Posted November 16, 2020
Dear North Shore Parents, Faculty and Community Members,
I apologize for the very late email and am very sorry to intrude upon your evenings.
Unfortunately, we were were just informed that a student at North Shore Middle School has tested positive for COVID-19. Due to privacy laws, information regarding the identity of these individuals cannot be released. Specific instructions regarding mandatory quarantine is provided by the Department of Health and we will be coordinating closely with them. Mr. Dennis, Principal of North Shore Middle School will begin the process this evening of contacting those families who may be considered direct contacts. We respectfully ask that you do not call the school or email us for additional details at this time.
Following guidance issued by the New York State Education Department and the Nassau County Department of Health, as well as the District’s COVID-response protocol, North Shore Middle School will be thoroughly disinfected and ventilated tomorrow. We will also be in contact with the Nassau County Department of Health and will follow all necessary protocols to mitigate any exposure to other students, faculty, or staff and assist with their contact tracing investigation. As always, the health and safety of our students, faculty, and staff is our foremost priority. We expect that the Nassau County Department of Health will begin their investigation with us tomorrow.
In order to enable us to fully collaborate with the Department of Health’s contact tracing efforts as well as to disinfect the building, North Shore Middle School will be closed tomorrow, Tuesday, November 17, 2020 for in-person instruction and all instruction will be conducted remotely. A decision beyond tomorrow will be forthcoming once we have more information. Mr. Dennis and I are meeting with our teachers tonight and our Middle School teachers will be reaching out to their families as we pivot to remote instruction tomorrow. We thank you for your patience.
Glen Head, Sea Cliff, and NSHS will follow their normal in-person or hybrid schedule for tomorrow.
We are closely monitoring this situation and will provide you with updates as we learn more. In the meantime, these confirmed cases provides an opportunity to reinforce the work that the District is doing to keep all staff and students healthy. As a reminder, we must remain vigilant now more than ever and commit to one another as a community that we will do all that we can to remain socially distant, practice healthy hand hygiene, and wear face coverings to help reduce the spread of COVID-19. We are working hard to stay on top of communication and we will be in touch.
Dr. Peter Giarrizzo
Superintendent of Schools