Archive for August, 2020

Will all of the students on a particular bus all be from the same elementary school?

A. Yes.

Could you please provide examples of what the requested activity fees found on elementary school supply lists might be used for since most likely field trips and in-school programs will not be taking place?

A. The regulations posted on the school supply page provide information on all school supplies. Here is what is says about the activity fee (it is not used for field trips or in-school programs). If you want to know specifically what it will be used for in your child’s class, please reach out to the […]

I’m hearing concerns that the District isn’t being completely transparent with respect to the number of Covid-19 cases in our Shen community. I completely respect HIPAA, but parents, teachers, and other employees are being asked to make serious decisions about our children and families without knowing whether there is one case or 20. Some parents believe there are no cases or only one case, because it seems as if only the first case will be reported (Times Union reported a second? Are there more? How would we know?), which gives a false sense of security. We really need to know much/how fast this is spreading to make critical, informed decisions. Other districts around the country are reporting number of total cases, why don’t we deserve the same? This can be done without violating privacy.

A. Questions about notification were answered in the Q & A.  We are using the same notifications that we use for all communicable diseases (MRSA, Meningitis, Pertussis, etc.) A notification goes to ALL, meaning the entire district when there is a newly confirmed case in a building to let people know that a building has […]

What is the new statue outside of OKTE and where did the money come from to build it?

A. The new statue outside of Okte is an owl and owlet.  Outgoing Principal Lisa Mickle and Okte’s art teacher, Sara Braglia, had worked last year with a local artist (Tori Rodriguez) in making an art sculpture for Okte based on the school’s icon, an owl. The artist had visited Okte’s 5th grade students to […]

When will the district release the question and answer document about reopening that it promised?

A. We are working on it right now. There are a lot of them. Hopefully we will be able to get it out on Tuesday or Wednesday this week.