilized all of its allocated snow days for the 2020-2021 school year, we will be shifting to remote learning on any future inclement weather related days.

This means that your student will join their online classrooms as has been the practice this year on their remote learning days. There will be no in-person instruction.

In the event that we have to move to remote instruction tomorrow, February 2nd, we ask that you remain patient with us as this will be our teachers’ first time shifting to remote instruction from home this school year. Just like some of you, a few of our teachers do not have access to the internet at home. We will do our best to connect each and every block of time or period throughout the day. If we are unable to connect, we may provide assignments via Google Classrooms only. Together, we will work through the challenges of shifting to remote instruction due to weather. It is new for all of us. We will follow a normal Tuesday schedule.

No decision has been made to move to remote instruction tomorrow, February 2nd. Please look for information relative to this in the morning by following our regular communication avenues - the website, social media, SchoolPointe app and local news stations.

If you have any questions, please contact your building principal or email me at ask@cppmail.com

Michelle Caulfield, Superintendent of Schools

UPDATE, 9:00 pm: CPP Schools: Tuesday, February 2nd, Remote Learning Day for All Students (no in-person learning). Tuesday, all students should log in to their Google Classrooms, and follow the Tuesday schedule.

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Friday, 2/12/2021

Update from Superintendent Michelle Caulfield - Friday, Feb. 12

To our CPP Families and Community,

We have much to be proud of in our CPP community. Our students are entering the second half of their school year and some extra-curricular opportunities are starting to open up. We have virtual bowling matches, swimming and diving invitationals, middle school play practices, indoor drumline and winter guard rehearsals. We even had our first indoor track meet, outdoors! Our elementary students are able to play on the playground with their peers. This all represents progress and hope.

This week, the Board of Education honored two students for their communication and branding efforts across the District with an Excellence in Action Award! Congratulations to CPPHS students Cassidy Galusha and Kaila Stefanini. You can watch the presentation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYPI4HLJpxA&feature=youtu.be

We are celebrating Black History Month through a collaboration with Corning Incorporated and the Corning Museum of Glass. CPP is honored to participate in the African American Read-In of the Southern Tier of New York. The mission of the program is to celebrate African American history and literacy. Volunteers from Corning Incorporated and the Corning Museum of Glass participate in the reading of stories virtually to our elementary students, reinforcing valuable lessons about courage and kindness. Classrooms were provided access to prerecorded lessons and books focused on themes that recognize differences and value the contributions of everyone. This is essential in order to facilitate deeper discussions about courage and kindness toward all. Visit this website to learn about the program: https://www.readinsoutherntierny.com/

Our Athletics Department is partnering with the NFHS network to provide families with the opportunity to see their athletes compete live. Please check out Hawks Facebook for more details. It was also great to see our Hawks Swimming and Diving team get recognized by the local newspapers! Read the article here: https://www.the-leader.com/story/sports/high-school/2021/02/11/corning-boys-swimming-diving-rewrites-record-books/4348956001/

We are proud to say that over a thousand student-made Valentine's Day cards were delivered to the Bath VA today from area school districts including Corning-Painted Post. This is a long tradition we've been a part of since the start of "Valentines for Vets" and is a way to say thank you to those who have served our Nation and sacrificed so much for us. Thank you to Middle School Executive Principal Mr. Barber for delivering CPP's cards today!

This week we had four positive COVID cases out of 5500 students and employees. Our safety protocols and procedures are working. We will continue to follow New York State Department of Health and Steuben County Department of Health guidelines as they have helped us keep our doors open. Thank you for helping us enforce and manage these health and safety procedures. Many members of our community are wondering why we cannot open 5 days a week as our numbers continue to decline and the number of vaccinations continue to increase. Until the 6 ft. distancing requirement is lifted, we need to stay in our hybrid model.

As we head into break this weekend, I would like to say thank you. Thank you for partnering with us this year. You are doing a tremendous job with your children and supporting their education in a profound way. We could not do this without you. I hope you are able to enjoy the break. We ask that our students put their laptops and school books away for the week and take a break – a real break from homework and Google Meets.

We will still have challenges to overcome in the next few months, and we will overcome them because we will do it together.

Our students, your children deserve our very best!

Michelle

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Friday, 3/5/2021

Update from Superintendent Michelle Caulfield - Friday, March 5, 2021

To Our CPP Community,

There are many conversations happening across our community and State about schools re-opening. Some districts have not had the same luxury of opening up in a hybrid model and have been remote all year. Some districts have had the opportunity to be open five days a week. These district specific decisions have been based on meeting the requirements from the New York Department of Health and the New York State Education Department. As we navigate these conversations in our own community, I think it is important to have the facts. We are in the hybrid model because of the 6 foot social distancing requirement. For us to consider offering more days of in-person instruction, we need that 6 foot social distancing requirement to change.

As a district, we are excited about the opportunities this change could bring for our students, families and community. We have begun planning for transportation, furniture return, food service and instructional needs.

In anticipation of this potential change, we will be sending home a survey similar to the one we sent in August asking families to determine whether they would like to be in-person or virtual. Please look for that survey from your child’s principal toward the end of next week.

I would also like to share our 2019-2020 Annual Report with you. When you spend most of your days doing the work, you sometimes miss all the amazing things that are happening around you. The Annual Report allows us to see how we navigated a challenging Spring while honoring the incredible events that happened before that infamous day in March. In addition, there is a tribute to former Superintendent Michael Ginalski. He attacked incredible challenges while in his leadership position and won. Our district, schools, families and communities are better for it. I hope as you read through these pages that you, like me, are in awe of our Hawk Nation!

Thank you all for your dedication to our kids and community.

