All instruction off-campus from January 3rd – January 14th

Dear Innovation students, parents, and staff,

We were very proud to return to in-person learning in September, and we retain a strong commitment to learning in-person in our Innovation classrooms.

However, the Coronavirus has returned with a vengeance, reaching record-high levels in New York City. The most dangerous time will be immediately after the New Year celebrations, because many of us will have been exposed to the virus during the holidays.

All instruction will be off-campus from January 3rd – January 14, 2022
For this reason, and to protect the health and safety of our entire community, our core leadership team has decided that Innovation will reopen on Monday, January 3rd, for remote instruction only.

On-campus instruction will begin again on January 18, 2022
We will reopen for in-person instruction on Tuesday, January 18, 2022 – the day after Martin Luther King Jr. Day. By reopening on January 18th, we give everyone a chance to recover after the holidays and to get tested for COVID-19 before they return to school. This will help to safeguard against COVID-19 outbreaks at Innovation in early January
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All staff will be required to get tested prior to entering the building in January. And we request that all students also get tested before returning to Innovation.

Here is our Innovation educational plan for January, 2022:

Monday, January 3rd, and Tuesday, January 4th, will be asynchronous learning days: “asynchronous learning” means that students will receive assignments that they complete on their own
Wednesday, January 5th through Friday, January 14th, we will be synchronous remote learning days: “synchronous learning” means that students will attend live classes via Zoom video-conference
Tuesday, January 18th, we will begin our hybrid learning model: “hybrid learning” means that some students will be present in the building, while other students will be learning offsite. Hybrid learning will continue until we conclude that it is safe to have all of our students back in the building again.

The class schedules and other educational matters will be addressed in more detail in a separate message from our Principal, Terence Joseph.

Team sports
Our program of team sports will continue, for the time being. We have adopted the following rules and regulations to promote the health and safety of our student athletes and their coaches:

All student-athletes must be fully vaccinated prior to participating in practices and games
All student-athletes and coaches must be tested prior to participating in practices and games – testing will occur weekly, and prior to the first practice or game in January
All student-athletes must wear masks at all times, whether sitting on the sidelines or active in the game
No spectators are allowed to attend any home games. Games will be streamed live for remote viewing

Afterschool program
Details regarding our afterschool program will be released shortly.

COVID-19 vaccinations & the booster shot – get cash & stay safe!
In addition, we strongly urge our entire community to get vaccinated, and to get the booster shot if you are already vaccinated. This is the best and safest way to protect yourself, your loved ones, and everyone in our community against the spread of COVID-19. And if you are vaccinated, and you do get a “breakthrough infection”, it is unlikely that you will become very ill or need to be hospitalized. NYC continues to offer a $100 incentive for the first vaccination and now offers an additional $100 incentive to get the booster shot!

We thank everyone in advance for your continuing support and cooperation as we navigate this difficult time and balance the need for health and safety with the equally compelling need to ensure that our students have a great education and a robust program of sports and extracurricular activities.

We welcome your questions and comments
We are planning Town Halls and Collaborative School Governance meetings for shortly after our return, and everyone will have an opportunity to ask questions and make suggestions regarding our plans.

In the meantime, if you have any questions, please feel free to email: covidresponse@innovationhighschool.org.

Take care, stay safe, and be well!

Stephen Falla Riff Terence Joseph
Executive Director I Principal