Dear Putnam Valley Community:
While part of me feels like I’m living in an episode of the Twilight Zone, the other half of me is coming to terms with our current reality. I know that everyone’s world has been turned upside down, individuals are suffering from financial hardship, and there is a collective sense of stress and anxiety.
As I am sure you have heard on the news, Governor Cuomo has closed all schools in New York State through March 31. We are requesting that everyone plan for longer as we anticipate that could be our reality. On a positive note, all feedback following our first day of distance learning has been extremely positive. Our teachers truly rose to the occasion. While distance learning will never match the instruction that happens in our classrooms, students were engaged in meaningful and relevant learning opportunities throughout the school day yesterday. If you have not done so already, we are encouraging all families to create a schedule for their students that provides a predetermined time period that will be dedicated to the completion of school work. This has been essential in my own home.
The district has worked closely with Aramark to ensure that breakfast and lunch are made available to those families who qualify. Participating families were able to pick up bagged breakfast/lunch beginning today between 10 am and 12 pm at the High School. I would like to express my gratitude to the PVCSD and Aramark employees that worked to arrange this service so quickly.
We were notified that Optimum Online would be made available to families who do not currently have Internet access in their homes but require access to participate in distance learning opportunities. Please see the information below to request access if it is needed in your home.
Altice USA is committed to helping schools and students stay connected during this unprecedented time. For households with K-12 and/or college students who may be displaced due to school closures and who do not currently have home internet access, we are offering our Altice Advantage 30 Mbps broadband solution for free for 60 days to any new customer household within our footprint.
Starting Monday, March 16, 2020, eligible households interested in this solution can call:
866-200-9522 to enroll in Optimum region.
Please continue to be resilient and abide by the recommendations that are coming out from public health experts. Collectively, we will support each other and get through this crisis together. I would be remiss to not acknowledge our colleagues who are working every day to clean and sterilize our facilities to ensure they are safe when we return and our technology department who has been working tirelessly to support our families and our staff. I also want to extend a huge thank you to all of the community members and staff members who have offered to volunteer their time to help in any way possible; if the need arises we will certainly be in contact. Please continue to take care of your family, yourself, and each other.
Thank you,
Dr. Jeremy Luft
Superintendent of Schools