Rochester City School District students with disabilities who are in specialized programs will return to school buildings in January, four days a week. The announcement was made in a statementfrom Superintendent Lesli Myers-Small Thursday.
“We must continue to provide meaningful instruction during this pandemic. While we would love to bring all of our students back into school buildings, this is the smartest decision to ensure the health and safety of students, their families, and our staff,” said Myers-Small.
District spokesperson Marisol Lopez says they expect students in person on “Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday with Wednesday as an asynchronous day of learning.”
Impacted families will be contacted by November 6th in order to give parents time to prepare. They will also have the option to continue remotely. The statement said the two month cushion will allow the distinct to work on logistics.
“Our goal of providing a high-quality learning experience has been a promise since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, and it remains at the forefront of our decision-making,” said Myers-Small.
All other students are expected to continue remote instruction. There was no immediate indication when other city school students will be returning to the classroom.
Teachers union president Adam Urbanski says he expects those students to remain out of the class until at least late January.
"We agree with the superintendent that we should continue remote only," said Urbanski. "Whether or not we can support in person learning for some specialized programs and special education will depend on whether the district can demonstrate that indeed there will be a safe environment for those children and their educators."
