On January 1, 2022, Principal Yu sent an Update to families with information for returning to school. The attachment may be seen at this link: https://www.schools.nyc.gov/about-us/messages-for-families
Dear Stuyvesant Families,
We want to wish you a Happy New Year and hope you have had a safe and relaxing Winter Recess. We recognize this holiday season has been greatly impacted by the rise in COVID cases across the City and country. Moreover, we understand there are many questions for how we will maintain the health and safety of our students and staff upon our return on Monday, January 3, 2022.
Attached you will find a letter from the new Chancellor, David C. Banks with updated guidance from the NYC DOE about COVID testing sites, increased testing in school, home test kits, and the new quarantine policy. Please review carefully the brief summary below and the accompanying letter from the NYC DOE:
The City continues to offer many free options for testing with new testing sites available. For a list of testing sites, including sites with at-home rapid test kits, call 212-COVID19, visit online at http://nyc.gov/covidtest, text "COVID TEST" to 855-48, or call 311 to find a nearby testing site. The NYC DOE and Stuyvesant High School encourage all students to get tested for COVID-19 before returning to school on January 3, regardless of vaccination status. In addition, families can go to any City-run testing sites to pick up readily available at-home rapid test kits.
Beginning January 3, the in-school testing program will expand, doubling the number of individuals tested, including both vaccinated and unvaccinated students. We encourage all families to consent to in-school testing regardless of whether your child is vaccinated. Families can complete the online form in their NYC Schools Account or return a signed paper consent form to Room 103. If you need assistance with your NYC Schools Account, please contact Ms. Ingram at ringram3@schools.nyc.gov.
In-person learning on January 3 will be accompanied with a new quarantine policy. If there is a positive case in a classroom, then unvaccinated or not yet fully-vaccinated students who were in close proximity to a positive case will no longer have to quarantine and will continue attending school if they do not have symptoms and do not have a positive test result from a COVID test. Instead, all students and adults in that classroom will receive a take-home rapid test kit and take two tests over the course of five days. We have been informed that test kits have arrived to the building to be distributed to all staff on a weekly basis for the month of January, and any students and staff who exhibit COVID-like symptoms OR all students and staff in a classroom where an individual has tested positive for COVID-19. All test kits will be distributed with the “How To Use Your Home Test Kit” letter which will be available on January 3 and translated versions available by January 7.
It is important to note that in-person learning with more safety measures to be implemented is the current guidance we have for our restart on January 3. There is no remote learning option available. Furthermore, instructional support as outlined in the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the UFT and the NYC DOE is only provided to students who are quarantined, and the MOA provides the details of the circumstances in which instructional support is offered.
Additionally, we will make a final decision on Monday (Jan. 3) morning about the status of after school activities. Due to the new guidance for quarantine and at home testing kits, we need to determine if we can hold after school activities and mitigate the spread of COVID under the conditions we currently face. Please be patient as we work diligently to make these key decisions to maintain the safety and health of both students and staff.
Finally, if you tested positive (PCR, rapid antigen, and/or at-home test) and have NOT notified us yet, then please do by emailing Mr. Moran at BMoran@schools.nyc.gov and Ms. Ingram atringram3@schools.nyc.gov so we can instruct you on your next steps. It is important for you to communicate with us so we can work in partnership with the Situation Room to report all positive cases so we can have an accurate count of the school’s COVID activity.
We understand the challenges and concerns many of you have for our return. We share these concerns with you and will do our best to make the necessary decisions on behalf of the entire school community. We will update you with more information during this week (Jan. 3 - 7) as we get more guidance from the new administration of the NYC DOE. Let us continue to work together in 2022 as we have done during these past several months to manage these extraordinary circumstances. Thank you again for your flexibility, empathy, and patience.
Sincerely,
Seung C. Yu
Principal