Michelle Caulfield, Superintendent of Schools

Annual Report Link

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Friday, 3/26/2021

Update from Superintendent, Friday, March 26, 2021

CPP Families,

With the recent updates regarding school openings from the CDC and the increased availability of the vaccine, I thought I would provide you with an update regarding the work we are doing in CPP to prepare for a shift to more in-person days of instruction if the Governor and the New York State Department of Health align with the CDC guidance. At this time, we have no date set for this change. Thank you to the 3400 of you who responded to our survey last week. 91% of you requested to be in school more days per week. Your input is helping us plan our transportation routes and refocus our food service needs. We have also begun to return some of our desks and chairs to our buildings. Your children may start to notice them in their classrooms. In anticipation of the guidance changing from 6 feet to 3 feet social distancing, we are doing what we can to be ready.

The health and safety of our students and staff remains our #1 priority; we will continue to follow the guidance provided to us by New York State Department of Health and Steuben County Health Department regarding mask wearing and social distancing.

We are excited by the opportunity to have our students in-person more days per week. We know the value of in-person, hands-on learning with our teachers, and we are working to make this a safe reality for our students, staff, families and community.

Please send any questions you may have to ask@cppmail.com or connect directly with your building principal.

Michelle Caulfield, Superintendent

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Tuesday, 4/13/2021

Update from Superintendent Michelle Caulfield - Tuesday, April 13th, 2021

CPP Families and Community,

Last Friday evening, April 9th, the New York State Department of Health released updated guidance for schools to reduce social distancing, under certain conditions, which will allow for an increase of in-person instruction. A link to the updated guidance is here: https://www.governor.ny.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/Pre-K_to_Grade_12_Schools_MasterGuidance.pdf

We have been proactive in planning for this possible change. Our most-recent family survey clearly showed that the majority of our families want more days of in-person instruction. Over spring recess, our Building and Grounds teams began moving furniture back into classrooms, and our Transportation Department is hard at work continually planning updated bus runs. We also continue to work closely with the Steuben County Health Department.

To begin our understanding of the guidance and to plan next steps, our administrative team has worked through the document to identify areas we need to address to open to 4 days a week of in-person instruction. We also plan to share information and answer any questions to the best of our ability for our families and community with a Town Hall on Thursday, April 15th at 5:30pm. This meeting will be held via Zoom: tinyurl.com/cpptownhall415. You will be able to submit questions throughout the presentation. The Town Hall will be recorded for future viewing on our YouTube channel. Our plan will be submitted to the New York State Education Department and Steuben County once it is completed.

Thank you for patience and understanding as we work to develop this new plan.

Respectfully,

Michelle

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Thursday, 4/15/2021

Update from Superintendent Michelle Caulfield, Thursday, April 15, 2021

CPP Families,

Together we have been able to overcome the many challenges presented to us since the start of the pandemic. Throughout our hybrid learning model, our students, families, faculty and staff have demonstrated a commitment to work together to navigate what has been a complex and difficult year and for that I am grateful. We are now facing the next challenge, which is meeting the requirements in the new guidance from the New York State Department of Health, released late afternoon on April 9th.

There are two significant changes in the guidance that will have an immediate impact on our daily processes and procedures. Please take note the dates we will implement these changes.

1. Mask Wearing - The State is moving to full time mask wearing in schools. Students and Staff are required to wear masks at all times except for meals/breakfast/lunch. This will be effective in our District on Monday, April 19th (page 9).

2. Social Distancing - School districts can move from 6ft to 3ft if they meet certain criteria required by the CDC and NYDOH - specifically the CDC Indicators of Community Transmission. Based on these indicators, Steuben County is in RED which means there are limitations to moving to 4 days of in-person instruction (pages 7 and 8).

Click Here to Read the Guidance Document

Based on this guidance, the following plan will go into effect on Monday, April 26th:

K to 8 students will begin in-person learning 4 days per week (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday).

9-12 students will remain in the current A/B/C Cohort Hybrid Model.

Pre-K students will receive specific notification relevant to next steps.

Wednesdays will remain remote for all students at all levels.

Families will still have the option to remain in a 100% virtual model or move to the 100% virtual model (Cohort C).

Understandably, it is frustrating we cannot have all grade levels back at this time. Our CPP rate of positivity remains below 1% and our current processes and procedures have worked to keep us safe and our buildings open. However, the NYSDOH and CDC guidance impacts our district significantly. Steuben County is considered, by the CDC, to be in a Red Zone in terms of the risk of transmission. Until that changes, the guidance prohibits our high school from moving to 4 days of in-person instruction.

“In counties with high risk of transmission, elementary schools can maintain physical distancing of at least three feet between students in classrooms and cohorting is recommended when possible. However, in middle and high schools three feet between students in classrooms is recommended only when schools can use cohorting. When schools cannot maintain cohorting, middle and high schools must maintain physical distancing of at least six feet between students in classrooms.”

Please know that we will be prepared to have our high school students in-person 4 days a week as soon as Steuben County is out of the CDC determined red zone.

We remain committed to open communication and gathering feedback. Upcoming opportunities for providing feedback are listed below. The Town Hall will be recorded and shared on our website as well for those who cannot attend this evening.

Town Hall this evening, Thursday, April 15th at 5:30PM - opportunity to hear our plan and ask questions. Zoom: tinyurl.com/cpptownhall415

Commitment Form for Families, Friday, April 16th - opportunity to confirm your model. Please watch for this from your building principal.

Thank you for your continued support of our students and District as we navigate the changes and challenges associated with the pandemic and the guidance from New York State. As always, please feel free to contact me anytime at ask@cppmail.com to ask questions, share your concerns and seek clarification.

Respectfully,

Michelle

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Thursday, 4/29/2021

Update from the Superintendent, Thursday, April 29

To our CPP Families and Community,

It is with great pride that I announce that we will be bringing our high school students back to 4 days a week beginning Monday, May 3rd. We also know that the health and safety of our students and staff must remain our 1st priority. We will monitor our COVID positive cases weekly and will share that information on our district webpage weekly. Updates will occur on Fridays.

