• Instructional Guidelines During the 2020 Closure Period (Video)

• Instructional Guidelines During the 2020 Closure Period (PDF)

• Question Form

• Instructional Guidelines During the 2020 Closure Period (Video)

• Instructional Guidelines During the 2020 Closure Period (PDF)

• Question Form

• Instructional Guidelines During Suspension of Onsite Classes (Video)

• Instructional Guidelines During Suspension of Onsite Classes (PDF)

• Questions Moving Forward

• Instructional Guidelines During Suspension of Onsite Classes (Video)

• Instructional Guidelines During Suspension of Onsite Classes (PDF)

• Third Trimester Questions

Dear IRCSD Families,

Based on Governor Cuomo’s Executive Order closing school for the remainder of this school year and a discussion with the school district’s attorney, the Board of Education modified the 2019-20 school calendar (originally approved in Spring of 2019) to reflect the loss of the Spring Break Week (which became an additional week of instruction).

With that change, and while also adhering to our contractual obligations, the last day of school for staff and students will now be June 16th for Calcium Primary, Evans Mills Primary, Philadelphia Primary, Theresa Primary, the Intermediate School, the Middle School, and the High School. Antwerp Primary School's last day for staff and students will now be June 17th (Antwerp Primary School closed on January 17, 2020 due to village issues). Instruction will continue for all students through the final day of school.

In additional news or as reminders:

• Voting for the 2020-2021 School Budget and Board of Election will be conducted via absentee ballot only. One ballot will be sent to each household in the district. If your household requires more than one ballot for eligible voters, please contact 315-642-3441 as soon as possible. All ballots must be received by 5:00 PM on June 9th in the District Office. Please see www.ircsd.org for details.

• Kindergarten Round-Up is underway for children turning 5 on or before December 1st! Pre-registration will take place via the district website with building-based follow-up in mid-July.

• Summer School will not be held for grades K-5 or 6-12. We are still awaiting guidance regarding other potential summer activities, but it is expected many/most will not be available.

• Plans for the 2020 Graduation and related events are coming together. Look for continued updates from the High School via Facebook and the High School webpage. Congratulations to the Class of 2020!

• Individual school buildings will communicate specific plans regarding textbooks, technology items, school material dropoff and personal item pickup.

As we approach June, please know that we appreciate the incredible efforts of our parents, guardians, and community members through this very difficult time. Yes, we certainly honor our hard working students and staff, yet our parents also have carried a heavy burden over the past months. Your roles as caregivers, supporters, counselors, and at times part-time teachers/learners have not gone unnoticed. Our students and our community commend you for your strength, flexibility, and understanding. This “new way” of educating our students has not been easy, but your assistance has been key in helping us achieve a continuity of learning through one of the most challenging times in our lives.

Finally, I offer a special congratulations to our resilient Class of 2020. We will honor you and your collective accomplishments in the weeks ahead, but know you are on our minds and in our hearts. Let’s finish strong!

Please stay safe, stay healthy, and remain #WarriorStrong!

With great respect,

Mrs. Dobmeier, Superintendent of Schools

IRCSD community members: As announced today by the Governor, all schools in New York State will remain closed for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year. Please note that the distance learning opportunities and instructional guidelines that we have established will continue during this closure, as will our food service and basic school operations.

This decision is based on the need to protect our students, staff, and community. Information regarding summer programming at Indian River Central and throughout the state will be forthcoming later in May. Please stay tuned for more details regarding impacts of the extended closure on IRCSD planning and event programming.

Please stay safe, stay healthy, and remain #WarriorStrong!

Hello Indian River Warrior Students, Families and Staff!

This is Mrs. Dobmeier, your Superintendent of Schools. I want you to know that we miss all of you very much and can’t wait to see you again when this “pause” is lifted! We miss seeing all of our families and community members at our school events and hope that we are able to offer some fun opportunities once our lives return a bit more to what we used to call “normal!” We hope that you are well, staying safe, and that our students are participating as much as they can, under the circumstances, in continuing learning with your teachers. We want our students’ bodies and minds to be active!

