Dear Putnam Valley Community:
We were notified late this afternoon that our contracted transportation company, Orange County Transit, is unable to provide transportation services after learning that several of its employees are being mandated to quarantine. Most of these exposures are not related to any positive cases in Putnam Valley. Additionally, a number of our own staff members have been placed on quarantine which has created an internal staffing issue as we attempt to fill those vacancies.
Therefore, at this time we are forced to shift to all remote instruction in all of our schools, grades kindergarten through twelve, effective Monday, November 30, through Wednesday, December 2. While this is not an easy decision, we believe moving to all remote instruction is our only option at this time. We recognize remote instruction poses challenges to our students and their families, and we are committed to reopening our buildings as soon as possible and keeping the health and safety of our entire school community as our utmost priority. We will continue to work with Orange County Transit to fill the vacancies created by their staff members who are on quarantine while providing time to ensure any substitute drivers learn their routes and are accustomed to the safety protocols we have in place.
Out of District transportation will continue to be provided for those students who attend out of district placements.
We again apologize for the inconvenience this places on all of our families; it is simply not prudent or safe to open our schools at this time. We remain committed to providing in-person instruction whenever we can safely do so. We hope these issues are quickly resolved and we can return to our typical schedule later this week.
Thank you,
Dr. Jeremy Luft
Superintendent of Schools