Thursday was the official last day of the 2019-20 school year for Jamestown Public Schools, marking the end to one of the most unprecedented school years in the district’s history.

Most schools in the district officially ended remote instruction on Wednesday, except for Ring Elementary School which had to close for a day in February due to a broken drain pipe.

“We know this has been an incredibly challenging time for our students, their families and our staff,” Superintendent Dr. Bret Apthorpe said in a statement released on the district’s Facebook page on Thursday. “However, we are also exceptionally proud of how our JPS family rose to meet those challenges and persevere through what we know were unprecedented times.”

The district announced plans to suspend in-person instruction on March 16, five days after the outbreak of COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic, initially until mid-April before Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that remote learning would continue through the end of the school year on May 1.

In the span of 24 hours, administrators and teachers in the district worked to put together to pool resources to help each student and family be able to continue instruction. Elementary students were sent with packets to do at home, each middle school student was given an iPad and additional technology was provided to high school students who would not have otherwise had access. Students and parents then picked up these resources, while others were mailed home.

For some educators, the use of Zoom to visually see students became commonplace, for others, a private Facebook page became sufficient in communicating with students and families as technology became more relied on than ever before.

Meanwhile, the district made grab-and-go meals available each day from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Washington, Jefferson and Persell middle schools as well as Jamestown High School.

Food service staff has served in excess 100,000 meals since the middle of March and will continue to do so until June 24 at which point the YMCA will take over providing summer meals.

“We are lucky as a school district to have such amazing community support behind us,” Apthorpe said. “We could not do what we do for our kids every day without our community’s help.”

Now the district will look to move forward with a proposed $88,313,671 budget that has yet to account for state aid that could still be in jeopardy. The pending budget includes seven layoffs for teachers and other staff; the temporary elimination of the Success Academy and P-Tech programs; the axing of all field trips; and the holding off on 40 hirings that included bringing in 23 teachers.

Four principal vacancies borne of individual retirements were filled with candidates from within the district and Dr. Kevin Whitaker, Geneva City School district assistant superintendent, was announced on Monday as the successor to Apthorpe whose retirement is effective June 30.

Apthorpe, meanwhile, announced during Wednesday’s meeting of the board of education that the New York State Board of Regents will review guidelines for schools across the state to re-open at their July 13 meeting.

“We will keep you informed through the district’s regular communications channels to let everyone know what the plans are for the fall as we receive more information,” he concluded in the statement.