Sandy Creek Central School District • News • Letter from Mr. Faulkner: Instructional Model Change • 2/2/2021

Letter from Mr. Faulkner: Instructional Model Change

February 2nd, 2021 by Kyle L. Faulkner, SCCS Superintendent of Schools

Important Information regarding changes to the instructional model

Parents and Guardians of Sandy Creek Central School District Students:

While COVID-19 has interrupted our normal way of life and is felt widespread, the impact of this Pandemic on our students and their education is of great concern to all of us. In order to reopen for the 2020-2021 school year, we were required to make many changes to our traditional practices in order to meet NYS required guidelines. We realize that these adjustments, including remote instruction, have been challenging for many of our children. With this in mind, our current goal is to increase our in person time to better support the well-being of our students.

By putting the following phases safely in place, we hope to begin a return to normalcy for our students, families, and staff. To assist families in planning for these changes, please review the following information:

Phase 1: Students at grades 7-12 (members of the blue or white comet cohorts) will return to in-person instruction on alternating Fridays beginning Friday, February 26, 2021.

White Comet Cohort
In Person - Monday, Wednesday, and every other Friday, beginning 2/26/2021
Remote - Tuesday, Thursday, and every other Friday beginning 3/5/2021

Blue Comet Cohort
In Person - Tuesday, Thursday, and every other Friday beginning 3/5/2021
Remote - Monday, Wednesday, and every other Friday beginning 2/26/2021

Phase 2: All K-6 in person students will follow a normal day schedule beginning at 8 AM and dismissing at 3:05 PM. Gr. 7-12 hybrid model students will also follow a normal day schedule from 8 AM - 3:05 PM on in person days. These schedule changes will begin on Tuesday, March 16, 2021.

Important note:
Entirely Remote instruction will continue to be offered to our students. Our hope is that by returning to a full day schedule on March 16, 2021 that parents or guardians of entirely remote students might revisit their instructional model. If your child is currently an entirely remote student and you are interested in switching your son or daughter to in person, please call the elementary or middle/high school main office at (315) 387-3445. (Please know that there are transportation and classroom space considerations.)

Additionally, any parents or guardians planning to switch their child from in person to entirely remote should also contact the elementary or middle/high school office as soon as possible to help with planning.

Please know that the administration, teachers, and staff will continue to work on items impacted by these phases such as transportation drop-off time changes, master schedule adjustments, changes to remote schedules for both hybrid and entirely remote students, and many more areas in order to share updates with both students and families. As we share information over the next few weeks, please continue to check your email, ParentSquare, and our website for more information.

Sincerely,

Kyle L. Faulkner
Superintendent of Schools