By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
OCEAN CITY – Students will be back in the classroom this fall, according to Gov. Phil Murphy and Education Commissioner Lamont O. Repollet, but things may not be exactly the same.
In Ocean City, that classroom may well be the great outdoors.
On Friday, June 26, Murphy and Repollet announced the reopening of schools along with guidance requiring individual school districts to plan for their specific needs to protect the health and safety of both students and staff.
There is a caveat that if health conditions because of the COVID-19 pandemic change, so too could those plans.
The state’s schools closed on March 18, forcing districts to implement distance learning as students were taught in their homes to protect them, their families, faculty and staff from the coronavirus.
Ocean City School District Superintendent Dr. Kathleen Taylor posted a letter Friday on the school’s website announcing the district is getting ready to get back to normal – or at least a new normal based on safety.
“Dear School Community,” Taylor wrote, “Today, the state issued guidance for reopening schools in September. We now move forward with our planning, greatly optimistic that we will be together, in person, to start the 2020-2021 school year. The Ocean City School District is uniquely positioned to follow many of the New Jersey Department of Education’s recommendations, especially increasing opportunities for outdoor learning.
“Governor Murphy has said repeatedly, ‘get outside,’ so that’s what we’ll do,” Taylor wrote. “Our Ocean City School District Return to School (RTS) Plan will include steps to further use our beaches, boardwalk, wetlands and gardens as extensions for our schools.”
Taylor said the district has spent weeks “laying the groundwork for a thoughtful, well-developed plan to bring our students back in September safely.”
The plan objectives, she wrote, has steps such as mapping out a “new normal, which includes following safety guidelines, equipping our schools with health protection resources, and pairing new health and safety measures with the necessary educational supports.”
Another objective is to “be agile and flexible in our work processes and procedures to allow for seamless adjustment to changing directives” from the Cape May County Education Office, state departments of education and health, the governor and Centers for Disease Control.
The plan is going to be fluid, “guided by expert advice on how best to keep our students, staff, and other stakeholders safe from the spread of COVID-19.”
Overall, the plan will mesh with the district’s ongoing mission, “Committed to Excellence.”
Taylor wrote the process for developing the plan will continue with additional surveys this summer to get more input, added to the survey results that have been completed or are ongoing on remote learning and social and emotional learning.
“The return to school will pose challenges,” Murphy said, “but we are confident that New Jersey’s school districts can move forward in a way that best serves the needs of their district while also achieving a safe environment for students and staff.”
“I understand this will be no easy feat,” Repollet added. “Knowing that the health of students and staff is our number one concern, our guide will begin to fill in the picture of what a safe education system will look like in the fall.”
Among the priorities in the state’s plan, listed on the state’s website at covid19.nj.gov, are:
– Social distancing: Schools and districts must allow for social distancing within the classroom. This can be achieved by ensuring students are seated at least 6 feet apart. If schools are not able to maintain this physical distance, additional modifications should be considered. These include physical barriers between desks and turning desks to face the same direction (rather than facing each other)or having students sit on only one side of a table and spaced apart.
– Face coverings: School staff and visitors are required to wear face coverings unless doing so would inhibit the individual’s health or the individual is under 2 years of age. Students are strongly encouraged to wear face coverings and are required to do so when social distancing cannot be maintained, unless doing so would inhibit the student’s health. It is necessary to acknowledge that enforcing the use of face coverings may be impractical for young children or certain individuals with disabilities.
– Limited capacity: It is recommended that students and staff be seated at least 6 feet apart in class when practicable. When weather allows, windows should be opened to allow for greater air circulation.
– Cleaning/disinfecting: Procedures must be implemented by each school district for the sanitization of school buildings and school buses. Increased handwashing measures are also important for students and staff.
– Cafeteria directors should consider staggering meal times to allow for social distancing; discontinuing self-serve or buffet lines; having students eat meals outside or in their classrooms; and requiring staff to disinfect eating areas between groups.
– Recess should also be held in staggered shifts, with efforts to promote social distancing and hygiene protocols.
– Cohorting: Schools may wish to identify small groups of students and keep them together (cohorting) to ensure that student and staff groupings are as static as possible, thereby limiting exposure to large groups of students.
– School bus operators should encourage social distancing. CDC guidelines recommend seating on a school bus such that there is one student seated per row, skipping a row between each child, if possible. Barriers separating rows of bus seats may also be considered. If social distancing is not feasible, face coverings must be worn by students who are able to do so. Increased ventilation (i.e. opening windows) is also recommended in the guidelines.