We will be using 2 metrics:

Positivity rate in Steuben County per the 7 day average (Per CDC 9.9%)
Positivity rate in our High School based on total population (2%)

If we exceed both of these measures, we will move to our 2 day a week hybrid model.

For transportation information, over the next few days, please be sure to check Parent Portal frequently as the schedule may update prior to the official start on Monday, May 3rd. For any questions, you can contact the Transportation Department via email at transinfo@cppmail.com or call (607) 962-2493.

All families must use the Student Screener on each of their in-person days. It is located here: https://www.cppasd.com/prescreen/ or you can access it on the SchoolPointe Stay Connected App for phones and tablets. This is how we keep each other safe.

Thank you for your continued support of our students, staff and district as we continue to meet the challenges presented to all of us this year. Please reach out to me with any questions or concerns at ask@cppmail.com.

Hawk Nation is ready and waiting for you!

Michelle Caulfield

Superintendent of Schools

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Friday, 5/14/2021

Update from Superintendent Michelle Caulfield, Friday, May 14th

To our CPP Families and Community,

As the school year is starting to come to an end, I find myself continuing to think about the connections we have made this year. We are fortunate in the Corning-Painted Post Area School District to have amazing community partners who support our students in so many ways. The Art Department at Corning-Painted Post High School and The Rockwell Museum are excited to announce the exhibition of Rockwell Reimagined, a collection of student work from Studio Art B inspired by pieces from the Rockwell's collection. This exhibit will be on display through June 1st at The Rockwell and will also be available digitally on Museum’s blog. I invite you to take a look at this outstanding student work. Thank you to The Rockwell Museum for their continued partnership!

As we look to the summer, there is an exciting opportunity for students to engage in activities through the Summer of Innovation. Organizations from across the Southern Tier have partnered to offer unique learning opportunities for students during the summer months. The program provides students with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) skills that are essential to their success in the future. Learn more about this opportunity by downloading the Summer of Innovation course catalog.

Tuesday, May 18th is our annual Budget Vote and Board Election. We are proud to offer a budget that allows us to maintain program for our students.

Here are some details on our Budget:

•The estimated full value tax rate would decrease from 23.39 to 23.25. Please note, this number is subject to change based on finalized assessment rolls.
•1.37 percent tax levy increase, which is within the state-assigned tax cap
•0.34 percent budget-to-budget increase
•Services to students are maintained

There is also a bus/vehicle proposition with this year’s vote. Full details on that, the Budget, Board Election and voting locations and hours are available on this webpage.

If you have any questions about voting, please contact our District Clerk, Karen Dutcher at kdutcher@cppmail.com or (607) 936-3704 ext. 1001.

Thank you for your continued support of our students and community. I wish you and your family a wonderful weekend. As always, let me know if you have any questions at ask@cppmail.com.

Michelle

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`Saturday, 6/5/2021

Update from Superintendent Michelle Caulfield, Saturday, June 5, 2021

Good morning,

I am writing to you this morning with an update regarding our current health and safety protocols around mask wearing. Yesterday afternoon, the NYS Department of Health issued a letter stating that beginning Monday, June 7th mask wearing at school is no longer mandatory for students and staff whether they are vaccinated or not fully vaccinated.

Last night, we worked with the Steuben County Department of Health to confirm this change as we have done throughout the year. The Steuben County Department of Health confirmed this change in protocol as well. Beginning Monday, June 7th, all students, Prek-12, and staff in our school district will not be required to wear masks on school property or during school related activities and events.

We have been successful in implementing our health and safety protocols this year and plan to continue to do so for the remaining three weeks of school. Please continue to fill out the daily health screener and follow all other school protocols, such as social distancing. We have included the link to the letter below from Howard Zucker, New York State Department of Health Commissioner.

If you have any questions, please let me know at ask@cppmail.com.

Michelle Caulfield

https://www.governor.ny.gov/sites/default/files/2021-06/Letter_from_NYSDOH.pdf

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Sunday, 6/6/2021

Sunday, June 6, 2021

Good Evening CPP Families - I want to start by apologizing for the late night message and for the change in messaging since Saturday. On Saturday, we were confident in our plan to move to non-mask wearing while at school based on the letter from the NYDOH Commissioner Howard Zucker.

However, this afternoon we received a message from Commissioner Rosa at the New York State Education Department stating schools:

Today, Commissioner of Education Betty Rosa said schools still are bound by the executive order:

As of September 1, 2020, school districts were permitted to reopen, under Executive Order 202.60, "subject to adherence to Department of Health issued guidance and directives." These have included the submission of reopening plans to address, among other things, distancing and health requirements.

SED has been in communication with Executive staff regarding the attached letter from Dr. Howard Zucker, New York State Commissioner of Health. According to conversations with Executive staff, the intent of this letter was to obtain a response from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) regarding differing standards for summer camps and schools; it has not changed any existing arrangements. Therefore, schools should continue to operate under their existing procedures until further notice. No changes have been, or will be, made by the Executive until after Monday June 7 to afford the CDC an opportunity to respond to the letter.

Due to the discrepancies between the NYDOH and the NYSED, we will delay our start. We are hopeful that the two entities will reach a decision soon, so we can move forward positively and safely for the remainder of the school year.

On Monday, June 7th, students and staff will maintain the current mask wearing protocols while in school and on the bus. Due to the projected temperatures this week, students and staff will be able to remove their masks for outdoor recess and when outdoors for physical education class.

Please look for more communication this week regarding mask wearing.

