by Rachel Hunter
The Gouverneur Central School District Board of Education at its Jan. 24 meeting heard the following COVID-19 update from GCS Superintendent of Schools Jacquelyn Kelly:
“Weekly updates continue to be posted on the Gouverneur Central School District website relative to positive COVID-19 cases. For the period of Saturday, January 15 through Friday, January 21, the District had the following positive COVID-19 cases reported: The Gouverneur High School had 11 cases. The Gouverneur Middle School had eight cases. The Gouverneur Elementary School had 18 cases, for a total of 37 new cases. During the preceding week of Saturday, January 8 through Friday, January 14, there were 84 new cases. We experienced a significant increase in positive cases when sent at-home test kits and asked families to test their children upon return to school on Monday, January 10.
“As I am sure you are aware, the St. Lawrence County Public Health Department distributed a press release on Friday that aligns with the New York State Department of Health guidance for isolation and quarantine. One of the biggest changes that you will expect to see is that the New York State Department of Health will no longer conduct contact tracing. This means that individuals potentially exposed to COVID-19 will no longer be contacted by the Department of Health. Going forward, the Gouverneur Central School District will no longer be collecting information about contacts to report to the county health departments, except for in limited circumstances. We will no longer be conducting contact tracing in the school, for the most part. I say for the most part, because there may be an occasion in an event of a positive cluster or high risk exposure when the St. Lawrence County Public Health Department may ask the school to conduct contact tracing. If this becomes necessary, our school nurses will contact families by phone as they have in the past.
“Families, faculty and staff will not be responsible for contacting the school about any exposure that occurs outside of the school setting. We will continue our practice of notifying impacted families, faculty and staff as we learn about a positive case. This will involve a general notification alerting families, faculty, and staff of a positive case in a particular classroom or location. This type of notification will ask families, faculty and staff to monitor closely for symptoms but will most likely not result in anyone being in close contact or excluded from school. Students, faculty and staff will continue to be sent home if they come to school symptomatic.
“As we have done throughout the pandemic, the symptomatic individual can visit a healthcare professional for a negative test to return to school once their symptoms subside. Now, we are also giving families, faculty and staff one additional option. We will be using the testing supplies that the District received from the New York State Department of Health to offer families the option of testing at home. If a student or employee is sent home symptomatic, they will be able to use the test kit to administer two tests within a 24-48 hour period. If the symptomatic individual receives two negative test results, they will be able to return to school. One of the keys of ensuring the success of this new approach is rigorous symptom monitoring. Given the large number of positive cases in our region, the safest assumption is that we are all exposed on a regular basis, and as much, should be mindful of any COVID-associated symptom.
“I am very hopeful that this new approach strikes a balance of keeping our students in school while staying committed to the overall health and safety of our students and our entire school community. I encourage everybody to visit our District website for additional information regarding the updated guidelines for exclusion from school and school-related events.”
Gouverneur Central School District Board of Education President David Fenlong extended gratitude to Mrs. Kelly for keeping up-to-date on the latest guidance, and sharing the information with the Board.
On Jan. 25, the Gouverneur Central School District published the following notice on the District website: “You may be aware of yesterday's Nassau County Supreme Court ruling concerning the constitutionality of the state's mask mandate. The New York State Education Department has informed the District that the New York State Department of Health is in the process of appealing this decision and has further directed the District to continue to require the use of masks while this legal dispute is pending. Therefore, there is no change to the mask protocols we have been following, All students and staff members are required to wear masks at school. We will continue to follow the guidelines of the New York State Education Department and the New York State Department of Health, and we will keep you informed of any changes. Thank you for your continued cooperation and partnership during this time.”
In other school news:
The Gouverneur Central School District Board of Education at its Jan. 24 meeting accepted the Financial Report, for the period ending December 31, 2021.
The Gouverneur Central School District Board of Education approved a consent agenda, including the minutes of the regular meeting on January 10, 2022, the Claims Auditor’s reports for the period of January 14, 2022 to January 21, 2022, as well as CSE Business and CPSE Business (which includes the creation of a 1.0 FTE 1:1 Aide for a student, represented by the Gouverneur School Related Personnel Union, effective January 12, 2022, as recommended by the CPSE Committee), as well as the Treasurer’s Report for December 2021. This approval was made upon the presentation and recommendation of Supt. Kelly.
The Gouverneur Central School District Board of Education, upon presentation and recommendation of Supt. Kelly, approved the following personnel items as a consent agenda. The school board appointed Colleen Ruud to the position of Principal Account Clerk (12-month non-contractual) in the competitive class of civil service, commencing on February 7, 2022. The school board appointed Miranda Bango to the position of Individual Aide in the non-competitive class of the civil service, commencing on January 18, 2022. The school board also approved the appointment of Hailey Palmer (cafeteria) to work as a per diem substitute for the 2021-22 school year. The school board also acknowledged the medical leave for an employee, which is tentatively scheduled to begin March 2022, for approximately eight weeks. The employee will incur approximately 20 unpaid days. This leave is covered under Family and Medical Leave Act.
There was no other new business or public comments made at the regular school board meeting. The meeting adjourned to executive session to discuss the employment history of particular persons, and no further business took place. For more information about the Gouverneur Central School District, visit gcsk12.org.