Dryden school district back in person after virtual week

The entire Dryden Central School District (DSCD) was forced to move to virtual learning last week but returned to in-person instruction Dec. 6.

Josh Bacigalupi, DCSD’s superintendent, said the week of virtual learning was due to six positive COVID-19 cases reported around Thanksgiving. Between the district’s five school buildings, this led to over 200 DSCD students and staff members being forced into the 10-day quarantine requirement due to potential exposure, he added.

A couple of the morning and afternoon school bus runs were impacted as well, Bacigalupi said.

“We no longer had enough bus drivers, and we had so many students identified as being close contacts,” he added.

On the morning of Nov. 29, the day after Thanksgiving break, Bacigalupi noted DCSD was “not confident that all students who had been exposed to the positive cases would’ve been identified/quarantined prior to the start of school.”

“We made the decision [from there], based on the lack of staffing, to pause [in-person instruction] and shift to remote instruction for the week,” Bacigalupi said.

This made over 406 faculty and staff members, along with about 1,400 students, move to virtual learning for the first time since the two weeks prior to Christmas break during the 2020-21 school year. This was due to a surge of positive cases following Thanksgiving break last year, Bacigalupi said.

According to Bacigalupi, as of Dec. 3, there were seven additional positive cases through the week of remote instruction. On a lighter note, he added, there were no hospitalizations.

“I know people were a little upset that a large group was quarantined, but being what it was, in hindsight, it was a very good decision to quarantine those on the bus because it did spread,” he said.

Throughout DCSD, 86% of faculty and staff members and 70% of the student body are fully vaccinated, Bacigalupi said.

With the percentages of students anticipated to grow now that children from the ages of 5 to 11 are eligible to be vaccinated, Bacigalupi noted DCSD “feels it’s not their place to weigh in [on vaccinations].”

“That’s not the strategy we take, and it’s not really our place to make that kind of a statement,” he said. “We know it can be a very personal subject for a lot of people.”

Despite this, DCSD has supported the Tompkins County Health Department’s efforts to fight the virus by passing along vaccine and testing information. DCSD has held vaccination clinics in the past and has conducted monthly surveillance testing in the district since February of this year.

“We continually consult with them because they are the people who know what’s best in these types of situations,” Bacigalupi said.

Bacigalupi noted DCSD’s faculty and staff members conduct weekly testing through a referral-based program, which requires them to get tested based on a list of places provided.

Frank Kruppa, Tompkins County public health director, said he recalled a “number of adults who had to be quarantined” from DSCD. In response to this, he urged adults “to be vaccinated.”

“If they’re vaccinated, they don’t need to quarantine and can avoid unnecessary disruptions that forces them to go from in-person to virtual learning,” Kruppa said.

Kruppa mentioned other than one school building in the Ithaca City School District that had to quarantine at the beginning of the school year, school districts are “doing an amazing job at keeping a healthy and safe environment.”

Bacigalupi is hopeful to continue in-person instruction without any disruptions due to COVID-19 but added he “does not know anything can be done differently.”

He did mention, however, that DCSD has followed NYS guidelines on COVID-19 “to the letter” and will continue to do so.

“We believe it’s best to have everyone on campus five days a week, but when you do that, there’s a risk between people in schools and on buses,” he said. “We’ve exceeded the guidelines.”

Bacigalupi concluded that he and the DCSD are “grateful to the community” as the district prepared to return to in-person instruction this week.

Dryden Dispatch appears every week in Tompkins Weekly. Send story ideas to editorial@vizellamedia.com.

IN BRIEF:

‘Pajama Storytime with Santa’ on Dec. 21

Southworth Library on West Main Street will be hosting Pajama Time with Santa on Dec. 21 at 6 p.m.

Come over to the library in some cozy pajamas as Santa reads his favorite book, “Twas the Night Before Christmas.” Santa will be giving out the book for free at the event for families to bring home.

Families can either register for the event in person at the library or at the southworthlibrary.org website. Supply of books is limited to one per family.

Shooting Stars to hold basketball clinic in January

Shooting Stars, a co-ed in-house basketball program aimed at teaching kids the basics through games and skill-building activities, is holding a clinic every Friday in January at Dryden Elementary School.

The dates in January include Jan. 7, 14, 21 and 28, with each clinic running from 6 to 7 p.m.

The non-competitive clinic will teach children in kindergarten through second grade to dribble, shoot, pass and play basketball with their friends.

The fee is $20, and there is a 20-person limit for the clinic. For more information, go to drydenrec.recdesk.com or contact the town of Dryden recreation department at (607) 844-8888 (option four).