Newsroom

YCSDigest - July 29, 2021

2021-22 School Year Planning

The York County School Division is finalizing plans to welcome all students back to school on Monday, August 30. Over the last two weeks, a team of division and school administrators, teachers and staff have been reviewing the new state and federal guidance for use of masks in K-12 schools to develop a recommendation to the superintendent and School Board. That guidance states:

Virginia Department of Health (VDH)/Virginia Department of Education (VDOE)

• Elementary schools should implement a requirement that students, teachers, and staff wear masks indoors, regardless of vaccination status.
• At a minimum, middle and high schools should implement a requirement that students, teachers and staff who are not fully vaccinated wear masks indoors.

Centers for Disease Control (CDC)

• Universal indoor masking for all teachers, staff, students, and visitors to K-12 schools, regardless of vaccination status.

Based on this guidance and the work completed by the division team, the division is considering adopting options for masks that include:

• Requiring the use of masks indoors for all students and staff
• Establishing indoor mask requirements for students and staff based on criteria such as age, grade level, and/or vaccination status
• Allowing mask use to be optional for all students and staff

The School Board will hold a special meeting at 6 p.m., Wednesday, August 4 at York Hall. Public comment will be accepted during that meeting. Additionally, stakeholders can provide feedback online through midnight, Sunday, August 1. Comments provided online will be shared with the Board and will be included as public record.

Transportation Request Form

Division staff develop bus routes and stops based on student ridership. In order for a stop to be designated for a student, families must have a completed transportation request form on file for each student in the family. New students and students who received division transportation for the 2020-21 school year, whose addresses remain the same for the 2021-22 school year, do not need to fill out a new transportation request form.

Families DO need to fill out a transportation request form if:

• The returning student(s) did not use division transportation last year, but will need transportation this year
• The returning student(s) has moved or there has been a change in address for the student that would change the student’s bus route/stop from last year

The transportation request form is now available in Rycor. To ensure a student is placed on a bus route and given a bus stop for the first day of school on August 30, a completed form must be on file with the division by midnight, Sunday, August 8.

* All students and staff members will be required to wear a mask while on school buses in accordance with federal orders for public transportation.

New Vaccination Requirements

Effective July 1, 2021, there are new state immunization requirements for pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, 7th and 12th grade students attending school in Virginia. To learn more, please visit the Virginia Department of Health website. If you have questions regarding required immunizations, please consult your pediatrician or school nurse