More in-person days, musicals, prom, graduation
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
LINWOOD — Prom, After-Prom and graduation are among the events Mainland Regional High School seniors have looked forward to since they first walked into the school four years ago.
But as pages of the calendar keep turning on their final year in school amid the coronavirus pandemic, getting a chance to participate in those traditional milestone events seems increasingly unlikely, exacerbating the mental struggles and depression many are experiencing.
As seniors cope with hybrid instruction, lack of social interaction and curtailed sports, clubs and other activities, the school district is aware of the loss of character-building and memory-making events and is working to provide some form of those activities, as well as get students in the building more than one day a week.
Board of Education President Jill Ojserkis said the district provides more face-to-face instructional time than other area districts but still wants to do more for students.
“What we have been able to put into place to date with the combination of synchronous and asynchronous education and the actual ability to be in school one day a week, plus the time that we have in front of actual teachers, is higher than any of the other local schools,” she said. “We’ve been happy that we’ve been able to do that, but we hear from our students and our parents — and we also know — that school isn’t only about the three R’s, that there is a social and interactive component that as much as we hope that it is there through the special modalities in Zoom and otherwise, is missing.”
Ojserkis said the district has been watching as some other districts, such as Ocean City, have been able to increase in-person instruction and hopes to do the same.
“It appears successful, although it’s so recent that I don’t know that it’s really enough time to see how successful it is, but it appears so to date,” Ojserkis said. “Our new president is advising that we need to bring our students back to school and we agree.”
But it’s not as easy as just throwing open the doors and welcoming everyone back.
“It’s like a jigsaw puzzle with 1,000 pieces. It’s so much easier in elementary school where each kid is in one class. Each kid is in seven classes (at the high school). And maybe we have a teacher who cannot come in because they are compromised and they will not be able to teach in school. How do we deal with that? That teacher touches so many classes and may teach AP, basic or regular classes, specialty classes.”
“Maybe we’ll see a much bigger number of students coming into school rather than the fully virtual, and I hope so if they think that it’s better for them and their family agrees,” Ojserkis continued. “So, we’ll have to deal with them and get all of those numbers together in order to see what our schedule can look like given the fact that there can only be a finite number of students physically in each classroom because of the requirements that we have.”
In a letter to the Mustang Nation dated Feb. 2, Chief School Administrator Mark Marrone said the administration, Board of Education, faculty and staff have been making plans to increase the number of in-person instructional days for students effective late February or early March.
“Instruction will remain hybrid in that students will not be returning to five days per week in-person instruction and some portion of each week will remain virtual,” Marrone wrote, noting the district will continue to offer a completely virtual schedule.
No information on the number of increased in-person days or other specifics were yet available.
“More information regarding increasing the number of in-person instructional days for students will be forthcoming in the upcoming weeks, including a revised hybrid instructional schedule. Please understand that this change will only be enacted if the conditions related to COVID-19 in our communities continue to improve,” the letter stated.
Marrone also stated that the district is working to provide extracurricular activities.
“In addition to increasing the number of days for in-person instruction, we are also working to ensure that students can safely experience the milestones that are most meaningful such as prom, our student musical and graduation, although how we celebrate these milestones may be different than in the past,” Marrone stated.
“Students were upset, and rightfully so, about missing so many milestones that are so important to them,” Ojserkis said. “We have some thoughts and there are some committees getting together about how we can do a safe prom. We think we are going to be able to do something to give students that milestone to look forward to.”
The Linwood woman, who is an attorney with Cooper Levenson in Atlantic City, said the district had to scramble last year to put on a graduation with short notice amid restrictions on gathering size.
“We had to change things, and that was because of the ever-changing governmental edicts about how many students and other persons we can have in one place. I think we were able to do a creditable job — not what we would like to have seen, not the graduation that we do well and love and is so meaningful — but we were able to do that,” Ojserkis said. “So we know that at a minimum, we’re going to be able to pull off a graduation. The parents don’t need to be worried like they were last year.”
Another event many students look forward to is the theater productions. Ojserkis said the board just approved a musical but would not divulge which one.
“There is going to be a way that we are going to do those things. It has been so upsetting to all of us that the things that in addition to reading, writing and arithmetic that they haven’t been able to do. We want to make it as normal as possible,” Ojserkis said. “We want them to have those experiences — it helps them perhaps in seeking colleges that they want to go to, creates excellent expertise, team working and life-long friendships — and we hate it that we haven’t been able to do it so we are going to redouble our efforts to make sure that our kids can do all of those things.”
In addition, the district is offering a “bridge year” that would allow students in the Class of 2021 and 2022 to continue to attend Mainland after graduation to mitigate learning loss and/or participate in extracurricular activities or spring sports that were inaccessible due to the pandemic.
The program would allow students to enroll in fall classes. During the spring semester of the bridge year, they would be required to earn credits at Atlantic Cape Community College at their own expense.
Students in the bridge year will not be permitted to participate in fall or winter sports.
Those who wish to participate in the bridge year must contact Michael Anthony, post-secondary development counselor, by Feb. 15 of their senior year. He can be reached at (609) 927-4139, ext. 1035, or via email at manthony@mainlandregional.net.
