COVID Status Update & Cases Confirmed in SCSD Schools

November 23, 2020

Dear Syracuse City School District Families and Staff,

Today, we conducted our third day of yellow zone testing with the support of Onondaga County and the City of Syracuse.  We tested 1,037 students and staff at ten schools, and we had four positive results.  Thank you again to everyone who helped organize today’s testing and who took the time to get tested.

This afternoon, Governor Cuomo announced that parts of Onondaga County and the City of Syracuse have been elevated from the yellow zone to the orange zone.  With this new designation, there are new regulations for everyone, including schools.  We are awaiting further guidance from the Governor’s Office but our schools will be open tomorrow, Tuesday, November 24th.

Unrelated to our testing today, we were notified by the Onondaga County Health Department that we did have additional staff and students test positive over the weekend and today.  There were eight students who were virtual that tested positive and nine from Van Duyn, HW Smith, Henninger, Nottingham, Frazer and Syracuse Latin. 

Three of the nine students who tested positive are from Nottingham and they were last in school on November 1st, 2nd and 16th; two students are from Frazer and were last in school on November 13th.  The HW Smith student was last in school on November 2nd, the Van Duyn student was last in school on November 15th, the Henninger student was last in school on November 16th and the Syracuse Latin student was last in on November 17th. 

There were three staff members from Delaware and one each from Grant, Syracuse STEM at Blodgett, and Salem Hyde.  Two of the Delaware staff members were last in school on November 17th and the other was last in on November 20th.  The Grant staff member was last in on November 19th, the Salem Hyde staff member November 14th and the Syracuse STEM at Blodgett staff member on November 20th. 

The Onondaga County Health Department will be in touch with those, both staff members and students, who they believe may have been exposed to the individuals testing positive.

Please remember to wear your mask, stay socially distanced and wash your hands.   Thank you for your continued support as we work to keep you informed and up to date.  As soon as we have more information on the orange zone designation, we will share it; but again, we will be in school tomorrow, Tuesday, November 24th for those students who normally attend on Tuesdays.

Sincerely,

Jaime Alicea
Superintendent of Schools