Michelle Caulfield, Superintendent of Schools

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Monday, 6/7/2021

Update from the Superintendent, Monday, June 7

Good Evening CPP Families –

I know the last few days have been filled with mixed messages regarding mask wearing at school. As always, we do our best to align our messaging with the guidance from the Governor, NYDOH, Steuben County Public Health Department and NYSED. This weekend was no different, other than the entities we receive our guidance from did not agree. As promised, here is an update.

Today during the Governor’s Press Conference, he clarified what school districts can do for the remainder of the year- this was in consultation with Dr. Zucker and the CDC.

· Mask wearing must continue at school while inside.

· Mask wearing will not be required at school while outside. (school districts can choose to implement this)

In addition, Robert Zayas, the Director of NYSPHSAA announced shortly after the press conference that the mask wearing change pertaining to outside can apply to interscholastic athletics.

Our plan for mask wearing moving forward is listed below.

· Mask wearing will continue at school while inside and on buses.

· Mask wearing will not be required at school while outside.

· Mask wearing will not be required for athletics while outside.

· Students and staff can still wear a mask outside if they choose. It is a personal choice.

· CPP will encourage mask breaks throughout the day to tolerate the heat.

As we enter the last few weeks of this year, I want to thank you for your support of our students/your children. We will finish this year the way we have lived it each day since March, 2020 – together… strong and hopeful!

If you have any questions, please reach out to your building principal or email me at ask@cppmail.com.

Michelle

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``Friday, 7/30/2021

Update from Superintendent Michelle Caulfield, Friday, July 30th

To our CPP Families,

Although there is still plenty of summer ahead of us, we are gearing up for September. Just like many of you, we are anxiously awaiting guidance from the New York State Department of Health and the Governor. On Thursday, July 29, superintendents across New York received word from the New York State Education Department that there is not specific opening guidance to share yet as they are also awaiting guidance from NYDOH as well. NYSED said when guidance is released, it will likely mirror the current guidance from the CDC. Here is a statement from Dr. Betty A. Rosa, Commissioner of Education, which was in the communication to school leaders:

“The Governor’s staff has informed the Department that guidance from DOH is in development and the latest guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) will serve as its basis. Therefore, the best the Department can offer to schools when it comes to health-related preparations for September is that CDC guidelines should be the basis of preparing for the 2021-2022 school year until further information is issued by the Governor or DOH.”

As soon as guidance is available, our team at CPP will work to develop our plan and communicate with you as we have done throughout the pandemic. We will use many of the same platforms we used this past year (Virtual Town Hall meetings, email, phone messages and Community messages).

The health and safety of our Hawk Nation remains our number one goal this school year. We will seek feedback from our families and will keep the lines of communication open as guidance is shared with us and plans are developed throughout the summer and into the school year.

Thank you for entrusting your children with us. If you have any questions, please let me know (ask@cppmail.com).

Michelle

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Friday, 8/6/2021

Update from Superintendent Michelle Caulfield, Friday, August 6th

CPP Families and Community,

Districts across the state were notified this week that because the COVID-19 State of Emergency in New York ended in June, the New York State Governor’s Office and the New York State Department of Health will not be issuing guidance on the opening of schools next month. While this was an unexpected development for all districts, our goal is to have all students in school five days a week safely. We are actively working on that plan.

Throughout the pandemic, we have partnered with the Steuben County Public Health Department on plans and decisions, and that will continue as we develop our plan, including health and safety protocols for September, 2021. While there are some unknowns at this time, including possible updates from the New York State Education Department, we are committed to continual communication with you over the next few weeks regarding the opening of school. This will not only include email messages, but also Virtual Town Halls.

Here is what we know right now: we are planning a five day a week in-person schedule for all of our students, Pre-K to 12. As stated above, we are developing our health and safety protocols in conjunction with the Steuben County Public Health Department and will share those soon.

We look forward to welcoming all of our students back in September and continuing our partnerships with families and our community. As always, I welcome any questions at ask@cppmail.com.

Michelle

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`Friday, 8/27/2021

Update from Superintendent Michelle Caulfield, Friday, August 27th

CPP Families,

We hope you are enjoying the last few weeks of summer. Having our athletes and band members on our fields preparing for fall competitions is a welcomed sight. In less than two weeks, we will be back to school, in-person, 5 days a week. Our administrators, teachers and staff are working diligently to safely move forward together in our 2021-2022 school year.

Governor Hochul announced earlier this week that we will be receiving guidance from the New York State Department of Health, so that we can finalize our plan and share it with all of our families. We are expecting that guidance early next week. We know that waiting to share the plan is causing stress and frustration; however, we want to be sure our plan can be implemented, so waiting for the guidance from our local and state authorities is essential.

This coming week, CPP will host a virtual Town Hall sharing our plan. The Town Hall will be recorded and made available on our district webpage for families to watch at their convenience as well. We will be presenting a comprehensive plan that includes the current transmission data in Steuben County and how it affects our health and safety planning, the District’s COVID prevention strategies, contact tracing and screening/testing procedures and information regarding our facilities, transportation, and food service. At the heart of the plan, we will share how we will support our learners, athletes and community. There will be an opportunity for our families to ask questions.

The Virtual Town Hall will be held Wednesday, September 1st at 5:30 pm at this link: https://E2CCB-GST.zoom.us/j/97360668381. The recording will be posted the following day at https://www.youtube.com/cppschools.

We thank you for your continued patience as we continue to work to safely bring all of our students back to school this fall. Your partnership with us is what makes our Hawk Nation strong.

As always, please send any questions you may have to the Superintendent at ask@cppmail.com or contact your child’s building principal directly.

Michelle

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Friday, 9/3/2021

Update from Superintendent Michelle Caulfield, Friday, September 3rd

CPP Families,

We are one weekend away from the start of school, and this Hawk Nation is ready to see our Gators, Road Runners, Roos, Koalas, Lions, Cougars and Hawks in-person.

