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Based on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and NYS DOH guidance, the Department of Education has updated its COVID-19 health policies. These changes continue to help us uphold our Stay Safe, Stay Open policy, which have been in place since the holiday break while also incorporating more recent policy changes from the CDC and New York State Department of Health. Below are the changes and these changes will go into effect on Monday, January 31.

The new Quarantine Guidelines include the following:

Students in K-12: If a student is not fully vaccinated and exposed to COVID-19 outside of a school setting, the individual must now quarantine for at least five days; this has been shortened from 10 days. Anyone returning from a five-day quarantine period must wear a well-fitting mask, as mentioned above, while at school from Days 6 through 10.

For an unvaccinated student who is exposed in the home, the student must continue to quarantine for an additional five days after a household member’s isolation period has ended, if the household member is not isolated from the student or the student continues to be exposed to the household member in the same home during that time.

As a reminder, staff and students in grades kindergarten and higher, when exposed to COVID-19 at school, do not need to quarantine and should continue to use the home test kits provided by their school. These students and staff should only receive one home test kit per week, regardless of the number of exposures during that week. The Daily Health Screener will be updated on January 31st to reflect these changes.

You can also utilize the following flowchart to better understand the following changes, and to inform you of your next steps in any COVID situation. 

Dear P.S. 24 Families & Friends,

Last week, the Mayor and Chancellor announced a possible option for schools to create a remote option for the remainder of the school year. Although all guidance has not been released regarding this opportunity, the P.S. 24 administration will be actively assessing the likelihood of this possibility and will exhaust all options to ensure the needs of our students are met.

For now, the school will continue to provide the best in-person instruction imaginable. Teachers will also provide resources and learning opportunities via our google classrooms to those that cannot attend.

Please note, as per the latest guidance, teachers cannot be required to provide asynchronous instruction and Office Hours:   

• If a student fails the health screen and there is no COVID-19 test  
• A student is absent for non-COVID reasons   
• A family is keeping a student home and is requesting all assignments  

For all questions regarding attendance, please visit the DOE attendance page (https://infohub.nyced.org/school-year/school-year-2021-22/attendance) which highlights what is considered an excused absence and how each absence is coded depending on reasoning.

Thank you

Steven Schwartz

It was reported to me by many families that they could not access the link concerning attendance policies. Please see the following information that is posted on the DOE website:

This page was last updated on January 14, 2022 at 2:59 PM.

The 2021-22 attendance policy has been updated to reflect the updated guidance shared as outlined in the with the UFT regarding emergency closures.

In accordance with New York State Law and regulations, the New York City Department of Education will during the 2021-22 school year use “attendance” as a measure of student participation and instructional time in remote and in-person learning settings. Schools must complete attendance in accordance with Chancellor’s Regulation A-210 and are encouraged to implement attendance improvement strategies recommended under . 

The NYCDOE will track daily student attendance in schools across all grade levels and districts. K-12 NYCDOE staff will collect and record attendance in Automate the Schools (ATS), and will implement the City’s attendance improvement strategy—by monitoring attendance data and following up on daily absences for all students.

Attendance taken during the 2021-22 school year will include the values of:

• P = present
• A = absent

Students who are eligible to attend remotely are to be marked “P” for present or “A” for absent in ATS using the following reason codes:

• 65 – PRESENT, LEARNING REMOTELY
• 35 – ABSENT, LEARNING REMOTELY

Students are eligible to attend remotely due to full classroom or school closures, a COVID-19 positive test result, Election Day, and weather-related building closures (such as snow days). In addition, if staff are willing and their supervisor approves, staff may provide asynchronous remote instruction and Office Hours as set forth in the Memorandum of Agreement with the UFT to students who are absent for reasons other than those stated above; if staff do so, students who engage in such remote instruction can be marked present using reason code 65. Otherwise, all students are expected to attend school in-person unless approved for medically fragile instruction. Note that students may not be released from instruction altogether without prior approval from the Chancellor’s office, as this impacts State Aid.

K-12 NYCDOE staff together with community partners will use attendance data for continuous improvement to follow up with every absent student and assign interventions to support with removing barriers to attendance and promoting a positive school-wide attendance culture.

Attendance Definitions 

The definition of “present” during the 2021-22 school year is as follows:

• In Person: Student is physically present in the classroom/school learning environment for at least 45 minutes of instruction during at least one instructional period during the school day.
• Remote: Student is virtually present for at least 45 minutes of synchronous or asynchronous instruction during the scheduled program day.

