Northern Adirondack CSD

Northern Adirondack Central School District

Office of the Superintendent

James C. Knight, Jr.                                                                                       

P.O. Box 164

                                                                                     Ellenburg Depot, New York 12935

                                                518-594-7060 ● Fax 518-594-7255 ● jknight@nacs1.org

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                                                                                                                        December 16, 2020

Good afternoon Northern Adirondack Community,

This letter is being shared to inform you that the Northern Adirondack Central School District will take a “Pause” from in-person instruction following the Christmas and New Year’s Recess.  We will “Pause” for two weeks and conduct remote learning for all of our students from Monday, January 4^th through Monday, January 18^th.  In-person learning will resume on Tuesday, January 19^th.  During the scheduled “Pause” of in-person learning, the District will continue to provide breakfast and lunch to those students who elect to receive it at home.  We are asking that all families who would like food deliveries place a plastic bin preferably with a cover or a cooler by the road near the end of your driveway for easy access for our staff.  Food deliveries will take place on Wednesday, January 6^th and Wednesday, January 13^th.  These will also be the days that any academic items will be dropped off and picked up. 

I completely understand the potential burden placed upon our families in regards to day care during the scheduled “Pause” from in-person learning, but collectively we have determined that the statistics for increased COVID-19 cases following a gathering holiday are staggering and our most recent experience after Thanksgiving proves just that, so our hope is that this “Pause” may again help prevent any possible spread here at NAC.  We must consider the mental health of our students and staff during this challenging time, and the decision to take a break after these gathering style winter holidays will help provide that.  This is also another opportunity to have a planned period of remote learning prior to having an unplanned or emergency based need to move to a remote learning process.  We have been fortunate thus far with our only positive cases not requiring any contact tracing or mass quarantining, however that can change at any time with the increased number of positive cases in Clinton County and our neighboring school districts. 

To recap this letter, our last day of in-person learning will be Tuesday, December 22^nd followed by a two week in-person learning “Pause” from Monday, January 4^th through Monday, January 18^th during which all learning will be remote in format, and we will return to in-person/hybrid learning on Tuesday, January 19^th.  Our teachers will be working from the school during this scheduled “Pause”, so please communicate with them during our traditional daily hours by email, phone calls, and/or the Google apps. 

Thank you for your cooperation and support.  Enjoy your winter holiday season, and please remain compliant with the social distancing norms, mask wearing, and hand washing, the very last thing we want is for any members of our greater NAC community to get sick.

                                                                                                Educationally Yours,

                                                                                                James C. Knight, Jr.

                                                                                                Superintendent of Schools