Posted April 16, 2021

Dear North Shore Parents, Faculty, and Community Members,
I am writing to you today with an update on our full return of all students to North Shore High School. As many of you know, we had been planning for a full return of all Seniors and Juniors on Monday, April 19, 2021 and were on track to do so. Last weekend, we received guidance from the New York State Department of Health indicating the following important points:

• Prior to making any change to reduce physical distancing to less than six feet between students during academic instruction, decisions must be made with community input. Responsible Parties must include opportunities for feedback from parents, community members, teachers, staff and local departments of health. This meeting must be held before any change to the physical distancing in schools can be made.
• Responsible parties must post the new plan online and must be sent to Local Health Departments and the State Education Department.
• Responsible Parties are required to work with the school community (parents, teachers, staff, LHDs, etc.) to propose and adopt changes. Ultimately, the school/district’s decision to move to shorter physical distances will come down to a local community’s risk tolerance based on its unique circumstances.

I met with the Board of Education last night to review the status of our reopening, and in order to comply with these appropriate and collaborative steps to ensure our compliance with both the New York State Education Department (NYSED) and the New York State Department of Health, North Shore High School will now reopen to all Seniors and Juniors on Wednesday, April 21st and for all Sophomores and Freshman on Monday, April 26th. Please note that Freshman and Sophomores will continue to follow their regular hybrid schedule during this transition.

While I'm sure this is a little disappointing, our seniors and juniors will only lose one more day of in-person instruction and it will ensure that our return will be both compliant and collaborative.

Mr. Contreras is in the process of meeting with his faculty and staff and will be communicating with families this afternoon with more detailed information. As we move forward, it is critical to note that while physical distancing will be reduced, contact tracing and quarantine must still follow the six feet of social distancing. Fully vaccinated individuals will not need to enter quarantine as we move forward. Thus, it is very important to do all that we can (teachers, students, and the entire community) to make decisions that will lead to lower transmission rates. It is likely that mandated quarantining of students will rise as cases are identified in this new model, so now is the time to make sure that the choices we make both individually and collectively serve to diminish transmission rates. 

Have a lovely weekend and we are looking forward to seeing everyone back together next week.
Best regards,

Dr. Peter Giarrizzo
Superintendent of Schools