We spent much of the summer preparing for a safe return to 5 days a week of in-person learning and we are ready to open our doors and classrooms.

We received an update Thursday evening, September 2nd regarding the testing of all unvaccinated school employees. We will be working with the Steuben County Health Department on a plan for that, so please look for more updates in the coming weeks. I do know that these weekly changes are difficult to keep up with, so I am committed to continued open and honest communication as we progress through this year.

Some reminders:

Please send your children to school next week with a mask. If they do not have one, we will make sure they are provided with one when they get on the bus or when they enter the building.
Please fill out the Health Screener before they get on the bus or get dropped off at school. You can access it on the CPP Stay Connected app or the website at https://www.cppasd.com/prescreen/
Breakfast and lunch is free for all students for the 2021-2022 school year.
If you have questions about transportation, please contact the bus garage at transinfo@cppmail.com

First Day Information

6th and 9th grade students – Tuesday, September 7th

All Students – Wednesday, September 8th

For further information regarding our District plan and to see our updates, please go to www.corningareaschools.com

If you have any questions, please email me at ask@cppmail.com or contact your building administrator.

Have a beautiful and safe Labor Day Weekend.

Safely Moving Forward Together.
Michelle

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Friday, 10/22/2021

Message from Superintendent Michelle Caulfield, Friday, October 22, 2021

Dear CPP Families,

As we continue to educate our students this school year, we know that our families still struggle with internet access at home. Collecting accurate data regarding digital resource access for our students and those in New York State will greatly help us as educators better serve our students and families. In order to accomplish this, the New York State Education Department is asking ALL families to complete a short Digital Equity survey in grades Kindergarten – Grade 12.

This survey will provide information on student access to devices and internet access in their places of residence. We ask that you assist us with this process by answering each question for each student in the family. At the beginning of the survey, families will find instructions for completing and submitting the survey. Additional assistance on survey questions are provided with a “Help Me” clickable link at the end of each question.

The survey link is: www.cppasd.com/des

We are hoping for 100% participation as the NY State Education Department would like to understand this issue for each student in our school district. Please complete by Friday, November 5th, 2021. If you are unable to fill out the digital survey at home, please call Technical Services at 607-654-2740 and someone will assist you in completing the survey.

Thank you for your partnership, time and cooperation.

Michelle

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Wednesday, 10/27/2021

Update from Superintendent Michelle Caulfield, Wednesday, Oct. 27

CPP Families – I am following up on our communication from yesterday regarding the social media trend with a potential “threat”. I know that this particular social media post circulating in our community, State and nation is causing much stress and fear. These posts are circulating all over NYS and today even in Alabama. We have worked closely with local law enforcement to investigate these posts and they have worked with law enforcement agencies across the State. Please read their Press Releases carefully. I have also included links to our local t.v. station stories.

PRESS RELEASE Corning PD

Yesterday, October 26, 2021, the Corning Police Department was made aware of the social media “threat” circulating on a popular platform across the nation and worked with the Corning Painted Post School District, Steuben County Sheriff’s Office, FBI, and NY State Police during this investigation.

At this time, the Corning Police Department has not identified any credible threats to the Corning Painted Post School District, or any other school districts in our area. The Corning Police Department has learned that the social media threats have shown up in multiple schools in other areas of New York State, and the rest of the nation, using very similar language. The Corning Police Department will continue to monitor trends of this nature throughout the U.S and New York, and we will routinely be in contact with members of the FBI - Corning Office and the New York State Police as well as our other law enforcement partners to keep apprised of any investigative developments. We will continue to work with and communicate with the Corning Painted Post School District to strive to keep our students and community safe.

https://www.weny.com/story/45063750/cpd-concludes-no-credible-threats-to-local-school-districts-in-snapchat-trend

PRESS RELEASE Sheriff’s Office

STEUBEN COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE

PRESS RELEASE

Subject: Social Media School Threats

Date: October 27th, 2021

The Steuben County Sheriff’s Office, City of Corning Police Department, and Corning Painted-Post School District would like to advise our community of a trending pattern of threats that is occurring nationwide, involving the use of social media platforms such as TikTok and Snapchat. We are collectively monitoring this trend in which individuals are creating fake accounts, and copying templates into the posts which use generically worded threat language. Unfortunately, this has occurred a number of times during the past week within our region. Investigation has failed to reveal credible evidence of a threat to local schools. We continue to take every threat seriously, and pool resources in an attempt to substantiate their potential credibility. As always, we will take appropriate action to ensure the safety of our students, and we will continue to share any potential concerns with our school community.

https://www.mytwintiers.com/news-cat/corning-bureau/sheriffs-office-finds-no-credibility-in-snapchat-threat-against-corning-painted-post-school/

Our health and safety protocols are in place and utilized every day. Safety has and will be our #1 focus.

I want to thank our CPP community for its vigilance in the last 24 hours regarding the social media posts. Your partnership in reporting these types of post is helpful with our investigations . Your care and concern for your children and others in our schools has been tremendous.

You will receive more communication regarding social media education in the very near future. Our goal is to help our students and families navigate these issues.

As always, if you have any questions, please contact your building principal or me at ask@cppmail.com.

Michelle

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Friday, 11/5/2021

Update from Superintendent Michelle Caulfield, Friday, November 5th

Good Afternoon CPP Families,

Test to Stay: We would like to take this time to share the NYSDOH and Steuben County Public Health Department updates regarding a strategy called “Test to Stay”. This is a strategy that allows asymptomatic and unvaccinated direct contacts, identified through school tracing, to avoid exclusion from the academic part of the school day by testing negative with an antigen test. Per the NYSDOH and Steuben County Public Health Department, the Corning-Painted Post School District will implement the Test to Stay (TTS) strategy beginning Monday, November 8th. There are several important qualifications that must be met in order to Test to Stay. Please read our letter explaining the process as well as the consent to test form. The consent form is only needed if you have not already returned one to the district. We also have a short video to walk you through the process.

