April 1, 2020

Dear Parents, Guardians, Students and Staff:

We learned yesterday that in order for Governor Cuomo to waive the rule requiring each school year to consist of 180 days, the District must stay open during spring break for learning, meal delivery and child care. Learning will continue on the days you expected would be a time for comradery and relaxation with friends, family vacations, and Easter and Passover dinners. Who could have ever imagined that spring break would disappear in 2020?

In these special times, we have had to give up a lot. We can’t even take a trip to our favorite restaurant for a sit down meal. Now we add spring break to the fray. This is a time for all of us to step up and learn as much as we can. Learning must go on, and the District is making sure that it will.

Here are some updates since my last message:

• On April 1, 2020, we served 4,428 meals
• Teachers and staff – you must check your email three times daily
• The Thursday (4/2/20) and Friday (4/3/20) teacher website page design tutorials are completely booked – please sign up for one of the sessions on Monday (4/6/20) or Tuesday (4/7/20)
• Office 365 tutorials will begin next week for our prep and NFHS teachers
• Teachers, please adhere to the strict schedule that has been issued for you to retrieve items from your classrooms
• The Board of Education will meet this Thursday, April 2, at 5:30 p.m. Due to the social distancing guidelines, this meeting will not be open to the public, but will be live streamed on YouTube and later posted and transcribed.

I am proud of everyone associated with the Niagara Falls City School District for sticking to the guidelines that have been issued to keep ourselves safe and to selflessly help others to stay well as this pandemic continues. Please stay in tune with us. Our bricks and mortar buildings may be closed, but the District, the spirit of the District, is not. We are the heartbeat of the community and we are prepared to do whatever it takes to keep our community safe, informed and calm as we wait out this crisis. Be well.

Niagara Falls City School District Superintendent Mark Laurrie