Hello Pine Bush families and staff,

I know that everyone is anxious to see the protocols that we will have in place for our return to school this year. We are still consulting with the Orange County Health Department and our own medical director on the final details, that we hope to have up on our website by the end of the week, if not before.

While you await those details, I wanted to give you all some broad pieces of the plan, that I know will not change during this final review by medical personnel.

First and foremost, you should know that students will return before Labor Day this year. School starts for students on Wednesday, Sept. 1 , and it will be a full day of instruction.

School will start for staff two days earlier on Monday, Aug. 30.  Students will have two three-day weeks of school in a row, because the day after Labor Day, we will also have off for Rosh Hashanah. So, Wednesday Thursday Friday September 1, 2, and 3 then again the following week, September 8, 9, and 10.

Our Return to Learn Fall ’21 Task Force report was very clear in wanting to have all students attending school in person five days a week. So that is exactly how we will begin (after those first 2 three-day weeks).

While there will be many details in the reopening document we will post later this week, I can certainly forecast one important aspect that has drawn many questions of late – that’s about masks.  We will be requiring masks for everyone indoors.  This follows the guidance we have received from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the Orange County Dept. of Health (DOH), and the State Education Department (SED).  Masks become a critically important mitigation effort in honoring our responsibility to protect our students and staff, especially while the Delta variant still rages.  While mask breaks will still be provided in classrooms, masks on buses will be required at all times.

I’ll do another call and email blast later this week on whichever day we release the remaining guidelines.

Have a pleasant afternoon and a great rest of your weekend,

Tim O. Mains, Pine Bush Superintendent