We will continue to work with the New York State Health Department, the New York State Education Department and the Steuben County Health Department to safely keep our students in school. We know that in-person education is the key to student success.

Digital Equity Survey: If you have not filled out the Digital Equity Survey yet, please do at this link. The NYS Education Department is asking parents or guardians to complete a Digital Equity Survey for each student to better help educators serve their students and families. The Digital Equity Survey will provide information on students' access to devices and internet access in their places of residence.

If you have questions, please let your building principal know or email me at ask@cppmail.com.
-Michelle

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Friday, 12/3/2021

Update from Superintendent Michelle Caulfield, Friday, December 3rd

Good Evening CPP Families and Community,

We have reached that time of year when snowflakes are in the air. Although they are beautiful, they often bring questions about snow days. We have four weather-related days built into our calendar this year. We make the decision to delay or close with the utmost care and consideration for the safety of our students and staff. Please take a minute to read through our Q and A regarding how these decisions are reached.

As we enter the holiday season, we know it is a time for families and friends to gather. As the COVID-19 positivity rate in our County increases, we ask that you review the symptoms associated with COVID-19. If your child has any of these symptoms, please keep them home and follow up directly with your school nurse for next steps. Our protocols have kept us safely in school and your cooperation and participation in following these procedures has kept our school district positivity rate each week under 1% to date. Thank you for working with us to keep our school community safe and our students in school 5 days a week.

We will be hosting a Little Hawk Threads Pop-Up shop on Friday, December 17th at the Corning American Legion. If you need any support during this upcoming holiday season, please reach out to your school counselors or social workers. They are always available to help support your child and connect you with school and community resources.

If you have questions, please email me at ask@cppmail.com.

We wish you all a safe and happy holiday season.

-Michelle

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Wednesday, 12/29/2021

Update from Superintendent Michelle Caulfield, Wednesday, December 29th

Dear CPP Families:

We hope you have all had a wonderful holiday break with family and friends and have given yourself time to rest and recharge. We are excited to bring our students back to school on January 3, 2022 and want to provide you with some updates prior to the return. This week, Governor Kathy Hochul identified a statewide goal of having as many students as possible tested for COVID as school resumes January 3. To accomplish this, the State will be providing enough testing kits to test every single student. The testing kits will be shipped to our local GST BOCES where they will then be distributed to each school district for distribution to all families. The Governor is asking that these tests be supplied as soon as possible to families. Our intent is to provide these to you during the week of January 3rd; the exact date will depend ultimately on when our shipment of tests are received from the State.

Please note that there is no requirement that families test their children with these test kits; however, the State is encouraging families to do so.

To ensure that these test kits are delivered safely to all students’ families that would like one, our administrative team is creating a drive thru process to distribute test kits to the families of our students. We will continue to keep you updated as we learn more.

Thank you for your continued support in ensuring that we create the safest school environment for all our students to soar. As always, we ask that you monitor your student’s health and keep students home who are not feeling well.

Happy New Year! We look forward to seeing all of our amazing students in 2022.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at ask@cppmail.com.

Michelle Caulfield

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Monday, 1/3/2022

Update from the Superintendent, Monday, January 3rd at 12:00 p.m.

Happy New Year CPP Families,

We are writing to you today as a follow up to the message we sent on Wednesday, December 29th.

We have received the COVID test-at-home kits for our families from the state. We will begin distribution of these home-test kits this evening. A drive-thru pick up process for all CPP families, Pre-K to 12, will begin today, Monday, January 3rd, at two district locations, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

All students in the district are eligible for one home testing kit. Please note that there is no requirement that families test their children with these test kits; however, the State is encouraging families to do so. Parents or guardians can pick up these test-at-home kits at the following locations and times:

Monday, January 3rd (TODAY)

CPP Middle School from 4 PM to 6 PM
- 35 Victory Hwy, Painted Post, NY 14870

CPP High School from 4 PM to 6 PM
- Please use the Cantigney Street entrance

Tuesday, January 4th

Memorial Stadium from 12 PM - 5 PM
- Please use Craumer Street entrance (just past the fire station)

This is a drive-thru pick up process and you will not need to exit your vehicles. If you have any specific transportation needs, please contact your school principal directly.

The Steuben County Public Health Department is asking that you report positive results to the following link: https://hipaa.jotform.com/213616404172044 Negative test results do not need to be reported. The District will be notified by the Steuben County Health Department of any positive results.

As always, we ask that you monitor your child’s health and keep them home if they have any of the following symptoms: fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea/vomiting, or diarrhea.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact your child’s principal or reach out to me at ask@cppmail.com

Michelle Caulfield, Superintendent of Schools

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Wednesday, 1/5/2022

Update from Superintendent Michelle Caulfield, Wednesday, January 5th

CPP Families,

We will be hosting one additional drive-thru distribution of COVID at-home test kits for our families.

All students in the district are eligible for one at-home testing kit (containing 2 tests). Parents or guardians can pick up these test at home kits at the following location and time:

Saturday, January 8th

· Memorial Stadium from 9 AM - 12 PM

o Please use Craumer Street entrance (just past the fire station)

o This is a drive-thru pick up process, and you will not need to exit your vehicles.

Please note the following:

· These at-home COVID testing kits were provided by the state to help identify positive cases in students who may or may not have symptoms. It is to be used as a screening tool.

· These kits cannot be used to allow a student with symptoms to stay in school.

· That determination will still be made by the school nurse based on the symptoms.

Please note that there is no requirement that families test their children with these test kits; however, the State is encouraging families to do so.