A remote student is present for synchronous instruction:

• According to NYCDOE’s instructional guidance, synchronous instruction is defined as live interaction between the teacher and student(s) each day at a scheduled time, communicated in advance to parents and students.
• A student should be marked present if virtually present for daily synchronous instruction during the school day.
• Daily synchronous instruction may include but is not limited to the use of Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, other DOE approved and school-determined online video conferencing platforms, and phone conferences to provide synchronous instruction in the following areas:
• Whole class, small group and/or individualized live instruction
• Regular, dedicated time during which students and/or families can connect with teachers and support staff get help with instructional activities (“Office Hours”)
• Daily activities that promote students’ social and emotional wellness
• Feedback on student learning and work progress check-ins with students
• Conferences with students or families. 

A remote student is present for asynchronous instruction:

• Per the NYCDOE’s instructional guidance, asynchronous instruction is defined as instruction and learning opportunities that do not feature students and teachers interacting at the same time.
• Asynchronous learning activities enable students to work at their own pace so they can learn the same material at different times independently. Examples include:
  • Project based learning where students work independently or with others using shared documents so that teachers can track activity and progress each day.
  • Viewing videos, whether teacher created or provided, and asking students to respond in writing.
  • Students creating pre-recorded videos as a way to share individual or group presentations, as opposed to live presentations.
  • Using digital tools to have online class discussions or using discussion boards.
  • Completing quizzes, entrance/exit tickets before and after lessons on asynchronous days as a way to assess student learning.
  • Reading and writing assignments that are downloaded/accessed and submitted into a platform, while the teacher provides ongoing feedback online to increase understanding.
  • Using online games or interactive videos to allow for independent practice with the content taught.
  • Both synchronous and asynchronous instruction must include regular and substantive interaction between the student and teacher, meaningful feedback on student assignments, and a way of tracking student engagement. 

Taking and Collecting Attendance 

• During the 2021-22 school year, teachers will take and collect student daily attendance using ATS rosters and scanning procedures. ATS rosters will be generated for the 2021-22 school year. The STARS Attendance Tracker will not be available during the 2021-22 school year.
• Schools may also use ATS to take period attendance or may take period attendance using DOE approved third party systems.
• Attendance should be taken by 10:00 am each day, where possible. All attendance must be taken and scanned into ATS by the end of the school day.
• Daily and period attendance is collected for both in-person and remote students, as applicable.
• Students who arrive late or leave early should be marked present, but should be marked as Late or as early dismissal, per DOE guidance.
• Schools are expected to follow the rules for calendar changes, releases, discharge guidelines, and clearance of register. Refer to this attendance website for specifics and detailed instructions.

Monitoring Attendance and Attendance Data

• During the 2021-22 school year, schools are encouraged to use the New Visions Attendance Portal to monitor attendance data and trends in attendance and chronic absenteeism.
• Insight and the New Visions Attendance Portal are web-based tools that allow users to access timely and actionable data, in order to help them better understand their practices and their students, and empower them to easily recognize trends and investigate issues to create conditions that raise achievement for every student while addressing disproportionalities.

Attendance Taking in Cases Where Individuals, Classrooms, Schools Must Quarantine

• In every case, students who are sick or who have tested positive for COVID should stay home during their illness/isolation period, and should follow the DOE’s health guidelines.
• Attendance information and the school attendance policy must be shared by the school with families. Families must be aware of how attendance is taken during remote instruction.

Schools may follow this guidance for when students are learning remotely under different scenarios:

Student in Grades K-12 is learning remotely due to a positive COVID-19 test or otherwise consistent with the Pivot to Remote MOA

• Student may be learning remotely during this time.
• Teacher takes attendance on bubble sheets or an approved process at the principal’s discretion.
• Attendance bubble sheets scanned by Principal’s designee to ATS.

For Daily Attendance

• School continues to use ATS to take attendance.
• Enters a P or A.
• Uses CIND function to assign a reason code of 35 for absent (A) or 65 for present (P) to student of “learning remotely.”
• Note: CIND function allows user to updates/adds a reason code to an individual student’s daily attendance.

For Period Attendance/SPAT sheets & Extended Day

• User enters P or A with “learning remotely” reason code.
• Use PACH – for updates/reason codes.

Classroom/Grade Level Quarantined

• Students may be learning remotely during this time.
• Teacher takes attendance on bubble sheets or an approved process at the principal’s discretion
• Attendance bubble sheets scanned by Principal’s designee to ATS

For Daily Attendance

• School continues to use ATS to take attendance.
• Enters a P or A.
• Uses CCLA function to easily assign in bulk a reason code to whole classroom of “learning remotely.”
• Note: CCLA function attendance allows user to update daily attendance in bulk with a reason code by school, class, or grade code.

