No actual return until Sept. 21; superintendent says to expect changes
By BILL BARLOW/Special to the Sentinel
UPPER TOWNSHIP – In a lengthy presentation to the Upper Township Board of Education, and to parents both physically at the meeting and participating remotely, school Superintendent Vincent Palmieri on Monday presented the extensive changes planned for the coming school year.
As with almost every institution in the country, the coronavirus pandemic rewrote the rules for schools. At the July 27 meeting, Adrienne Breitinger, the district director of curriculum and instruction, said teachers expected to be back in the classroom within two weeks of classes closing in early March.
“We did not expect to be out for the rest of the year,” she said. Teachers learned to work remotely, while trying to adhere to lesson plans and timetables created for another world. “Our staff did an incredibly amazing job.”
Come September, students are expected back in the classroom, although educators are still working on myriad details.
Unless something changes dramatically, Gov. Phil Murphy plans to have students in schools for the 2020-21 school year, but parents have the option of having their children educated remotely. At the same time, the Trump administration is pushing hard for schools to reopen around the country, even as the number of cases also increases in many areas.
In Upper Township, plans are for some version of in-person classes to start in September, with limited class sizes, extensive new cleaning procedures and masks for students, staff and teachers keeping their faces covered throughout the day.
One option, described as a hybrid, would see classes divided with students getting some days of virtual learning and some with classes held in person. That will mean smaller classes in the building, and a new challenge for teachers and district staff to ensure the students working remotely receive the same education as those physically in class.
Many questions remain unanswered. Some plans are still in the works, and the situation continues to change and change again. Palmieri is set to present a recommendation Aug. 3 on what combination of virtual classrooms and in-person learning will take place this year. It will then be up to the school board to vote to approve the proposal.
“By next Monday, you will know exactly what we are doing for the start of school,” he said. Still, he added, those recommendations may change completely based on the situation in Cape May County as classes begin. Much of the discussion rests on an assumption that the infection rate in Cape May County will be at less than 5 percent of the population at that time.
The proposals Palmieri outlined on Monday grew out of a committee of more than 100 parents, educators, community leaders and others.
“Every stakeholder group was represented,” Palmieri said. “It’s been going on for the last month and it will be going on for the next month.”
Parents will have the right to keep their children out of in-person classes, and continue to rely on virtual learning, Palmieri said. No reason need be given and the student does not need to show any special circumstances. Parents just need to notify the district.
But the district will not be allowed to turn to an entirely virtual schedule, he said, unless every parent in the district opts to keep their children out of the classroom.
Although school is set to resume Sept. 8, students will not be back in the classroom until Sept. 21. In the meantime, teachers will set up their classrooms, meet virtually with parents, get computer systems prepared for distance learning and take other preparations.
This is a three-week delay from the originally planned first day, and there is a reason, Palmieri said. Health officials expect the overall infection rate to drop in this tourism-driven county after the peak season passes.
“All of the shoobies go home. They get out of Cape May County. That gives us two weeks for COVID to go with them,” Palmieri said.
Under the latest plan, students will be divided into cohorts by address, he said, with the cohorts rotating between in-person and virtual learning. There is no replacement for in-person learning, he said. But he advised parents to be ready for the plans to change as the situation does.
“We have to be able to flip a switch at any time,” he said. At another point in the meeting, he said, “I am requesting, asking, begging all of you to plan for all options.”
Before school closed in March, Palmieri said, the district gave out about 300 devices to students who did not otherwise have access to computers, and staff installed Wi-Fi in more than 20 homes.
He said federal pandemic relief money under the CARES act can be used to help supply more computer equipment if needed.
While in school, the youngest students will be encouraged to wear masks. From first grade until eighth grade, students will be required to cover their faces in class. According to Palmieri, it will not be up to any student to decide if the mask can come off.
Plans do call for some time without masks, he added, when social distance recommendations of at least 6 feet can be observed, for instance while outside. He said children cannot be expected to wear masks for multiple hours without a break.
No student will be allowed on a school bus without a mask, he said.
One area where it will not be possible to mask up will be lunch. At that point, students will need to keep at least 6 feet of distance so that they can eat. When the weather is nice, some will eat outside, but new accommodations will need to be made for rain and when the weather cools.
Other aspects of school life will change as well. No more shared school supplies. No birthday cupcakes or other celebrations with food. Palmieri said the district is still working out how art, music and physical education classes will proceed.
Parents will be expected to complete a daily assessment of their children, including taking a temperature. He said the district cannot control whether a parent lies.
“In order for this to work … everybody has to do their part,” he said.
If parents check off even one symptom of COVID-19, they are asked to keep their child home.
“Here’s where people lose their minds,” Palmieri said. If the parents take the child to a doctor the student can be back in the classroom within 24 hours if there are no further symptoms. Without a note from a physician, though, they will be asked to stay home for 10 days, and not return until 24 hours pass without a fever or other symptoms, or medicine that may reduce a fever.
He said the district will work with families whose students have seasonal allergies and can be counted on to display some symptoms every year.
Students in the school building will be expected to wash their hands multiple times each day, including before lunch, with additional handwashing stations to be installed.
“It sounds silly, but we’re going to make that a priority,” Palmieri said. Health experts describe washing hands as a simple and important prevention to spreading the coronavirus and other disease.
Palmieri spoke for hours. Slides from his presentation are set to post to the district website this week. In some instances, parents attending the meeting remotely expressed frustration, feeling that their questions were being ignored, while some speakers at the school could not be heard over the virtual connection.
Facebook and other social media sites were mentioned several times at the meeting. Breitinger said the posted criticisms of some parents and community members stung, especially when teachers were working long hours under difficult conditions.
“Regardless of what you may think personally, the vast majority of our teachers went above and beyond every single day to connect with their students,” Palmieri said. He said there are many roles the schools fill in the community, but the function is education. Nothing, aside from the safety and welfare of the students, takes priority over that.
“We are trying to mitigate the chance of infection. We are never going to be able to eliminate it but our goal is to mitigate it,” he said.