As always, we ask that you help keep our students and schools safe by monitoring your child’s health. If they have symptoms, follow the district protocols for reporting the illness to the school nurse.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact your child’s principal or reach out to me at ask@cppmail.com

Michelle Caulfield, Superintendent of Schools

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Friday, 1/14/2022

Update from Superintendent Michelle Caulfield, Friday, January 14th

Good Evening CPP Families,

I am writing today to share some updates from the NYSDOH that were released this past Monday, January 10th and again on Thursday, January 13th . Some of these changes will affect the daily routines we have utilized this past year. The Governor’s Office, the CDC and the NYSDOH are moving to a system that relies heavily on families self-reporting their positive cases and notifying their direct contacts. Over the past 21 months, our school community has worked together to adjust to the NYSDOH Health and Safety guideline changes while continuing to offer our students and staff a safe learning environment. This time is no different.

1) Mask Wearing and Social Distancing – Both masking and distancing continue to be required for schools.

2) Reporting Positive Cases Changes

- At Home Test Kits
  - Families must report their at-home test positive results directly to the Steuben County Public Health Department by going to this form on the Steuben County website: https://hipaa.jotform.com/213616404172044
  - We ask that you still notify the school of your positive test result.
- Testing at School or with a Physician
  - The school district or the physician will report the positive case.
  - The State will send a text message to the family with directions and next steps.

3) Direct Contact Notification Changes

o All individuals who are positive are now responsible to contact their direct contacts personally.

o Direct contacts can go to the Steuben County Public Health Department website to download their quarantine letter.

o We ask that you still notify the school of your direct contact.

4) Quarantine Guideline Changes for Students and Staff who have COVID and for Direct Contacts

- Quarantine Orders will be written for 5 days based on SYMPTOM ONSET.
- Students/staff can return to school after day 5 IF they have no FEVER and symptoms are improving.

5) Contact Tracing in and out of school will now be completed by the individual or the family who is positive.

6) Vaccination and Booster Requirement Changes

- Fully vaccinated students, teachers, and staff who are exposed to COVID and must quarantine because they did not receive a CDC recommended booster when eligible, can attend or work at school during the quarantine period where masking, distancing, etc. is monitored and enforced.
- However, attendance at extra-curricular, after-school, or community activities are not permitted.

The NYSDOH has published the latest updates at this link: New York States Approach to Isolation and Quarantine - https://coronavirus.health.ny.gov/new-york-state-contact-tracing

UPDATE: We will hold a virtual Town Hall on Tuesday, Jan. 25 at 5:30pm to discuss the changes and the CPP plan to address the changes.

Link: https://tinyurl.com/cpptownhall125

We will continue to follow our health and safety protocols. We ask for your continued partnership in keeping our kids in school by keeping your children home when they have symptoms and utilizing the at-home test kits and reporting the positive test results accurately and honestly.

Thank you for your partnership with us as we navigate these changes together.

Michelle

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Friday, 1/28/2022

Update from Superintendent Michelle Caulfield, Friday, January 28th

Good Afternoon CPP Families,

I can’t believe that we are halfway through the school year already. As always, I am committed to communicating changes we make as a district and those that are required of us by the New York State Education Department, so I have a few updates for you today, January 28, 2022.

Snow Day/2 Hour Delay Notification Update

For the remainder of this school year, our families will receive an email via our School Messenger communication system to the primary and secondary email addresses listed in the Parent Portal when we close or delay school. This additional communication method is in response to some recent concerns regarding the user experience with the Stay Connected app. We are working to address these concerns. While we will continue to use the app for the near future, we want to ensure you receive our closure/delay notices, and the email notification will support that effort.

In addition to the email notification, we will continue to share closing/delay notices with local media such as WENY and WETM television as part of their scrolling announcements, and will continue to share on the Corning-Painted Post Area School District website https://www.corningareaschools.com/ and on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/cppschools.

For the 2022-2023 school year, we are investigating a system that will allow families a choice of a phone call, email or text for these types of announcements.

CPP Health Screener Update

Beginning Tuesday, February 1, 2022, CPP will discontinue its use of the morning health screener for both students and staff. We ask that you continue to monitor your children for COVID-19 symptoms. Please contact your school nurse if you have questions.

Mask Mandate Update

Update from NYS Education Department Commissioner Rosa - Released at 2:15 PM on 1/28/2022.

“Earlier this week, the Appellate Division, Second Department issued a stay order which upheld the Department of Health’s mask requirement in schools (10 NYCRR 2.60). Although the court set a hearing deadline for today, the State Education Department has confirmed that this deadline pertained only to written submissions. SED anticipates that the court will issue a further ruling in the coming weeks. Until such time, the mask rule remains in effect. School districts must also abide by any commitment to mask wearing contained in their publicly posted reopening plans for the 2021-2022 school year.”

At Home Test Kits – Drive-thru Distribution

On Monday, January 31st, all CPP families can pick up testing kits for their families between 3:30 PM and 5:30 PM at CPP High School at the theater/cafeteria entrance (The Loop) - 201 Cantigny Street, Corning, NY 14830.

Thank you for your continued partnership and support in making this school year a success! If you have any questions, please contact me at ask@cppmail.com.

Spring is 51 days away!

Stay Warm Hawk Nation!

-Michelle

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Sunday, 2/27/2022

Update from Superintendent Michelle Caulfield, Sunday, February 27th

Good Afternoon CPP Families -

Today, Sunday, February 27, 2022, Governor Hochul announced that beginning on Wednesday, March 2, 2022, masks will no longer be required at school based on current metrics. In the next 48 hours, the NYSDOH will provide schools with updated health and safety requirements.

The Governor’s announcement was made in response to the CDC masking guideline updates shared on February 25, 2022.

What does this mean for students and staff in CPP?

