By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
OCEAN CITY — In a letter to the community Tuesday morning, Ocean City School District Superintendent Kathleen Taylor detailed the hurdles to returning all students to the classroom full time and the efforts the administration is taking to overcome those obstacles.
Taylor also announced plans to return sixth-graders to five days of in-person instruction in mid-March.
“The Ocean City School District Board of Education and administration are aware of growing calls for our school district to return students in grades 6 through 12 to five days of in-person learning,” Taylor stated. “We want this too, but there is one major hurdle we must clear to be able to make this transition: the 6-foot social distancing recommendation.”
City Council joined that chorus Thursday, saying students need to get back to school because they need structure.
Taylor urged the community to reach out to Gov. Phil Murphy, state legislators and via “messages sent through social media or to your own contacts in government or the media.”
“We are asking you to work with us so we can collectively focus our energy and influence on updated guidance from the state that would responsibly bring every OCSD student back into our classrooms for five full days,” the letter stated.
Taylor said the district is rearranging classroom space to get the largest groups into the largest spaces.
“This will enable us to welcome back the sixth grade and still maintain 6 feet of distance between each student in each classroom,” Taylor stated.
The adjustments the district is making to accommodate the sixth grade maximize the use of space in the Intermediate School, preventing the addition of seventh- and eighth-graders.
“We do not have any moves left that will make it possible to combine the seventh and eighth grade hybrid cohorts and still follow the current CDC and NJDOH social distancing recommendation,” Taylor stated.
Simply put, there is just not enough room to accommodate all of the students while maintaining the 6-foot social distancing recommendation. That was not the case for students in kindergarten through fifth grade, which is why the district’s youngest students returned for five full days Feb. 1.
“We have committed to following the recommendations of our state health officials since the start of this pandemic, as they are the experts in public health. Their current guidance continues to adhere to the CDC 6-foot social distancing recommendation,” Taylor stated.
She said the current guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the New Jersey Department of Heath for contact tracing consider a close contact as someone who is within the 6-foot range for more than 15 minutes.
“Unless this contact tracing guidance is also updated, we run the risk of having entire classrooms deemed ‘close contacts’ if one person in a class tests positive and the class sits any closer than 6 feet apart. This would require an entire classroom — not just a student or two — to go fully virtual for an extended period of quarantine,” Taylor stated.
She stated that schools opened on time for in-person learning through the hybrid model in September and has added in-person time throughout the year while following the recommended health and safety measures.
“That has resulted in our schools staying open. We fear that ignoring the current social distancing recommendations may lead to a greater number of identified close contacts and more frequent classroom or full-school closures for quarantines. That would be a step backward, not forward,” she stated.
The district plans to send a letter to Gov. Phil Murphy asking for an update on social distancing and contact tracing recommendations for schools.
“We want to know if it is safe to reduce the 6-foot social distancing recommendation in some instances to help schools bring students back into our classrooms,” Taylor stated, urging parents to contact the governor, the NJDOH and the New Jersey Department of Education.
“Let them know that we need updated recommendations for social distancing in our classrooms,” she stated, noting Indiana and Massachusetts are among a growing list of states that ask schools to aim for 6 feet of distance but allow a minimum of 3 feet in some instances.
“As recently as January, the New Jersey Department of Health updated its guidance for local health departments that advise schools to include new measures for safely resuming sports and other extracurricular activities. School districts now need an update that enables us to get kids back in classrooms safely — our first priority,” the letter stated.
The district also is focusing on getting teachers vaccinated, and Taylor was pleased that Murphy announced Monday that educators would move into a priority group starting March 15.
“Getting our teachers vaccinated will help them have peace of mind and protection when in our classrooms,” she stated.
