Ogdensburg City School District

Kindergarteners at Madill are ready for six more weeks of winter! After celebrating Groundhog's Day with Digger the groundhog, these students spent time outside in the wintry weather for Global Play Day.

All students enrolled in the Ogdensburg City School District for the 2020-21 School Year will receive P-EBT food benefits. These temporary food benefits are being provided to help cover the cost of meals children would have otherwise received at school during the 2020-21 academic year. Since the Ogdensburg City School District provided free lunches for all students during the 2020-21 academic year, every student who was enrolled in the district will receive P-EBT food benefit...s. If your child receives Medicaid and successfully redeemed P-EBT food benefits for the 2019-2020 school year on a NYS Medicaid card, their P-EBT food benefits for the 2020-2021 school year will be issued to the same NYS Medicaid card. Otherwise, your child will be mailed a P-EBT Food Benefit card with instructions explaining how to activate the card and access the food benefits. You should receive this card before the end of the 2021-22 school year. Please note that the Ogdensburg City School District cannot provide cards or information on the status of your benefits. For more information, visit http://www.ogdensburgk12.org/apps/news/article/1564726 or call 1-888-328-6399.

Great news: Effective Monday, January 31st, we will be reinstating our district-provided transportation to the Ogdensburg Boys and Girls Club. For more information, visit https://www.ogdensburgk12.org/apps/news/article/1561055

Kindergarteners at Madill are ready for six more weeks of winter! After celebrating Groundhog's Day with Digger the groundhog, these students spent time outside in the wintry weather for Global Play Day.

The Ogdensburg City School District is hiring! Visit https://www.ogdensburgk12.org/apps/pages/index.jsp for more information on our current openings.

The Ogdensburg City School District is hiring! Visit https://www.ogdensburgk12.org/apps/pages/index.jsp for more information on our current openings.

The JFK Family Update for the month of February is available now! Visit https://www.smore.com/hesnw for more information on Global School Play Day, programming for students, our students of the month, and more!

The JFK Family Update for the month of February is available now! Visit https://www.smore.com/hesnw for more information on Global School Play Day, programming for students, our students of the month, and more!

We're hiring! For more information visit https://www.ogdensburgk12.org/apps/pages/index.jsp or call (315) 393-0900 x 31902

Please join us this evening for OFA Varsity League Wrestling with Canton, Potsdam, Gouverneur, Malone and Massena joining us. The matches will begin at 6pm and broadcast via split screen so both matches can be seen simultaneously. It will be carried via the YouTube link below. https://youtu.be/Uudk0w1cqco

Our students have faced many new challenges this school year, from remote learning to social distancing to missing family, friends, sports, vacations, and birthday parties. We hope you are inspired by the power of music and of coming together in their original song, "Get Through," created with music teacher Ms. Woodcock and inspired by the 2020-2021 COVID-19 pandemic experiences of the JFK student body. Their lyrics are evidence that our students truly know how much there i...s to be grateful for in trying times, and that overcoming challenges in our lives helps us to grow and become stronger people. JFK will do what it takes to GET THROUGH! https://youtu.be/XHDksBZx6uo

The Ogdensburg City School District is excited to announce that our Universal Pre-Kindergarten Program will be FULL DAY beginning in September! Do you have a child who will be four years old on or before December 1, 2021? Spaces are limited. Come to any school district office for an application to learn and play in UPK, all day long!

Ucoming Thursday, May 20, 2021 Game - OFA Varsity Boys Lacrosse vs Canton @ 5pm.

This Tuesday... OFA Varsity Girls Lacrosse vs Plattsburgh at 7pm.

This Wednesday... OFA Varsity Boys Lacrosse vs St. Lawrence Central at 5pm.

The Annual Budget Vote and Board of Education Election will be held today, Tuesday, May 18. Don't forget to cast your ballot!

Our Bridges Newsletter is now available to view on our website! Follow this link: bit.ly/3eLyi7C

Join us this afternoon for the live broadcast of the OFA Girls Varsity Softball vs Gouverneur @ 4:30pm. https://youtu.be/bwUQ1fB3uoM

Join us this afternoon for the OFA Varsity Girls Lacrosse vs Heuvelton at 6pm.

