Ossining Schools Switch To All-Remote Learning Friday

OSSINING, NY — Because Ossining has been declared a micro-cluster yellow zone, school officials in the Ossining school district decided to have remote instruction Friday for all students in the district.

Not all of the Ossining Union Free School District is in the yellow zone — homes in Yorktown, New Castle and Briarcliff are in the district and not all of them are in the zone.

However, Superintendent Raymond Sanchez pointed out, "As a Yellow Zone designation, we will be required to conduct COVID-19 testing on 20% of our student and staff population in order for our schools to remain open. If we do not conduct the testing, we will have to conduct 100% remote learning for all students."

District officials warned parents Wednesday that the designation was possible, and announced they had begun contingency planning. "While our goal is to remain open, it is important for all parents to look at their childcare needs at this time should we move to 100% remote learning," he said.

He asked parents to not panic, be prepared and stay vigilant about practicing pandemic protocols. "We are taking all precautions necessary in our schools but we are finding that activities outside our schools are what is causing the cases in our buildings. If you should have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to your building leaders."

Thursday afternoon, after Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the designation, Sanchez said staff was continuing to review the plans, and asked parents to keep monitoring for updates about next week.

In addition to Ossining, four other communities — New Rochelle, Yonkers, Peekskill and Tarrytown/Sleepy Hollow — were designated micro-cluster zones Thursday because of new coronavirus infections.

They are all yellow zones, meaning schools can remain open, but 20 percent of the weekly in-class student and teacher population must be tested for the virus.

Tarrytown schools switched to all-remote learning Friday.