Deecember 29, 2020
CANISTEO, NY – From Canisteo-Greenwood School Superintendent Tom Crook:
Good morning, This is Tom Crook, Superintendent at Canisteo-Greenwood. I know just before the Christmas Break, we decided to slide to 100% remote learning due to the number of positive cases CG had, the large number of quarantines and the lack of substitutes to cover our employees that were out due to being positive and quarantined. It was the first time since September that we had reached the breaking point like many of the districts around us. Currently, we have 2 positive cases (employees) where the individuals are still in their own quarantine but will be out before we are scheduled to come back on January 4th. As I am writing this announcement, we have not heard from the county of any more positive cases that would affect CG. With that being said, we have made the decision to return to in-person learning on January 4th. This decision does come with some reservations. Our recent slide into 100% remote on December 16th was the direct impact of the Thanksgiving holiday. My worry is that it will happen again after Christmas and New Year’s. If we get to the numbers we did in mid-December, we will have no choice but to slide into remote learning again and would for a period of 2 weeks. The numbers in Steuben County are the highest that they have been since March and the positive cases do not seem to be diminishing. And after the holidays, the county is projecting that the numbers will remain steady or increase, but not decrease. But as I stated at the Board of Education meeting on Monday, December 11th, I must look at CG’s numbers and base our decisions from those. If we do not hear from the county over the next few days, we will have no positive cases of any of our employees or students and for that reason, we will return to in-person learning. And if we do hear of any positive cases, those individuals will be quarantined and will return when their quarantine has expired but because of the break, we will not have large quarantine numbers that would affect our opening. When we return on January 4th and the weeks following, it will be crucial that our families pre-screen their students before school EVERY DAY. If your child is showing any symptom, as minor as it may seem, please keep them home and immediately seek an alternative diagnosis or negative COVID test. As you well know, we need to be prepared for anything and it can all change with a phone call, but as of today we are returning January 4th. PS – Happy New Year! Yours in service, Thomas J. Crook Superintendent