Good afternoon - As you know, the district experienced a large number of staff who were identified as potential contacts in four positive covid-19 cases, and were ultimately placed in quarantine by the NYS Department of Health. The district pivoted all district schools to remote instruction starting January 27th. The majority of staff will be released from quarantine Monday night, February 1st, therefore the district schools will remain in remote instruction through Monday, F...ebruary 1st. All district schools will reopen for in-person/hybrid instruction on Tuesday, February 2, 2021. District meal distribution will take place on Monday, February 1st, from 9:30 - 11:00, at John F. Kennedy Elementary School, in the Park Street Circle. You may notice that our NYS COVID Report Card states that there are 760 positive student cases in OFA. This data is completely inaccurate. A change request has been submitted to NYSDOH. As COVID cases continue to spike in our area, please continue to be diligent with following the health and safety guidelines, including wearing a mask, social distancing, proper hygiene, and avoiding gatherings. It is up to us all to do our part to keep cases from rising and ultimately keeping our district schools open. As a reminder, if you have concerns and would like to seek COVID-19 testing proactively for you or your child, there are testing sites available throughout the county. Contact information is included below. St. Lawrence Health System (Canton, Potsdam, Gouverneur, Massena): (315) 261-6240 Clifton-Fine Hospital: (315) 848-8049 Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center: (315) 713-6655 Thank you Mr. Kendall

Good afternoon- We have been informed that two students have tested positive for COVID-19. Due to a high number of staff who have been identified as potential contacts in this case, or are out on other quarantines, we do not have adequate staff for in-person instruction. Therefore, we will pivot all district schools to remote instruction starting January 27th with an anticipated return on February 1. We are working closely with the St. Lawrence County Department of Health to ...assist in their contact tracing procedure and will keep you informed if the period of remote instruction must be extended beyond February 1. As COVID cases continue to spike in our area, please continue to be diligent with following the health and safety guidelines, including wearing a mask, social distancing, proper hygiene, and avoiding gatherings. It is up to us all to do our part to keep cases from rising and ultimately keeping our district schools open. As a reminder, if you have concerns and would like to seek COVID-19 testing proactively for you or your child, there are testing sites available throughout the county. Contact information is included below. St. Lawrence Health System (Canton, Potsdam, Gouverneur, Massena):(315) 261-6240 Clifton-Fine Hospital: (315) 848-8049 Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center: (315) 713-6655 Thank you Kevin K. Kendall

One of our students at OFA, Jillian LeBel, is this week's 7 News Arts All-Star! Congratulations, Jillian! https://www.wwnytv.com/20//05/arts-all-star-jillian-lebel/

As we continue to try to provide the best education possible during this pandemic, it is important that we maintain the most accurate information possible. To that end, we would like to ask you to confirm if your child(ren) will be attending school in the hybrid model, or fully remotely. If you choose to have your child attend remotely, your child will remain in the remote model through February 22, 2021. We realize that you may have indicated your preference at an earlier d...ate, but we need to reconfirm your choice. If our overall number of students attending in the hybrid model reaches a certain threshold, we will offer those students the opportunity to attend in-person instruction 5 days per week. Obviously, we will continue to monitor the overall situation, and will adjust instruction as appropriate. Please use the link below to respond with your choice of hybrid or remote instruction by 8 a.m. Thursday, January 7, 2021, so that we can plan for future instruction. https://forms.gle/jbQ3ifaMdB2ppt8L6

Our meal pick up for remote students will take place today, January 26, 2021, from 9:00am to 10:00am, at Kennedy School, in the Park Street Circle.

We will be distributing meals for fully remote students/devil cohort students tomorrow, Monday, January 4th, from 9am to 10am, at Kennedy School in the Park Street Circle.We will be distributing meals for fully remote students/devil cohort students tomorrow, Monday, January 4th, from 9am to 10am, at Kennedy School in the Park Street Circle.

