POUGHKEEPSIE – Poughkeepsie High School will be closed again on Thursday, November 18, as staff prepares new safety protocols. The school has been closed since a Monday afternoon shooting in the faculty parking lot. On Tuesday, Poughkeepsie City School District Superintendent Dr. Eric Rosser announced that the school would be closed on Wednesday, November 17.
The district website was updated on Wednesday afternoon to announce Thursday’s closure and a staggered schedule for students to return, beginning on Friday, November 19, 2021.
Rosser said the staggered schedule is a result of new protocols designed to “stabilize the PHS school community.” On Thursday high school staff will be meeting again for what Rosser says is to “further solidify the new safety protocols for the return of the students.”
Rosser indicated that the new security measures will be introduced during a staggered student schedule on Friday, November 19 and Monday, November 22, with all students returning to campus on Tuesday, November 23.
The schedule for students over the next few days is as follows:
- Friday, November 19 – 8 a.m. – 11 a.m. All 11th-grade students are to report to PHS
- Friday, November 19 – 11:45 a.m. – 2:45 p.m. All 12th-grade students are to report to PHS
- Monday, November 22- 8 a.m. – 11 a.m. All 9th-grade students are to report to PHS
- Monday, November 22- 11:45 a.m. – 2:45 p.m. All 10th-grade students are to report to PHS
- Tuesday, November 23 – All students are to report to PHS at their regularly scheduled time for a full day of instruction.
Rosser’s Wednesday communication was also a reminder that the instructional time students would have received this week will be made up during Regents Week in January.
Principal Royce-Giron has returned to work and will be sending out additional information to the school community regarding what parents and students are to expect with the modified attendance schedule, according to Rosser.
Principal Royce will also be sharing this plan at the emergency Fireside Chat scheduled for Wednesday evening. District Spokesperson Irwin Goldberg noted that the Fireside Chat is only for parents of PHS students.
