Tuesday, April 23, 2024 | St. Lawrence County, NY
JEFF CHUDZINSKI North Country This Week MASSENA — Social distancing has the potential to keep COVID cases down but measures taken at Massena Central School have also caused delays for parents …
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JEFF CHUDZINSKI
North Country This Week
MASSENA — Social distancing has the potential to keep COVID cases down but measures taken at Massena Central School have also caused delays for parents dropping their children off.
“More parents are bringing their children to school, which we requested they do, so we may better social distance on our buses. We’ve seen that’s caused longer lines and longer waits,” Superintendent Pat Brady said at a recent school board meeting.
The change has led to a balancing act at all schools to ensure students are safely dropped off and classes can begin on time.
Principals at the elementary schools received praise from Brady for their efforts.
“Bill at Madison has got a handle on that and has got a great handle on that and training on pick up and drop off,” Brady said.
Another issue facing the school is a lack of substitute teachers.
“Just like other schools, it was a problem before the pandemic and remains a problem. We have administrators and others going into cafeterias and classrooms to ensure we can keep the doors open,” Brady said.
Bussing also remains an issue, like many other schools in the county.
“We’re right there, it’s a challenge. Sometimes on Fridays we have to cancel our after school extra run in order to have enough busses for sports runs, that’s happened a couple Fridays, last Friday and this Friday,” Brady said.
Brady did say that the school district is currently training school bus substitutes to build their numbers but staffing is difficult at this time.
“As fast as we’re training subs, some of them are getting jobs because we have bus drivers who have left. That has created challenges as well,” Brady said.
Un-vaccinated staff and subs also pose a significant risk and could cause disruptions, he said.
“Staff who are not vaccinated are making our system vulnerable, there’s no question about that. Especially with the lack of subs. And if we have cases where they have to quarantine, we don’t have the staff to back that up. We encourage our staff to get vaccinated,” Brady said.