Governor Cuomo announced on Friday afternoon that high risk sports, which include wrestling, hockey, basketball and competitive cheerleading, could possibly commence as early as February 1st under certain specific conditions. Under New York State Department of Health guidance, schools may authorize high risk sports, only as permitted by the respective local health authorities, (i.e., county health departments). Local authorities must consider health and safety factors incl...uding COVID-19 positivity rates in the community. All 24 districts in Section X met this morning to discuss the announcement and next steps in the decision-making process. The districts plan to work collaboratively with the St. Lawrence and Franklin County Departments of Public Health to evaluate current health metrics as well as health and safety considerations for student athletes, coaches, school staff, and the public. It is paramount that school district leaders carefully weigh all factors in this decision, which will require some time. At this time, the Section X school districts ask for patience and understanding as we thoughtfully assess this situation. We will keep our communities informed of any decision as soon as information becomes available.

Unfortunately, we have been notified of a positive case of COVID-19 among school staff at OFA. The St. Lawrence County Public Health Department is still conducting its contact tracing procedure, but due to the high number of school staff and students already identified at OFA, to protect the health and safety of everyone in our school community we will pivot to remote instruction for Ogdensburg Free Academy students beginning Monday, January 25th through Tuesday, January 26th. Our in-person Instruction will commence again on Wednesday, January 27th. All Elementary Buildings will remain open for our regular hybrid model.

As of the time this message was written, we are on schedule to reopen under our hybrid model of instruction for the Blue Cohort on Monday, January 4, 2021. As we have done throughout this pandemic, we will closely monitor the situation and continue to work with the St. Lawrence County Department of Health regarding any decisions to move to full-remote status. If anything changes regarding the district's plan for reopening, I will notify all parents/guardians once a decision has been made. Please read the full update at the link below for more details. https://www.ogdensburgk12.org/apps/news/article/1360568

The safest way to celebrate the new year is to celebrate at home with the people who live with you or virtually with friends and family. Staying home is the best way to protect yourself and others. For more information, follow this link: https://www.cdc.gov//daily-lif/holidays/new-years-eve.html

On behalf of the Board of Education, administration, the faculty and staff, we wish our students, parents, guardians, as well as the entire Ogdensburg Community, Happy Holidays!On behalf of the Board of Education, administration, the faculty and staff, we wish our students, parents, guardians, as well as the entire Ogdensburg Community, Happy Holidays!

Reminder! The OFA Honor Society is selling Gold Cards! Please see the list of local businesses below.

Good Morning Kennedy School Parents/Guardians- We are experiencing a disruption to our email and phone system due to maintenance on the substation next to Kennedy School. This may lead to issues regarding zoom class meetings this morning. Thank you for your patience.

A Message from the OFA Athletic Department: Due to the high volume of traffic along Route 37, we strongly discourage fans from parking along route 37 during athletic contests.A Message from the OFA Athletic Department: Due to the high volume of traffic along Route 37, we strongly discourage fans from parking along route 37 during athletic contests.

Just a reminder, school lunch pick up for fully remote students and students in the Devil Cohort will take place from 9am to 10am, at Kennedy School.Just a reminder, school lunch pick up for fully remote students and students in the Devil Cohort will take place from 9am to 10am, at Kennedy School.

Students at Madill Elementary have been doing great with the transition back to school!

The month of October is National Bullying Prevention Month. Make sure to practice kindness, speak up, and speak out about bullying this month and every month.

Follow this link to view a flyer from the St. Lawrence County Public Health Department in regards to the Flu and COVID-19: https://bit.ly/3ljzeR9

Happy World Teachers' Day!

Thank you to CO Shaver, Head of Horticulture G. Parish, and CO Bell for delivering pumpkins to JFK to be shared with each of our Universal Pre-Kindergarten, Jr. Kindergarten, and Kindergarten students! We appreciate the thoughtfulness of Riverview Correctional Facility!

We have been so excited to have our students back at Ogdensburg Free Academy. We have had a great start to the year, and we would like to thank everyone who has made it run smoothly!