Berkeley Township School District Drafts Plan For Fall Return

BERKELEY, NJ — The Berkeley Township School District announced a draft plan Wednesday for the upcoming school year. The plan goes through setups for in-person and remote learning.

The district reopening committee, comprised of members of the school community, developed the 78-page plan. But things could change based on evolving guidance from authorities, said Superintendent Dr. James D. Roselli.

"The district and community must be prepared to go to full remote instruction for all students at a moment’s notice due to a possible state mandate or quarantine requirements," Roselli wrote to parents and guardians.

Families can also choose for their children to learn virtually full-time — a point the New Jersey Department of Education announced last week. Roselli asked for parents to complete a survey for each child in the district.

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Here are some important things to know about Berkeley's Restart and Recovery Plan:

• Families can choose between in-person and remote instruction for their children. In the virtual option, students and the teacher would meet through programs such as Google Classroom.
• Children with a temperature of 100 degrees or more must stay home for at least 72 hours. "Please screen your child each morning before school," the slideshow says. "If your child does not feel well, please keep your child home."
• Students and staff will get screened upon arrival for coronavirus symptoms. If a student is suspected of having COVID-19 symptoms, they will remain in a supervised isolation space until they're picked up.
• Cleaning will occur throughout the building, and high-touch areas will get cleaned throughout the day. All instructional areas will have air conditioning and surround-sound systems.
• Everyone older than 2 must wear a mask during the school day. Schools will provide breaks for students, when they can remove face coverings. Teachers and staff will work with parents and children to get them comfortable with mask wearing.

Related article: Central Regional Schools To Combine In-Person, Remote Learning

• Breakfast, snack and lunch will take place inside the classroom. Recess will occur when weather permits, and each class will be assigned a specific section of the playground. If social distancing can occur, children can remove masks during physical education and recess.
• Students and staff must wear face coverings on the buses. The vehicles will get disinfected every night. All high-contact areas will get disinfected between rides. The district will establish seating charts to help streamline loading and contact tracing if necessary.
• The district will provide a Chromebook or tablet to all students. Children will follow the same minutes of instruction as provided through in-person learning. Remote learning will occur every school day with daily attendance taken.
• Full-remote teachers will be Berkeley Township School District faculty. But they may not be the same teachers as those providing daily, in-person instruction, and they may not be teachers from their own home school.

Read the full draft plan here.

Read more: NJ Coronavirus, Reopen Updates: Here's What You Need To Know

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