F-M struggles with omicron surge

FAYETTEVILLE-MANLIUS SCHOOL DISTRICT – Since Dec. 24, there have been 219 positive covid-19 cases within the Fayetteville-Manlius school community, according to Superintendent Dr. Craig Tice, who reported on the district’s covid-readiness at the F-M School Board meeting Monday night.
The number of staff that have been covid positive or in mandatory quarantine has stretched the district’s resources thin, he said.
“There have been days that we have been close, but so far we’ve been able to remain operational,” Tice said. “The goal is to stay open.”
Several other districts in the area have been forced to move to remote learning or have shut down schools for a period of time due to the current omicron surge.
“We’re not immune,” Tice said. “It will be the staffing issue that will bring us to our knees and force us to go remote if we have to.”
A shortage of teachers could allow the district to move substitute teachers around so that some individual school buildings would be remote and some would be in person. A shortage in the transportation department would likely close all school buildings for in-person learning.
“If we lose the buses, we’ve lost everything else,” he said.
The district is now licensed to perform covid-19 testing for students who have been exposed to covid-19 in the school, but the district’s plan for implementation of its ‘test to stay’ program has yet to be approved by Onondaga County.
With the ever-changing rules around quarantining and contact tracing, Tice wondered if the program would be moot by the time it is approved.
During the meeting, Assistant Superintendent Jeff Gordon reported that the state had changed the definition of fully vaccinated just prior to the beginning of the meeting, indicating that staff and students would be considered fully vaccinated with just the two initial vaccine shots. Last week, the state had updated the definition of fully vaccinated to mean two shots plus the booster.
“New York State has changed the definition of fully vaccinated, just this evening,” Gordon told the board. “If anything changes again by 7:30, I’ll let you know,” he joked.