For Period Attendance/SPAT sheets & Extended Day

• User enters P or A with “learning remotely” reason code.
• Use PACH/PAUR – for updates/reason codes.

Whole School Or Building Quarantined

• All students may be learning remotely during this time.
• Teacher takes attendance on bubble sheets or an approved process at the principal’s discretion.
• Sheets scanned by Principal’s designee to ATS.

For Daily Attendance

• Use RUPD function to easily enter attendance school wide.
• Note: RUPD allows user to default attendance to 100% present (F11) and can be done the day of.
• After using RUPD function, then Principal’s designee uses CIND to take individual attendance (switch to A where applicable) and CCLA to apply the “learning remotely” reason code. 

For Period Attendance/SPAT Sheets & Extended Day

• User enters P or A with “learning remotely” reason code.
• Use PAUR – for updates/reason codes.

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Dear P.S. 24 Families and Friends,

It took a little longer than usual, but it appears that Mother Nature will be blessing us with some wintery weather tomorrow. In the event that we have a remote instructional day, our teachers are prepared and will communicate the schedule for the day.

Hopefully, the conditions will not be dire and the school building will be open to close out the week. In the event there is inclement weather and the school building is open, we will implement our inclement weather arrival plan. As a friendly reminder, the plan is as follows:

This plan will only be implemented if there is extremely cold weather and/or unsafe outside conditions. This would not include light flurries or rain. Dismissal plans will not change regardless of the weather.

If this plan is implemented, you will be notified by our school messenger service and our PS 24 push notification via our school app.

Thank you for your support. Please stay safe and warm.

Steven Schwartz

P.S. 24 Families and Friends,

In an effort to provide clarity with the updated guidance we have received, I have created a Q&A Google Document for families. This Google Doc will allow all families to list questions you may have regarding any COVID-related topics including, but not limited to quarantines, positive cases and testing. Please feel free to list your questions using the following link: 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1A7veke8dE1lnG5f7n8QVU_0BhARyXO7CehGqXH05EBw/edit?usp=sharing

I will do my best to answer each question within 24 hours.

Please take the time to thoroughly read the updated Health Screener (copied into this document) which will answer many of your questions. For all other questions, please list them in the appropriate category, only after you have confirmed that the question has not been asked and was not already answered either by me or within the health screener. All duplicate questions, or questions that could be answered by reading the health screener will be deleted.

I will keep this document active until the end of the week and hope that it will be a useful tool for our community. I will also send out each Q&A on a separate e-mail next week prior to our next SLT meeting.

Thank you again for your support, and please do not hesitate to contact the administration so that we can continue to navigate this ever-changing situation together and safely.

Steven Schwartz

Dear P.S. 24 School families,

We were so happy to welcome students back to school, today.  We hope you enjoyed the holidays and that 2022 is off to a healthy start for you and your family. COVID continues to make headlines both nationally and locally and we are feeling the impact here at Spuyten Duvyil as many students did not report today. Many of our families and staff are directly affected but we are doing all we can to continue in-person learning and to promote a healthy, safe and effective school environment for all learners. 

To achieve this goal, it is clear we must stay vigilant. 

1. If your child is experiencing any COVID symptoms, please keep them at home. Students should stay at home when symptomatic.
2. We are starting to see our first round of fully vaccinated students (2 doses + 2 weeks) and we are grateful that this may limit our quarantines. If your child’s vaccination status has change, please make sure to update the status in the vaccination portal. 
3. Please continue to stay vigilant with mask wearing and handwashing.  Students must wear masks on buses and in school. Please be sure that you are washing and replacing masks, often. Adding some extras to the backpacks would be appreciated. 

You may hear of some different staff members in your child’s class.  COVID is impacting staffing but please know that our staff continues to be flexible and is working together to ensure that in-person learning continues. The administration has also secured additional substitute teachers and paraprofessionals.

Beginning tomorrow, I will update our community on the number of positive cases in our community. I will also be creating a Q&A google doc for families to list your questions and concerns that will be answered with relation to the new guidance.

Thank you for your continued thoughtfulness, vigilance, and flexibility. We are grateful for your partnership. 

Sincerely,

Steven Schwartz

Dear P.S. 24 Families & Friends,

I hope you had a restful holiday and were able to spend time with your loved ones. My apologies for not being in communication the past week as I was recuperating from contracting COVID. Fortunately, my family and I are symptom free and I am ready to welcome our students back to school to open the New Year.

