Bridgewater Schools Looks To Add More In-Person Instruction Days

BRIDGEWATER, NJ — The Bridgewater-Raritan school district is currently looking at ways to increase in-person instruction for students by February after a petition and concerns were raised by the community to reopen schools amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Interim Superintendent of Schools Dr. Thomas Ficarra gave a presentation laying out the district's plan on Tuesday night.

"These are very tough times and we are scrambling... our goal is to try and increase in person instruction. We think that we can do that very quickly and we think that there are ways we can do that with little adjustments," said Ficarra during the Tuesday night Board of Education meeting.

Surveys have been sent out to parents and school committees are looking at a number of factors including combining cohorts, eliminating virtual Wednesdays, and implementing a full-day five-day a week schedule for primary schools and kindergarteners.

"We are looking at how can we make the school experience as a good experience for students as possible," said Assistant Superintendent Daniel Fonder. "how can we push the boundaries of what we are doing now to make it better for students? We are looking forward to the day when it can be back to normal, to the good ol' days."

Ficarra said the district is analyzing the data and possibilities to move forward on increasing in-person instruction.

"We will be making decisions for an early February move provided we do not have any more health crises," said Ficarra.

Ficarra strongly emphasized that the district's decisions regarding reopening schools are based on information received from the county and state.

"It is important for the public to understand we are not guessing when it comes to the health of our children. We are not going to step out of our fields of expertise when making decisions regarding the health of our kids," Ficarra said.

Since district schools reopened on Oct. 12, 2020, the high school has closed four times and the middle schools have closed once due to coronavirus cases. The high school currently remains closed through Jan. 29. Read More: COVID Cases Cause Bridgewater High School To Revert To Virtual

Both of the intermediate and all seven of the primary school had no closures.

Ficarra noted that several districts in Somerset County are also struggling to keep their districts open during the pandemic including Bernards, Bound Brook, Hillsborough, Manville, Montgomery, North Plainfield, Somerset Hills, and South Bound Brook.

There are also several other large districts near Bridgewater that are remaining closed through March 1 including Piscataway, Woodbridge and Old Bridge.

"I point this out just to show the public that all the districts around us are struggling with the same problems, staffing problems… We have struggled to stay open and keep the entire district open and closed only schools that hit the criteria and forced us to close," said Ficarra.

Here is the latest breakdown of the cases listed by school and number of cases since all schools reopened for in-person learning on Oct. 12:

• Adamsville - 13
• Bradley Gardens - 2
• Crim - 10
• Hamilton - 6
• Kennedy - 6
• Milltown - 6
• Van Holten - 3
• Hillside - 9
• Eisenhower - 16
• Middle School - 30
• High School - 80
• District Support Staff - 11

See below to view the entire meeting and presentation which begins at around 2:49:55:

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