Virus closes Kingston schools
Other districts plan for online instruction
The Kingston school district has announced it will be closed Friday, March 13, 2020, due to a confirmed case in the district community of the novel coronavirus known as COVID-19.
The closure was announced in a two-sentence statement on the district’s website Thursday evening.
There was no immediate word about whether the virus patient was a student, employee or family member, or whether there was any connection to the four coronavirus cases in Ulster County that previously were announced by county officials.
The county’s first two cases, announced Sunday and Wednesday, were in the towns of Rochester and Shawangunk, respectively. Two more cases were announced Thursday, and the county said they were tied to the first two.
The first Shawangunk patient lives with a student and employee of the Wallkill school district, and that district canceled Thursday and Friday classes as a result.
Prior to Kingston’s Thursday evening announcement, officials
in several local districts spoke about contingency plans they’re making in light of the virus.
Onteora Superintendent Victoria McLaren said the district started planning when it became clear the virus was going to affect the U.S. to some degree. The staff set a goal of making every student able to take classes from home, she said.
Assistant Superintendent Jodi Delucia said teachers have expanded their training in the use of Google Classroom if the district needs to close school buildings.
Delucia said parents would be provided with instructions about how to connect with teachers online. She said teachers have been focusing on concerns about how well the youngest pupils will be able to participate via home computers.
“I still have that concern of ... what does it look like for a kindergartner ... trying to access that information, and what does it look like for those who don’t,” she said.
If the need arises, Onteora students will be given advanced materials covering about two weeks of instruction.
“All of our K-3 students will be given a packet of information that they can take back and forth with them or their parents can take and keep at home, should it be necessary for skills reinforcement,” Delucia said.
Even with advance planning, though, there is wide recognition that the coronavirus has put districts in uncharted territory regarding the possibility of extended school closures. The state requires 180 days of classroom time per school year.
Superintendents say any possible closing after the spring break next month means contingency plans need to be in place as soon as possible.
“With just under 7,000 students ... we are really going to work with my curriculum people and my teachers union to talk about how we can deal with any kind of extensive shutdown,” Kingston Superintendent Paul Padalino said prior to the announcement of Friday’s closure. “We’re ready to be closed down one or two days for a snowstorm, but to be closed down for 14 days, it’s not really something we’re prepared for.”
Padalino said first efforts at a districtwide online program will be a learning process for everyone.
“Distance learning is something people have been doing for a long time, but ... my biggest concern is the ability on the student end to receive online learning or blended learning,” he said.
“There’s the kid that doesn’t have the laptop and the kid who doesn’t have a printer or doesn’t have WiFi access,” Padalino said. “You may have someone who has limited WiFi access or slow WiFi access, or their computer is not compatible with whatever we decide to use. The Kingston school district is probably looking at 50 or 60 percent of our students aren’t completely able to learn on an online platform.”
Saugerties school district Superintendent Kirk Reinhardt said the staff in his district has been actively working to develop plans for any extended shutdowns and will use an upcoming conference day to begin formalizing a strategy.
“We’re actually giving our staff time Friday afternoon to put together those strategies,” he said.
“The good thing is that it’s March so most of the teachers actually know their students,” Reinhardt said. “So they’ll know who maybe has WiFi ... [and] we have teachers who use Google Classroom. The tough thing is going to be how we help kids ... who may not have all those devices.”
Wallkill Superintendent Kevin Castle has spent considerable time since Wednesday explaining that his district’s current shutdown is temporary and should not be confused with a long-term closure. But he also says the district of 2,900 students is largely prepared to have education conducted outside of the classroom if necessary.
“We have one-to-one devices” in all grades, he said.
Castle said students in middle school and high school already have laptops they can bring home, while younger students have devices that remain in their classrooms.
During a long-term closing, “we would look to send them home with the kids,” he said.
Rhinebeck school district Superintendent Joseph Phelan said home-based programs that already are used “quite extensively” for middle school students in the district would be expanded if students were required to stay out of classrooms.
Phelan said plans are being developed to accommodate a “reasonably good support for our kids,” but he acknowledged that unknown factors, such as length of closure and where teachers are in their lessons plans, make it difficult to know how successful the plans will be.
New Paltz Interim Superintendent Bernard Josefsberg, who assumed leadership of the district Jan. 1, said it will be important for instructional personnel to recognize which students need direct contact and which can thrive independently.
“There’s no way we can replicate the daily curriculum,” he said.