As we open the New Year, you can expect many changes due to the ever-changing COVID situation. For example, I am expecting at least 15 different staff members, including teachers, paras, school aides and out of classroom staff, to be out tomorrow due to a COVID-related issue. Rest assured that the school is prepared and each classroom will be provided a teacher to support your child. Prior to break the administration secured about a half a dozen sub teachers and paras to support the school in this particular situation.

We are also looking at additional ways to provide children with outdoor recess in a safe and structured manner.

Please also note the following updates made in partnership with City and State public health colleagues and are based on federal and scientific guidance.

Home Test Kits

● Beginning January 3, schools will distribute free, take-home COVID-19 rapid test kits to any student or staff who exhibit COVID-like symptoms or have been in a classroom where a positive case has been identified.

● If your child was exposed to COVID-19 at school, please help your child take the first test on the day they receive the home test and help your child take the second test five days after exposure or at the first indication of symptoms.

o Your child may continue to attend school as long as your child receives negative test results and does not experience any symptoms of COVID-19.

o If your child has COVID-like symptoms or feels ill before the fifth day, please have your child isolate and take the second home test immediately.

o If your child tests positive on either home test, your child must isolate for 10 days following the first positive result. Please contact your child’s school immediately to inform them and for further guidance.

● If your child had symptoms of COVID-19 at school, please help your child take the first test immediately and help your child take the second test 24 hours later.

o Your child may not attend school until they receive negative results on both of these home tests taken within 24 hours of each other and have been fever-free for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication OR if your child receives a negative test result from a PCR COVID test.

o If your child tests positive on either home test, your child must isolate for 10 days following the first positive result. Please contact your child’s school immediately and report the test results.

● Any student who tests positive on a take-home test should immediately report it to the school and begin isolating. Students who test positive must isolate for 10 days and can return to school on Day 11. No negative test is required to return to school. ● As a reminder, all students, staff and visitors must pass the DOE health screener in order to enter school buildings. Additional questions will be added to the health screeners for those students and staff who receive at-home rapid test kits to share their negative result. No other proof of a negative result is required in order for these students to enter the school building.

New Quarantine Policy The goal of the DOE is to ensure that students safely remain in school as much as possible, and they have updated  policies to ensure we meet this goal. This means that if there is a positive case in a classroom:

● For students in kindergarten through grade 12, unvaccinated or not yet fully-vaccinated students who were in close proximity to a positive case will no longer have to quarantine and will continue attending school if they do not have symptoms and do not have a positive test result from a COVID test. Instead, all students and adults in that classroom will receive a take-home rapid test kit and take two tests over the course of five days.

Increased In-School Surveillance Testing To further ensure the safety of our students, families, and staff, the in-school surveillance testing program is expanding to double the number of individuals tested in each school, including both vaccinated and unvaccinated students, in grades 1 and up. The random in-school surveillance program continues to provide public health experts with an accurate look at the prevalence of COVID-19 in schools. We encourage all families who have not yet submitted consent, regardless of whether their child is vaccinated, to consent to in-school testing through their NYC Schools Account (schoolsaccount.nyc) or return a signed paper form to the school.

Additional information on testing for students and the printable version of the consent form in multiple languages can be found on the New York City Department of Education (DOE) website: schools.nyc.gov/covidtesting

● The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) continues to open new testing sites throughout the five boroughs. We strongly encourage that all students get tested for COVID-19, through a PCR, lab-based rapid test, or a home test kit on a continuous basis, regardless of vaccination status. For a list of testing sites, including sites with at-home rapid tests, call 212-COVID19, visit nyc.gov/covidtest, text "COVID TEST" to 855-48, or call 311 to find a nearby testing site.

● Additionally, many pharmacies and doctors’ offices are offering COVID-19 testing. Please check with your pediatrician’s office or local pharmacy to see if you can schedule a test. We know that nothing is more important to you than keeping your children in school, learning in healthy and safe environments. The changes we are announcing today aim to keep students in our classrooms with the least amount of disruption as possible, while putting their safety front and center. I will continue to update you as the situation changes. We thank you in advance for partnering with us to keep our children and staff safe in school.

Dear P.S. 24 Family & Friends 

We understand just how challenging the past 18 months of the pandemic have been for you as parents, families, and caregivers. We are in awe of the work you have done, and continue to do each and every day, to support your child(ren) and we thank you for your continued partnership with us. Our work together is more important than ever as we strive to ensure your child thrives this school year and beyond. To further support you, our teachers, counselors, and social workers as champions of  your child(ren)’s academic and social and emotional needs, are excited to let you know about a wonderful opportunity in our school this year! 

