By JACK FICHTER/Sentinel staff
ERMA — As school districts around the state decide how they will reopen their classrooms and offer remote learning for parents who don’t want their children in school, Lower Cape May Regional School District has decided to reopen with 25 percent of students attending in-person followed by 50 percent capacity if COVID-19 does not spike.
At a July 23 Board of Education meeting, Superintendent Joseph Castellucci said the district will reopen Sept. 8 with 25 percent of students attending in-person each day. He said the first week of school would be a four-day week with early dismissal each day. That means that each student will be in the building one day per week.
According to Castellucci, the remaining 75 percent of students will join their classes remotely from home.
“The other rationale for opening at 25 percent is because we have to open with some really unusual and different protocols that we’ve never done before,” he said. “For example, we have to screen every student and staff member that enters the building every day.”
During a five-day week, Wednesday will be a remote day for all students to allow for deep cleaning of the school buildings. Beginning Monday, Sept. 21, if there is no spike in the virus according to data, he said, the district would increase the student in-person capacity to 50 percent. Students will attend in person two days per week and class remotely three days each week.
During five-day weeks, Wednesday will remain a remote day for all students for deep cleaning of the buildings. Teachers will work from home Wednesdays, he said. Weeks shortened by holidays will not have an entirely remote day.
For students whose home is not conducive to remote learning, accommodations will be provided somewhere in the district.
Castellucci said buses will be operated at 25 percent capacity and later at 50 percent capacity. He said bus staff will disinfect buses and also deliver food.
“We want to make sure we don’t have any outlier classes that have more students on a given day,” he said. “We want to be able to resolve any issues that we thought might work but did not work as smoothly as we thought before we bring in a large group of students.”
The reopening plan is still being formed and will be completed in about two weeks, he said. Castellucci said he was composing a letter to parents that will be posted later this week.
A virtual town hall meeting will be held in mid-August with members of the school district’s reopening task force present along with a PowerPoint presentation of the reopening plan. Questions will be received from the public during the meeting, he said.
Castellucci said Gov. Phil Murphy announced last week that schools will be required to provide an all-virtual-learning option for families who do not feel comfortable sending their children to school. The district will have a virtual learning option available, Castellucci said.
The Board of Education meeting in August will likely return to an in-person meeting held in the high school’s performing arts center where social distancing can be undertaken, he said.