I wanted to spend a few minutes updating you regarding the next phase of our plan for continued education for our students as well as food services.

First of all, you should know that the faculty, staff and administration of our schools, have been busy planning what the next phase of learning should be during this time of closure. We have devised a district-wide plan that includes the following guiding principles:

• The social, physical and emotional well-being of our students, staff and community continues to be our primary focus

• All students will have opportunities for continued learning focused on prioritized grade level standards and skills

• Communication between students, parents, school and the community is critical for success

• Our plan is flexible and accounts for a myriad of personal circumstances and ever-changing needs.

Indian River remains committed to providing each student with the opportunity to meet class and credit requirements. We are concerned more with quality than the quantity of learning experiences (less is more). This plan is adaptable in that it accounts for an eventual return to normal school operations.

Our school administration will be rolling out the details of this plan as it pertains to each of the levels within our district - grades K-3, 4-5, 6-8 and 9-12. Please look for informational videos and slideshows posted to the school websites and social media outlets. Principals will also have a form to submit questions about the plan and what it means for individual students so that responses can be provided in a timely manner.

I want to shift to food services and meal distribution for a moment. First of all, I can’t emphasize this enough, the meals are for all students in grades PreKindergarten through 12th grade, so please, I encourage you to take advantage of this essential service. You know that we’ve been distributing and delivering meals to students and families on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays each week since mid-March. This has included provision of food for those families involved with our backpack programs. Starting on Monday, May 4th, we’re going to begin distributing and delivering the same number of meals on two days - Mondays and Wednesdays each week. We’re doing this so that you don’t have to come out as often to get meals. A full week’s worth of breakfasts and lunches will be provided to you on these two days. Backpacks will continue to be distributed via pick-up at Philadelphia and Theresa on Wednesdays (begins May 6th) with delivery of backpacks for all other schools on Fridays. If your child goes to Philadelphia or Theresa and you are unable to pick up your backpack at school on Wednesday, your backpack will be delivered on Friday.

That’s all for now Warrior Family. Please stay safe, well and please continue to practice social distancing so that we can all be together again soon. We need you to be Warrior Strong!

Friends,

Steve Todd, Superintendent of Jefferson-Lewis BOCES, just made a joint statement from local Superintendents, County Officials, and the Departments of Health describing that all Jefferson-Lewis school student attendance will cease immediately. It is important to note that this is a preventative measure and NOT a result of any confirmed COVID-19 cases in the region.

The statement includes the expectation that all school staff in component districts will report on Monday, March 16th as if it was a regular workday. (We would describe Monday as a staff development day.) Students, including children of staff, should not be present in school.

In addition to our normal communication channels (website, social media, etc), we will send out School Messenger notifications to all staff and students. Please check these sources regularly. Additional details, including staff reporting expectations beyond Monday will be forthcoming based on guidance.

Expectations for academic work shared last week are still in place. As a reminder, contingency plans should focus primarily on the retention of existing skills and opportunities for at-home enrichment (refer to the prior email from me for details). We will work through plans for potential student work and personal item pick up over the coming days.

Thanks go out to the IRCSD administrators, teacher/support staff leaders, and everyone involved with past, present, and future planning for this unprecedented situation. We need your continued assistance now and into the future.

With great respect,

Mary Anne and Troy

Joint Statement from JL-BOCES and Departments of Health

Students, parents, and community members:

Like you, we have been closely following the evolution of the COVID-19 virus and related responses across the country and around the world, with special attention to our own region.

The Pre-K-12 school guidance issued jointly by the NYS Department of Health and the NYS Education Department is being followed regarding preparation and response to COVID-19. Our response planning includes the areas of prevention, responsiveness/communication, education, stability, and support systems. Given the moment-to-moment changes in this guidance, our plans are evolving rapidly.

