Brick Schools Release Preliminary In-Person Instruction Plans

BRICK, NJ — A preliminary plan to provide some in-person instruction is in the works for Brick Township students, school officials said Thursday.

The preliminary plan unveiled at the Brick Township Board of Education meeting would return students to classrooms with a hybrid of in-person classes and remote instruction, as the district returns to classrooms in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

Gov. Phil Murphy announced that New Jersey schools can resume in-person instruction in September, provided their district creates a safety plan approved by their school board. But he also said he'll pull the plug on reopening if cases go up again. Read more: Gov. Murphy Issues NJ School Reopening Rules Amid Coronavirus

The state Department of Education has since released more specifics in "The Road Back," the department's 104-page guidelines to a resumption of in-person classes. It requires districts to provide some form of in-person instruction.

What Brick is considering right now is splitting the district into two groups, with Group A attending in person on Mondays and Wednesdays and Group B on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Students would have remote instruction on the days they are not in the classroom, and Fridays would be remote instruction for the entire district, officials said.

"Our schools never closed, just our buildings," said Thomas Farrell, who took over as superintendent of the Brick schools just days before the pandemic forced districts across the state to shift to remote learning.

Now he's ready to reopen the buildings and make the most of what has been a difficult situation for everyone.

Because of the size of the district (Brick has about 8,500 students) returning everyone to the classroom full-time while adhering to social distancing requirements simply isn't workable, Farrell said. And the majority of parents and district staff members who responded to three surveys favored some form of hybrid model.

The plans under discussion would have siblings assigned to the same grouping with set days of the week, to make it easier to set up day care for children who need it.

The length of the school day has not been decided, but it could be a full day, instead of the four-hour model some districts are using, said Susan McNamara, the district's director of planning, research and evaluation.

Lunches would be in the classrooms, and students would be assigned desks, she said. So in a classroom with 30 students, 15 students would attend each day and would be spaced apart, with the other group's desks used to help enforce the social distancing.

Students in the preschool program and multi-disabled students who receive a spectrum of services would have in-person instruction Monday through Thursday, Farrell said.

The driving concern in all of the planning is the health and safety of the students and staff, he said. "This plan allows us to prioritize those," he said.

The exact schedules have not been determined, however, and it's these matters where the district is seeking input from parents. A letter will be distributed to parents in the district on Friday, seeking their input and inviting them to reach out directly to their child's school. By Monday, the district will have dedicated email addresses on each school's webpage where parents can direct school-specific questions to the pandemic planning team in each school, Farrell said.

"We don’t have specific answers at this point but I wanted to communicate the 30,000-foot view," Farrell said.

The planning is affected by ever-changing guidance from the state education department, he said, but the preliminary model of alternating days was chosen as a way to minimize the time gaps in in-person instruction.

Masks will be required where students can't be socially distanced, such as on school buses and in hallways. But the hope is to allow children to lower their masks while they're out on the playground or participating in physical education classes outside.

Alyce Anderson, the district's director of curriculum, said a great deal of effort is being directed to the remote learning, to get teachers comfortable and make that part of instruction more effective, in response to parent feedback on the spring remote learning.

On Fridays, students will have a mix of live remote instruction and independent work, with the emphasis during the live portion being on the social-emotional aspect, Anderson said. Teachers will have time to review and plan, as well as work with what Anderson called LIVE instructors — LIVE stands for Leaders In Virtual Education — to improve their remote lessons.

"We are looking at the lessons we've learned from the spring," Anderson said.

Farrell said his biggest concern and frustration is the issue of equity. While "The Road Back" works well for smaller districts that are able to adapt to the social distancing measures with little effort, larger districts like Brick, Jackson, Toms River and many others across the state are at a disadvantage when it comes to providing the same kind of education available in smaller districts.

The Department of Education has talked about equity in education for the last few years," he said. "This guide puts large districts at a disadvantage."

"Brick can’t meet this guidance," he said. "This isn’t going to fit every parent." Farrell is hopeful the district will be able to work in enough devices and wifi access to support the students, and make the most of the in-person learning for the sake of their students.

Farrell urged parents to check the Brick Schools website, particularly the webpage for their child's school, and send in their questions and feedback on the preliminary plans, to help school officials make them meet the needs of students across the district.

"I need your help now to work this model on the building level," Farrell said.

More detailed plans will be distributed to parents by early August, to meet the state's requirement of notifying parents of the plans at least 30 days before school opens.

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