Fort Community:
The first two weeks of 2022 included a surge in covid cases, a snowstorm on 1/7, and a Pupilpath system failure across the nation starting 1/8. Positive cases have dropped dramatically (currently 163 positive student cases compared to over 500 on 1/10). We continue to cover classes for absent staff and teachers are expected to post materials daily (asynchronous), including those absent. We ask for your patience as many staff members are symptomatic at home and others have been covering classes for colleagues.
Staff now have access to Pupilpath, but it’s still not available to students and families. We will notify you when it’s available.
Final Exams will be administered IN PERSON ONLY. There is NO REMOTE OPTION for participating in school at this time. The modified Final Exam schedule begins Tuesday, January 18 to January 24. Any student absent due to quarantine or symptoms will have an opportunity to make up the exam through January 28. Classes continue to meet in-person and students who miss their final exam(s) will make-up exams and work through January 28 as needed.
We understand that everyone is anxious about missing preparation or final exams, but teachers will do their best to assist absent students. Please look for materials and messages on Google Classroom, especially as individual responses to so many student and parent emails is challenging. As mentioned above, teachers are expected to post materials daily on Google Classroom.
Given the exposure rate with so many positive cases in the last two weeks, we are distributing at-home covid tests on a weekly basis at dismissal. The test should be administered at home if a student receives email notice they’ve been exposed to a positive case at school OR they have symptoms. A reminder that students can attend school if they test negative after exposure, have NO symptoms, and pass the health screening. Another test on the 5th day after exposure, again with negative results and no symptoms, allows a student to continue attending school. Any positive case for a student must be reported to [email protected] and requires quarantine for 10 days.
Weekly in-school testing continues and requires parental consent. All students, vaccinated and unvaccinated, can be tested weekly with parental consent. Please consent to in-school testing using your NYC Schools Account (schoolsaccount.nyc) or return a signed paper form to the school. Additional information on testing for students and the printable version of the consent form in multiple languages can be found on the New York City Department of Education (DOE) website: schools.nyc.gov/covidtesting
Please take every precaution to stay healthy. We urge your support to help students understand the importance of maintaining the mask over the mouth and nose. Thank you for working together to keep our community as safe as possible.
K Houlihan