Research has consistently shown that developing the social and emotional skills of students helps them to succeed academically, gain confidence, and be happier. Social-emotional learning, or SEL, includes developing relationship skills, self-awareness, responsible decision-making, and optimistic thinking.  

To identify and support the social-emotional growth of all children in our school, we are excited to be administering a strengths-based SEL screener, known as the Devereaux Student Strengths Assessment (DESSA). The DESSA asks questions about areas of social-emotional functioning including decision making, relationship building, confidence, and others. This tool will be completed by someone who knows your child really well—in most cases a teacher. 

The responses we gather will help us provide targeted, highly responsive support to each individual student. Perhaps most importantly, the tool enables us to build on each student’s strengths while identifying the social-emotional skills they need to further develop. Once our students’ growth areas are identified, we can create highly responsive plans to target and enhance those skills in the most appropriate manner and settings.

The results of this screener will not be included on report cards, will not have any impact on grades, and will not be used to make any diagnostic or evaluation decisions. The results will be stored securely in an online portal that meets the DOE’s strictest privacy and security settings and will only be viewable by your child(ren)’s teachers and select school staff such as the principal or counselor. 

The information gathered from the DESSA screening tool will allow us to provide the very best support to your child and will be beneficial to their overall success, both inside and outside of school. Families will have an opportunity to hear about their student’s SEL skills during family conferences.

We are excited to implement the DESSA beginning October 25th. If you have any questions, please feel free to call Florence Byrne at 718-796-8845 ext. 2225. 

If you do not want a staff member to complete the DESSA screener for your student, you must write a letter to me stating that. This letter needs to be received by the school by Monday, October 18th

If you have any questions regarding social-emotional learning or the DESSA, please call/email Florence Byrne at 718-796-8845 ext 2225 / fbyrne@schools.nyc.gov

Sincerely, 

Steven Schwartz

Health Screening Questionnaire (Online Form)

Health Screening Questionnaire

Covid Testing Consent Form (Online Form) 

Covid Testing Consent

Emergency Contact Card 

Emergency Contact Card

PS 24 Parent Teacher Association Back to School Guide 

Back to School Guide

PS 24 Parent Handbook 2021-2022

Parent Handbook 2021-2022

Meeting #3 - November

Thursday 11/19/2020, 7:00 - 8:30 pm

Agenda 

Treasurer's Report

Meeting Minutes 

Meeting #4 - December

Thursday 12/17, 6:30 - 7:00 - Coffee with the principal

Thursday 12/17, 7:00 - 8:30 - General Meeting

Agenda 2020-12-17-High level PA Agenda 12 17 20.docx

• Approve tentative bylaws - Our bylaws were approved! Click here to download the Dec 2020 bylaws  PS24PA_Bylaws_2020.pdf .
• Approve updated budget - Our updated budget was approved!  2020-12-10-Treasurer-Report-and-New-Proposed-Budget.pdf 
• Expedited election for parent SLT seat (2-year term) - Congratulations Jenny Weber, our newest Parent SLT member!

Meeting #5 - January

Wednesday 1/20, 6:30 - 7:00 - Coffee with the principal

Wednesday 1/20, 7:00 - 8:30 - General Meeting

Agenda 

Treasurer's Report 

Meeting Minutes

Actas de la Reunión

Meeting #6 - February

Wednesday 2/24, 6:30 - 7:00 - Coffee with the principal

Wednesday 2/24, 7:00 - 8:30 - General Meeting

Agenda

Treasurer's Report

Meeting Minutes

Actas de la Reunión

Meeting #7 - March

Wednesday 3/17, 6:30 - 7:00 - Coffee with the principal

Wednesday 3/17, 7:00 - 8:30 - General Meeting

Agenda

Treasurer's Report

Meeting Minutes

Actas de la Reunión

Meeting #8 - April

Wednesday 4/21, 6:30 - 7:00 - Coffee with the principal

Wednesday 4/21, 7:00 - 8:30 - General Meeting

Agenda

Treasurer's Report

Meeting Minutes

Actas de la Reunión

Meeting #9 - May 

Thursday 5/20, 6:30 - 7:00 - Coffee with the principal

Thursday 5/20, 7:00 - 8:30 - General Meeting

Treasurer's Report

Meeting #10 - June

Wednesday 5/16, 6:30 - 7:00 - Coffee with the principal

Wednesday 5/16, 7:00 - 8:30 - General Meeting

Treasurer's Report

2021-2022 Budget

All Meeting Minutes

All Treasury Reports