Classes cancelled through March 27

The City School District of Albany is cancelling classes for two weeks out of an abundance of caution in response to the spread of COVID-19. Classes will be cancelled from Monday, March 16 through Friday, March 27.

There were no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the district as of Friday evening.

Please note that in-district prekindergarten programs will be closed for the duration of the cancellation. Pre-K programs at offsite community-based locations will operate at the discretion of the provider; please contact your provider if you have questions.

Classes will resume Monday, March 30. We will continue to provide guidance and updates during the cancellation.

Thank you for your ongoing patience and partnership as we work together to address this serious health concern.

Breakfast and lunch for students

The City School District of Albany is committed to continuing to provide “grab and go” meals to students during the two-week school closure. Beginning Monday, March 16, the following schools will be open from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., daily throughout the school closure:

Albany High School (Washington Avenue entrance), 700 Washington Ave.

Albany School of Humanities (ASH), 108 Whitehall Road

Arbor Hill Elementary School, 1 Arbor Drive

Giffen Memorial Elementary School, 274 South Pearl St.

Tony Clement Center for Education, 395 Elk St.

William S. Hackett Middle School, 45 Delaware Ave.

Lunch for the current day and breakfast for the following day will be available to district students at these locations.

Please look for a representative or sign indicating where meals can be picked up at the above locations. Your student will need to provide their lunch/student ID to be able to pick up meals. If your student is not with you, you still will need to provide the lunch/student ID; assistance will be provided in the event you don't have it with you when you arrive.

The district is making all efforts to meet the needs of all of our families during this challenging time. Please understand that as we determine needs and adjust production accordingly; a limited number of meals may be available depending on participation.

Instructional resources for students

The district released print and digital resources Friday that students will have access to during the school closure. Following State Education Department guidance, we are focused on the priority areas: K-8 Math and ELA, K-8 Science and Social Studies, high school courses that end in Regents exams, and AP/IB courses. These academic resources are now available on the district website, organized by level (elementary, middle and high) and content.

PREKINDERGARTEN

Our website offers family home activities for prekindergarten students.

ELEMENTARY

We have included on the district website our digital resources that are in regular use: Lexia, Dreambox and FOSS.

These resources are available using the Clever platform that students use every day. On Friday, all elementary schools sent home a letter with students with directions to access Clever at home with individual student login information.

In addition to these resources, a list of online resources that students can access at home is provided on our website. We are aware of the issue of access to the Internet and a computer at home and are working on a solution.

The print resources that went home Friday are:

Your Turn Practice Book (K-5)

Science Fusion Workbook (K-3)

K-2 math resources

An additional print resource in Math for grades 3-5 will be mailed home to students during the week of March 16.

MIDDLE SCHOOL

We have included on the district website our digital resources that are in regular use: i-Ready and Newsela.

In addition to these district digital resources, we have compiled academic websites for student use. We are aware of the issue of access to the internet and a computer at home and are working on a solution.

The print resources that went home Friday are:

enVision math book (the website will provide guidance for the print or digital resource)

Novels

HIGH SCHOOL

We have included on the district website our digital resources that are in regular use and include the following:

APEX, with instructions on access and directions to do the tutorials (a username and password reset will occur so that all students can get initial access and then change their password in that moment).

Targeted old Regents exams for specific courses

Khan Academy

Links to various websites specific to particular content areas

Albany High School Library databases

Albany High School Summer Reading Weebly

My AP on College Board for AP and IB courses

Eco/Government Capstone Project directions and guidance

For Albany High students, no print materials went home unless teachers distributed readily available resources prior to the end of the school day Friday (old Regents exams, for example).

Spring athletics update

Preseason practice for all Albany High School spring athletic teams will go forward this weekend – Saturday, March 14 and Sunday, March 15. There will be no practices Monday, March 16. We will have additional guidance regarding preseason practices moving forward, including information about the scheduled start of practices for our modified (grades 7-8) teams.

Section 2 also announced March 13 that all schools must cancel all scrimmages and contests – both non-league and league – until Sunday, April 19. Section 2 announced that it has taken this action to help reduce the spread of virus throughout the Capital Region.

Spectrum offers students free WiFi access

Spectrum is offering free Internet access to Capital Region households that have students sent home due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The 60-day offer is only available to households that aren't already Spectrum customers. The offer includes free WiFi access.

Call 844-488-8395 to enroll. Installation fees are also being waived. The offer begins March 16.

Thank you for your ongoing patience and partnership as we work together to address this serious health concern.

Ongoing updates and additional resources can be found in our COVID-19 section.