Local schools establish COVID-19 Task Force

With the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to cause a variety of challenges for the education sector, several local school districts have teamed up to establish the “Oneida County Schools COVID Task Force” (OCCTF).

Covid-19 task force.

They will work together to figure out the best way to overcome the pandemic challenges that they're all facing.

News channel 2's caitlin irla joins us live here in the studio to tell us what their goal is.

Thank you kristen.

Superintendents from eight school districts just launched what they call the oneida county schools covid task force... the schools that are involved are holland patent, new hartford, new york mills, oriskany, sauquoit valley, utica, waterville, and westmoreland.

The task force plans to work with state and local leaders to develop a collaborative approach to address covid-19 challenges and overcome common hurdles.

Their ultimate goal is to find a way to consistently offer in-person instruction.

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None "it's a chance for us to work together and learn together and develop hopefully a positive relationship with the department of health and the county executive so that we could move our districts forward and hopefully veryquick9 "we get so much guidance from the department of health both new york state d oneidacounty ae issues surrounding in-person instruction, due to parts of oneida county being designated as a "yellow zone," much of the task force efforts will be dedicated to finalizing and carrying out a testing plan, which is required for in- person instruction to continue.

Other areas of importance for these districts include athletics and other extra- curricular activities.

Kristen back to you.

Time for a first look at the forecast in this half hour.

Here's chief