By Kate Hill

Staff Writer

During the Dec. 21 Cazenovia Central School District (CCSD) Board of Education meeting, Superintendent Matt Reilly reported that all students K-12 had transitioned to remote instruction beginning Dec. 15.

According to Reilly, the decision was made in response to the number of students and staff in quarantine.

On Dec. 14, the district was informed that one student at Burton Street Elementary School and one student at the middle school had tested positive for COVID-19.

“Due to the large number of staff that require quarantine, coupled with the number of faculty and staff who are either quarantined for exposures outside school or have children in quarantine that they must provide care for, the district will be unable to provide adequate substitute coverage for both teachers and bus drivers,” Reilly wrote in a Dec. 14 letter to families.

The district has since received about seven new instructional sub candidates and one bus driver sub candidate.

“In my message to families, I included a call for people to help, and the call was answered,” Reilly said.

The superintendent added that the district would continue to search for candidates to further expand its pool of subs.

Anyone interested in becoming a substitute teacher or substitute bus driver can apply on the district website.

According to Reilly, the transition to remote instruction has gone relatively smoothly in the middle and high schools.

On Dec. 15, Burton Street hosted a Chromebook and instructional material pickup for families from 1 to 7 p.m.

“The team of teachers and the administration at Burton Street exhibited remarkable teamwork and coordination and was able to put 380 instructional packets together for pickup on Tuesday . . .” Reilly said. “Twenty-two families were unable to pick up [the items] that evening, and those materials were dropped off by our bus drivers the following day. We are pleased to say that we put Chromebooks and instructional materials and hot spots in the hands of our Burton Street students and that that instruction is going well there also.”

At the time of the meeting, the tentative plan was to resume in-person instruction in all three buildings on Monday, Jan. 4.

Reilly said the district would maintain regular contact with Madison County over the next week and a half to monitor the number of COVID-19 cases, particularly those in the towns of Cazenovia, Nelson and Fenner.

The superintendent also reported that earlier that day he investigated the possibility of conducting COVID-19 tests on Jan. 8 in order to look at the “infection window.”

“Though [they understand] the rationale behind testing at that time and establishing that it is a safe window to come back in, [the county] unfortunately doesn’t have the capacity right now to provide those tests,” Reilly said.

Reilly concluded his discussion saying he planned to continue his conversations with the county, delve more deeply into “pool testing,” and meet with his colleagues to discuss how they plan to determine whether Jan. 4 is truly a safe date to return to in-person instruction.

In other news

Reilly also informed the board that the district was in the process of addressing the ongoing need to fill the vacant school resource officer (SRO) position.

SROs are sworn law enforcement officers responsible for safety and crime prevention in schools.

Reilly said despite advertising the position, the final pool of candidates was very small.

As a result, the superintendent investigated alternative options, including a school patrol officer (SPO) position through Madison County.

“A number of schools in Madison County contract with the county sheriff’s office for this SPO position and have had great success,” Reilly said. “There are a number of benefits to it; one of the things that they have is a large pool of candidates . . . A district is presented with a number of possible people and you have the opportunity to interview them with a committee and you have a choice . . . In each case, the sheriff’s office and the local police department have a very strong working relationship and are respectful of one another’s turf.”

Through his conversations with Sheriff Todd Hood, Reilly learned that the SPO uniform is “low-key” and includes khakis and a polo shirt with the sheriff’s logo.

He also learned that the SPO position allows for open carry of a firearm.

According to Reilly, the position would be significantly less expensive for the district than the contract with the Village of Cazenovia Police Department.

The district budgets $50,000 a year for the SRO position; the cost of the sheriff’s position would be $19,000 a year.

“[There is] a need for this [kind of] position, not just from a security position, but also from an additional social/emotional support standpoint,” Reilly said. “I really thought it was positive when we had an SRO, and I’d like to get back there.”

During his report, Reilly invited CCSD Athletic Administrator Michael Byrnes to update the board on the status of winter sports.

At the time of the meeting, all high-risk sports were indefinitely suspended.

“Pretty much all of the sports that Cazenovia sponsors are high risk,” Byrnes said. “Those are basketball, wrestling, competitive cheerleading, [and] ice hockey . . . The high risk sports are deemed to be non-competitive at this moment. [Schools may choose] to have off-season training following strict mitigation rules with many restrictions, but as far as a regular season where you’d have practices and games and full contact, the state government has put them all on indefinite suspension.”

According to Byrnes, swimming is considered a low risk sport.

The boy’s swimming and diving team, which is combined with the Fayetteville-Manlius team, began its season on Dec. 14.

Byrnes noted that although indoor track is not considered high risk, Section 3 of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association decided to suspend the season because Onondaga Community College, Utica College and Colgate University are not allowing outside use of their facilities.

“We are just awaiting any type of update from the governor’s office, which most of us in the ranks don’t feel will be coming anytime soon, given the circumstances with the swell of COVID cases and the timing with holidays and that kind of thing,” Byrnes said. “I don’t think we are going to hear from anyone until after the first of the year, maybe later, and I’m not super optimistic, but [sports] have not officially been ruled out for winter, they are just currently on indefinite suspension.”

Reilly and Byrnes shared a letter with the board that the district received that morning from a group of “hockey parents” who are brainstorming potential safe ways to have a hockey season this year.

“Matt and I will meet at some point and look it over to see if we have any reconsideration,” Byrnes said. “As of right now, given the information we had, we feel confident that we were making a sensible decision [in suspending our sponsorship of hockey].”

School board meetings are typically held on the third Monday of each month. Meeting dates are listed on the district website and the school calendar.

For more information, visit cazenoviacsd.com/board-of-education.