Throughout our contingency planning, IRCSD's overarching goal is to support the health and welfare of our students and community while maintaining reasonable educational opportunities. Any major updates to our school schedule or programming will be communicated through our normal channels including our school website, school-based social media, and even direct message.

We hope this helps provide some update on this rapidly-evolving issue. Additional information will be shared as soon as available.

Thank you for your continued support and understanding. We, as a community, will persevere through this difficult time.

With great respect,

Mary Anne Dobmeier, Superintendent of Schools

Emergency childcare and daycare is available to families through the Watertown YMCA. The Watertown YMCA is allowed to care for any essential worker's children. The Department of Social Services has expanded the eligibility requirements to assist parents with childcare to 85% of the state median income. You may qualify for this childcare service.

Evans Mills Primary School is the in-district site for the school aged childcare. Daycare is available in Watertown only.

The forms for childcare and daycare are found below. For any questions about school aged childcare availability and eligibility, please call 315-755-2005. For questions about availability and eligibility for daycare, please call 315-755-1208.

YMCA Emergency Childcare and Daycare Forms

The NYS Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) is trying its best to support families in addressing their need for high-quality childcare. The OCFS is asking parents or caregivers who require childcare to complete an OCFS Parent Need for Childcare survey.

Based upon the information you provide about your job, employer, number of children, and financial need, the OCFS may be able to help you to locate the childcare program you need.

In addition, the OCFS website has several childcare resources available for those in need.

We hope that you find these resources to be valuable in your search for quality childcare during this unprecedented time. Do not hesitate to take advantage of what the OCFS has to offer.

Open wireless access is now available outside of the schools of Indian River Central School District. This wireless availability is intended for academic use by our school community who do not otherwise have a reliable signal with which to engage in communications or access skill retention and enrichment activities distributed online during the school closure.

Those who wish to access our open wireless network should be advised that there should be no expectation of full coverage throughout entire parking lots, but generally, the closer one is to one of our buildings, the better the signal will be. For most buildings, we will attempt to focus the strongest wifi signals around the building main entrance. If searching for a better signal, please obey all extant motor vehicle laws, paying particular attention to curbs, exits and fire lanes.

The open wireless network will have restricted access provided through our filter, and users should have no expectation of being able to access sites or materials that they would not otherwise be able to access during a typical school day on a District device. Users without IRCSD credentials will be filtered at the highest level. Students, faculty, and staff may authenticate to the filter through procedures shared internally.

To utilize the open wireless access outside of IRCSD school buildings, search for the SSID: IRopenwifi and enter the password: openwifi.

We hope that this initiative provides a valuable resource to those IRCSD students and community members who do not currently have Internet access. Please note that use of this wireless network is subject to change over time, and we will look for ways to enhance connectivity adjacent to the schools in the near future.

Community Stakeholders have come together to ensure that emergency workers can continue to serve our community during this unprecedented time. The Watertown Family YMCA in collaboration with Jefferson County, School District Leaders and Healthcare Providers will open restricted Emergency Childcare Sites in Jefferson County.

Evans Mills Primary School will be one of the Emergency Childcare Sites. Other schools include WCSD – Wiley, North, Watertown HS, Carthage Elementary and Black River Elementary, Wilson Elementary, Clayton Elementary, Sackets Harbor, and Brownville Elementary.

Please see the attached PDF for more information or call the YMCA at 315-755-2005 between the hours of 8:30AM and 5:00PM to register for this service.

Click for more information.

Drive-up meals offered for IRCSD Pre-K through 12th grade children!

If you have a child enrolled Pre-K through 12th grade in our District, it's as easy as visiting one of our Distribution Sites. Drive up and wait in your vehicle. Share the number of school-aged children in your household. A breakfast and a lunch meal will be brought to you for each child for each school day. And you are on your way! Please visit one site closest to your home for all of your children!

For more information, click this link.