Dear Students and Families,
We hope that this message finds you well. We want to thank each of you for your hard work, and flexibility during this time. Our teachers and staff have been working hard to support students in the learning of new content and skill.
Communication between and among all of us continues to be key as we all work together to meet needs during this time of distance learning. Please continue to communicate directly with teachers if you have any questions related to accessing materials, meetings and/or deadlines. We are all learning!
As Dr. Harrison shared earlier today, as a result of Governor Cuomo's announcement, all New York schools will remain closed for an additional two weeks and, as of now, will reopen on April 15th. Therefore, the Irvington schools will continue to support distance learning throughout the closure. However, please note that the scheduled Spring Break, April 6th-13th, will be an instruction-free period with no distance learning. Teaching and learning will resume following Spring Break on Tuesday, April 14th. Please refer to Dr. Harrison's letter posted on the District website for more details.
We also wanted to share a Food Services Update- as previously announced, the District is providing food during our planned closure for the COVID 19 prevention. We have two locations for Food Services Distribution: in Irvington, at the Main Street School parking lot and in Tarrytown, in the Tarrytown Crossing/Tallyrand parking lot near the playground. Both breakfast and lunch are available for a “Grab and Go” pickup between 9:30am - 11:30am.
Families may pick up both breakfast and lunch at the same time. Parents may pick up for their children, but should know the student number as we are required to track food distribution. Food will be available for free for all Irvington UFSD students. This means that no child or family will be identified as being eligible for Free or Reduced Lunch when going to receive food.
Aramark, the District’s food services provider, is supplying the food, which meets National School Lunch guidelines. Please note that during the food-distribution hours, congregating will be strongly discouraged. Students and families are asked to pick up the day’s food and return home. This request is not intended to dampen spirits, but rather to encourage social -distancing and prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Please continue to look for community messages and check our District website for any further updates.
Please also remember that our student support team remains available if you are experiencing a need for social or emotional support. Our School counselors, psychologists (Kelly Murphy/Noreen Sabia), our Student Assistance Counselor (Danielle Gamar) and our district Social Worker (Gina Menendez) continue to be accessible via email during this time.
With regard to attendance and active engagement and participation, as a reminder, if your child experiences an illness that limits his or her ability to engage in school work, please contact Julie Orlando (our attendance clerk) via email at julia.orlando@irvingtonschools.org. Ms. Orlando will then notify teachers, your child’s School Counselor and Ms. Basha, our school nurse, of your child’s “absence” so that flexibility can be applied to ongoing remote learning expectations.
Thank you for your ongoing partnership, support, and flexibility during these challenging times. As always, please do not hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.
Many thanks,
Juliet and Matt
