What To Expect As High School Begins For Gloucester Twp. Students

GLOUCESTER TOWNSHIP, NJ — Thursday is the first day of school for students in the Black Horse Pike Regional School District. For students everywhere, school will be different this year, but there is one familiar thing about the 2020-21 academic year: Labor Day Weekend.

Yes, students at Highland, Timber Creek and Triton regional high schools have class on Thursday — and for students in the Green cohort, that means actually reporting to school in-person by 7:15 a.m.

While all other students will learn remotely on Thursday, all students at the three schools will have no school from Friday through Monday in observance of Labor Day.

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School resumes on Sept. 8 with students in the Orange cohort reporting for in-person instruction. Everyone will learn virtually on Wednesday, followed by the first days of in-person learning for students in the Red cohort (Thursday) and Yellow cohort (Friday). Read more here: Here Are The First Days Of School For Each Black Horse Cohort

All students reporting to school will need their chromebooks and masks. The school district put together a guide of what high school students can expect on its website.

Each student in these cohorts will attend school the same day of the week as their first day. For example, students in the "orange cohort" will attend school on Tuesdays, beginning Sept. 8.

Students will attend school one day a week, and will engage in remote learning the other four days. Everyone will engage in remote learning on Wednesdays, and there is a 100 percent remote learning option. Read more here: Black Horse Pike Reopening Plan Includes Mostly Remote Learning

Students have already been assigned cohorts, determined by alphabetical order by grade. The schedule has also been arranged to allow students within the district who live in the same home to attend school on the same day. The parent of any student in which this is not the case should contact their school's principal.

In-person lessons will be 40 minutes per class, and remote lessons will be 20 minutes each for a total of 60 minutes per week. Live remote learning with teachers will be 30 minutes each. There will not be a common lunch.

More information on the reopening is posted on the district's website and by emailing askboe@bhprsd.org.

The most important thing to expect is the unexpected. No one thought last year at this time that schools would close in March for the rest of the academic year, and school administrators remind residents the situation for this school year is fluid.

In an attempt to maintain some semblance of normalcy, the Gloucester Township Police Department has been issuing daily back to school traffic safety tips, which can be seen below.