Monday and Tuesday, February 28th and March 1st, students and staff will continue to wear masks at school and on the bus.

We will communicate any further updates from the NYSDOH prior to Wednesday, March 2nd.

We will continue to work with the local health department, NYSED, and the NYSDOH to keep our students and staff safe and in school 5 days a week.

We ask that all families continue to monitor symptoms. Please keep your child home if they are not feeling well.

If you need an at-home test kit, please contact your school nurse or the building principal.

Thank you for your continued support and patience as we work through the updates from the NYSDOH over the next 2 days. We value the relationship we have with our CPP community and will continue our commitment to up-to-date, open and honest communication.

If you have any questions, please contact Superintendent Caulfield at ask@cppmail.com or your building principal.

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Tuesday, 3/1/2022

Update from the Superintendent, Tuesday, March 1st

Good Evening CPP Families,

Tomorrow, Wednesday, March 2, our students, staff and visitors will no longer be required to wear a face covering or a mask in any of our school buildings or on school buses.

Background:

On Friday, Feb. 25, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that they no longer recommend mask requirements for schools in communities with low to medium risk of COVID-19 spread.
On Sunday, Feb. 27, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that the statewide mask requirement in schools will be lifted on Wednesday, March 2. In her announcement, Gov. Hochul indicated that the new CDC guidance was a factor in altering the state mandate. Counties, cities, and other entities may still choose to impose mask mandates that could affect schools and/or childcare facilities. The governor also indicated that rising transmission levels had the potential to trigger a return to a statewide mandate.
As of 4PM on Tuesday, March 1, 2022, the anticipated NYSDOH guidance has not been released.

What does this mean for our CPP community?

Mask wearing is based on parent/family choice. Disposable masks will be available for those who choose to wear them. Our school community will respect individual masking choices for both students and staff. As a Hawk Nation, we expect acceptance and respect for each other’s choices.

We ask that families discuss their wishes regarding masking with their children. Moving forward, if your student is wearing a mask or not wearing a mask, our teachers and staff will assume that this decision was made by your family.

As always, we will continue to work with our local county health officials as COVID health and safety protocols evolve. We anticipate the NYSDOH guidance and further updates regarding a number of items: testing of symptomatic individuals, quarantine rules, and other COVID-19 prevention strategies. We will share those changes out with our school community when we receive them.

Thank you for your ongoing partnership and commitment to the health and safety of our students and staff. If you have any questions, please email Superintendent Caulfield at ask@cppmail.com.

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```Friday, 3/4/2022

Update from the Superintendent, Friday, March 4th

Good Evening CPP Families,

I am writing today to share the updates regarding the NYSDOH and NYSED joint guidance that was released on Tuesday, March 1, 2022. You can access our presentation by clicking here. I would like to make you aware of two specific clarifications regarding the masking protocol:

Those individuals who contract COVID-19 are required to be masked upon return from Day 6-10 (please see slide 5).

Those individuals who are medically unable to wear a mask may be asked to isolate/quarantine based on a case by case basis (please see slide 10).

Our Hawk Nation prides itself on its community of acceptance, providing a mask inclusive environment. At-home test kits are available in all buildings. Please contact your child’s school directly to access those kits. Thank you for your continued partnership as we navigate each update from the NYSDOH and the NYSED. We continue to model what a school/family/community partnership should look like and for that I am grateful.

If you have any questions, please email Superintendent Caulfield at ask@cppmail.com.

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Friday, 4/29/2022

Update from the Superintendent Michelle Caulfield, Friday, April 29

Good Evening CPP Families – The end of the school year is filled with fun activities and celebrations. We know that the calendar can get very busy and confusing, so we want to share some end of year dates with you. Many of these dates are on our district calendar, but we know having them in one place is always helpful. School specific events will be shared by your building principal. We are also planning ahead for next school year and want you to have the 2022-2023 school year calendar.

We hope both of these documents useful. If you have any questions, please contact your building principal or me at ask@cppmail.com

-Michelle

Click to view end of year letter

2022-23 Calendar (one page)

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Wednesday, 5/25/2022

Message from Superintendent Michelle Caulfield, Tuesday, May 25th

CPP Families, I write to you this afternoon as a mom, an educator, and a member of our community while we all process the horrific tragedy suffered yesterday at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. It can be difficult to find the words to express our sadness, frustration and anger. This senseless loss of life affects us all at our core and makes us reflect on the safety of our own children, community and schools.

We know that this tragedy may have caused some of you to feel helpless and confused. We want everyone to know that we are here for our students and staff today and everyday. Today, we asked our staff not to hesitate in seeking support from our administrators, school counselors, social workers, trusted colleagues, deans, and school resource officers. We asked them to help our students process how they were feeling and offer support wherever and however it was needed. If you and your family need assistance, please share that with your building administrator. We have resources in our buildings and are here for you. We must look out for each other and take care of our school community together.

Here is a resource you may find useful when talking to your child at home.

This tragedy reminds us of the importance of being vigilant as we work together to keep our community safe. Although we utilize our safety protocols on a daily basis, the days and weeks following a tragedy are a natural time for reflection for our community as a whole. I ask that you familiarize yourself with some of our planning which is detailed in the Emergency and Crisis Preparedness brochure for parents, students and staff available as a PDF document on our website on this page: https://www.corningareaschools.com/Content2/safety.

As a district, the safety and well being of our students and staff is a continual focus. Our safety plans are reviewed, evaluated and adjusted routinely. We collaborate with local, state and federal law enforcement and other supporting agencies in our community and most importantly, we practice with our students and staff.

I want to close by saying thank you for putting your trust in us while your children are with us. We care for them deeply. Together, I know we can be better, do better, and support each other with open lines of communication. If you have any questions, please reach out to your building administration or to me.

Sincerely,

Michelle Caulfield

Superintendent of Schools

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