For help with the Daily Health Screening, please email: [email protected]. 

we would like to take this opportunity to wish you and your family a safe and healthy winter break.  With the continuation of the holiday season, it is extremely important that we remain vigilant and consistently follow Department of Health recommendations such as wearing a face covering, social-distancing, hand washing (“Wash Your Hands, Wash Your Hands, Wash Your Hands”), and monitoring of your own health. We are grateful to the Commack Community for supporting the Commack Model of schooling during this COVID-era. Further, we are proud that our Model (highly touted by the Department of Health) and health and safety protocols have contributed to the shockingly low rates of COVID-19 being transmitted within schools. According to the Department of Health and published in a recent Newsday article, only seven (7) cases in Suffolk County have been traced back to originate in schools. As far as we are aware, none of which include the Commack Schools.  

 

The relatively few cases (NYS COVID Report Card) in over four (4) months of in-person learning has proven that with the proper safety practices in place, we can keep our students and staff safe and healthy all while keeping our schools open.  Indeed, we know the spread is from outside gatherings that have nothing to do with our schools, and we have seen, in some parts of the community, a larger number of COVID cases than others.  Again, we implore you to stay vigilant as we do not want to be forced to close one of our buildings after the break as we do track cases building by building. 

 

During the holiday break, our COVID-19 Coordinators will regularly check their email so parents can continue to report positive student cases. Should you need to report a COVID-19 positive case, please do not hesitate to email [email protected] and/or [email protected]. 

Thank you in advance for your cooperation and patience as we work together to keep our students and staff safe and our schools open.

With the holiday season upon us, we continue to experience positive COVID-19 cases in our schools.  Please know that even with the increase in cases, our positivity rate in the District is still exceedingly low.  

 

The Commack Schools have approximately 7,000 staff and students with about 5,000 currently reporting to our schools daily. We want to assure you that the District is following all of the health and safety protocols set forth by the CDC and the New York State Department of Health. 

 

We would like to take this opportunity to clarify the Department of Health mandated quarantine, in the event that your child is deemed a close contact resulting from exposure to COVID-19.  “Close contact” with a symptomatic or asymptomatic positive case is defined as being within six feet of the positive individual, for a prolonged period of time (ten minutes or more). Furthermore, the Department of Health has very strict guidelines for individuals who must quarantine. It has come to our attention that parents are allowing students under quarantine to participate in extracurricular activities such as sports, play dates, parties and more. Please DO NOT DO THIS.  Quarantine means individuals must stay separate from others in their household and community for a total period of 14 days, and must not be in public or otherwise leave their quarantine quarters.  We recognize that this may be a disruption to the household as well as extracurricular activities that students may be involved in.  However, according to the Suffolk County Department of Health, COVID-19 is spreading through local community gatherings outside of school (e.g., per the DOH, neighborhood gatherings, childhood birthday parties, extracurricular sports, playdates, and other small or larger group gatherings). 

Although there is an alarming spread of the COVID-19 virus across the nation and in Suffolk County, we are seeing no spread of the virus within our schools.  The relatively few cases (NYS Covid Report Card) in over two months of in-person learning in our schools has proven that with the proper safety practices in place, we can keep our students and staff safe and healthy.  Indeed, most of the spread is from outside gatherings that have nothing to do with our schools.

 

As we enter the holiday season, please be mindful of doing all you can to protect yourself and others by wearing a mask, social distancing, and following guidance from the professionals and medical community.

Below you will find helpful information from the Suffolk County Department of Health. Should you have an questions or concerns, please call 311. Representatives are available Monday-Friday 9am-6pm and Saturday-Sunday 10am-4pm.

 

COVID-19 Testing Sites November 2020

The New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) recently released a Pre-K to Grade 12 COVID-19 Toolkit.   This document provides school districts and parents/guardians with updated guidelines to determine if a child can attend school or return to school following an illness.  The Commack School District will be following the protocols established by the NYSDOH.  You can view the NYSDOH guidelines by clicking this link New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) Pre-K to Grade 12 COVID-19 Toolkit.

 

We would like to please remind parents/guardians of the following:

 

The safety and well-being of our students and staff is our top priority.  As always, we greatly appreciate your understanding, cooperation, and continued support of our schools.