The William Floyd School District is preparing to enter Stage III of its re-opening plan following the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns instituted by the county and state governments during the 2019-20 school year. As part of this next stage, the district will welcome in-person students back to school five days per week in a tiered approach. The schedule will be kindergarten through fifth grade beginning five days per week on Monday, March 22; followed by grades six through 12 after spring break on Tuesday, April 6. The all-virtual option will continue to be available for the remainder of this school year.

New York State and Suffolk County health and government officials have continued to state that schools are the safest places in the community for students as a result of multiple precautions in place. At William Floyd, these measures include desk shields, masks, the use of filters with increased MERV or Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value ratings, social distancing, the all-virtual learning option, thorough cleansing and sanitizing efforts that occur daily after in-person learning along with aggressive contract tracing and strict quarantining standards.

“Getting our in-person students back to school five days per week is the next step toward a complete re-opening,” said Kevin M. Coster, Superintendent of Schools, William Floyd School District. “Students learn best in person and the social-emotional aspects are also critically important for student growth and well-being,” he added. “For families with high-risk individuals or those who do not feel comfortable at this time, we will continue to offer the all-virtual option for the remainder of the school year.”

The all-virtual learning option will have some changes outlined below. 

All-Virtual Learning
Grades K-5: There will be no change for the elementary school all-virtual instructional delivery.

Grades 6-12: Secondary school students who remain enrolled in all-virtual learning will see a shift in the instructional delivery, which, to date, has been asynchronous (not at the same time) with pre-recorded lessons. The new instructional delivery for secondary students will become synchronous (occurring at the same time) as in-person classes. So students on the secondary level will follow a traditional school day schedule per the bell schedules linked below. This change is necessary due to the reduction of Wednesday as the all-virtual day, which was previously used by teachers to pre-record lessons.

UPDATE: All-virtual learning will remain asynchronous for grades six through 12. Please click here for more information.

William Paca Middle School Bell Schedule
William Floyd Middle School Bell Schedule
Floyd Academy Bell Schedule
William Floyd High School Bell Schedule

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: If I am not comfortable sending my child in five days per week under this scenario, can I switch from in-person to virtual?
A: Yes. Students and their families will be able to switch if they are not comfortable. Please contact your child’s main office to make the request.

Q: What if my child is currently on the all-virtual option and we would like to re-enter in-person learning? Is that permissible?
A: Yes. Switching from the full-virtual option to in-person learning is permissible. Please contact your school’s main office to request the change. We ask that you request the switch to in-person learning by no later than March 15, so our offices have the time to make any changes.

Q: Should we expect more closures as a result of this change to five days?
A: It’s possible. However, the same in-person students are now attending four days per week and the cases reported have remained below the county average and the spread is generally not occurring in schools due to all the proactive safety measures in place as outlined in the second paragraph above. The county and state health departments continue to state that schools are the safest places to be. If contact tracing takes longer that it has in the past, the district may be forced to close a school or schools in a precautionary manner. As has been the normal procedure throughout this school year, we will post COVID-19 updates to the district website and only make a districtwide phone call in the event of a school closure.

Q: Will school meals continue to be delivered via bus on Wednesdays?
A: Yes, meal delivery will continue on the same schedule on Wednesdays between the hours of 10 am and 12 pm. Grab & Go Meals will also continue to be available weekdays from 10 am to 12 pm at the William Floyd High School south parking lot and Moriches Elementary School locations.

Pandemic School Closing & Re-opening Timeline
March 15, 2020 –  Schools closed for the first time due to the pandemic by order of Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone.
March 18, 2020 – All New York State schools closed by Governor Andrew Cuomo. Followed by three consecutive two-week closures.
May 1, 2020 – Governor Cuomo closes all New York State schools for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year.

Re-opening Stage I
September 1, 2020 – Schools re-open on a hybrid schedule two days per week following strict NYS health and safety guidelines.

Re-opening Stage II
November 9, 2020 – William Floyd School District grades K-8 and 12 transition to four days per week for in-person students.
January 11, 2021 – Grades nine and 11 transition to four days per week for in-person students.
January 19, 2021 – Tenth grade returns to four days per week for in-person students.

Re-opening Stage III
March 22, 2021 – Grades K through five will transition to five days per week for in-person students.
April 6, 2021 – Grades six through 12 will transition to five days per week for in-person students.