Westmoreland Schools Go Fully Remote Through Jan 11

Westmoreland Central School District announced on Tuesday that the district is going completely remote.

"We have made the very difficult decision to extend the transition to 100 percent remote instruction until January 11," said Superintendent Rocco Migliori in a letter posted on the district's website. Migliori also included a video message to parents and community members.

Migliori pointed to the high number of cases in the county and the fact that the County's contact tracing effort is overwhelmed. "As of this writing, the three-day average of positive tests in Oneida County is more than 200 and the weekly positivity rate is 5.2 percent – the highest since the pandemic started in March. According to Governor Cuomo’s “micro-cluster” strategy, we should have already been declared a “yellow zone,” but for some unknown reason, that has yet to occur. Furthermore, the local health department is behind with contact tracing, so we have been forced to take on much of the contact tracing process and rely on self-reporting, which is not always fully accurate. The high number of asymptomatic people testing positive and the holiday season adds to my concern," said Migliori.

Miglori said that quarantining and the lack of substitute teachers has placed the district, along with others, in a position where they don't have the staff to move forward safely.

"Please know the district will continue to provide the same essential services offered during in-person instruction, including the serving of lunch. If you would like your child to still receive school lunch during remote instruction, please call (315) 557-2630. The Church of Annunciation in Clinton is also distributing food to those in need on Monday, December 7, starting at 9:45 a.m."