Hoboken Schools Will Start Remotely, Then Buildings Open Sept. 21

HOBOKEN, NJ — The Hoboken school year will begin remotely for K-12 students on Sept. 14 rather than starting on Sept. 8, and buildings will open to students on Sept. 21, said Schools Superintendent Christine Johnson in a message on Wednesday night.

This will allow more time for staff to walk through the buildings and get trained in current procedures amid coronavirus, Johnson said.

In the last few days, many districts in New Jersey have adjusted their tentative reopenings plans after the state released a comprehensive guidelines for health and safety amid coronavirus. (NJ DOH COVID Recommendations for Schools.pdf)

Johnson also said Wednesday that after sending surveys to parents, approximately half plan to start the year remotely, and half want to start in person (see letter below for more details). They are allowed to switch on Oct. 9.

Some districts have gone all-remote after the release of the state guidelines last week, most recently, Old Bridge on Tuesday. (See the full list of the 53 all-remote districts here).

Hoboken's reopening plan is unique in that students can attend for a full day, each day. Many districts have offered only single-session days. READ MORE: Hoboken Schools Share Details Of Full-Day Reopening Plan

Johnson wrote that the district hopes to keep all K-12 classrooms to "just under 10" students at any one time.

Johnson's letter follows. Scroll after that for updated Hoboken coronavirus statistics and trends.

Johnson's letter:

<blockquote>

Dear Parents and Guardians,

I have received a few emails from parents asking whether our plans for September have changed. With Governor Murphy's announcements and other districts being highlighted in the news, I can certainly understand your curiosity.

As you know, we posted our plans a few weeks back. We also sent Declarations of Intent to all families asking for a choice of either full day traditional onsite learning or full day remote learning from September 8th through October 9th. I made it very clear that the circumstances surrounding COVID-19 could cause us to pivot at any time.

Over the past few weeks we have been juggling schedules and staffing, cleaning and prepping classrooms, changing filters, unpacking desk shields, and organizing supplies. Next week, all of our schools will be sanitized and disinfected.

This week, my team focused predominantly on our processes and protocols to ensure a safe learning environment, including arrival at school, dismissal, lunch service and related arts to name just a few.

Our remote learning percentage district wide is 52% and our onsite percentage is 48%. We have added staff and reworked schedules to keep our class sizes at or just under 10 students from Kindergarten through Grade 12. However, there are still a few outliers that we are addressing. The High School will be making some adjustments to their schedule to meet this standard in virtually all classes. Brandt Elementary School is right about 10 to 13 students per class. We are working through some strategies to lower those numbers a bit as well. If there are any families at Brandt that are contemplating switching from the onsite learning model to the remote learning model or willing to help us by switching, please let us know so that we can adjust our lists accordingly.

While our plans for onsite learning are solid, we now see that it is critical to provide more time for teachers and staff to be fully trained and have opportunities to walk through both new requirements in the classroom and throughout the school. This will only ensure greater levels of safety for all staff and students.

After reviewing our plans over and over, we also believe that our students and parents need time to walk through school and classroom procedures in small groups and meet their teachers and principals. Some may ask why can't this be done before the original date we established for the first day of school? We need to have all of our staff back to do so and it is simply not possible. I know that this may be inconvenient for some families, but we feel it is in the best interest of all staff members and students to alter our 2020-2021 calendar in order to model the best practices that are outlined in our plans.

The changes are as follows:

• All teachers and staff members will spend four days, from Tuesday, September 8th through Friday, September 11th, preparing for the new school year. Principals will lead training sessions and walk all staff through critical functions and schedules pertaining to their classrooms and the school.
• All students (whether full day traditional onsite learning or remote learning) will begin school on Monday, September 14th remotely and will remain on remote learning for the remainder of the week until Friday, September 18th. Parents/students will receive a schedule to join Google Meet sessions to join their classmates and teacher(s). During these sessions, students will get to know one another and their teacher(s). There will be ice breakers and an introduction to subjects and what will be learned throughout the year. Materials and the use of technology will be reviewed. For older students, course outlines and expectations will be reviewed. For younger students, mini lessons will be delivered. All students will also be presented with activities to address social and emotional learning. Students will have a chance to meet their principal, vice principal, guidance counselors and other support staff. In addition, small groups of parents/students will be given a time to come into the classroom and see the desk shields, and review things such as hand washing and bathroom schedules, as well as face covering guidelines. Arrival and dismissal procedures will be reviewed as well. This will be done for all families regardless of whether or not onsite learning was selected. We want to be sure that remote learners will be ready for onsite learning when the time comes, and that onsite learners will be able to transition to remote learning if needed.

• On Monday, September 21st all students will begin either with their selected full day onsite traditional learning model or full day remote learning model.

I have continued to say that there will not be a plan that everyone feels comfortable with and that meets the needs of every family. But, we have tried our best to accommodate everyone and put forth the most comprehensive plans possible. At this time, we ask that you understand the importance of providing our staff with the time to adjust to this new normal and give us the valuable time needed to unveil all components of our plans to our students as well. Thank you in advance for your time and partnership.

Sincerely,
Superintendent Johnson

</blockquote>

Hoboken and national coronavirus statistics and trends

Hoboken, a mile-square city of 53,000 people, many of whom commute to New York City, was one of the first towns to close facilities in mid-March amid the pandemic.

It has so far lost 29 residents to the virus, with no new fatalities since May.

Last Thursday, the city said it now has had a total of 687 known, confirmed cases since the beginning of the pandemic. The city said that Wednesday and Thursday, it had reports of two and one new case respectively (included in the 687 total).

The city had gone a week in June with only one new case, then experienced an uptick in new cases in July — as did many New Jersey cities — after facilities started reopening and people traveled to states with higher numbers. The governor has also blamed large parties for high transmission rates.

As of Thursday, 165,000 Americans had died of coronavirus, and more than 5 million have tested positive.

As of last weekend, 35 states remained above the positive testing rate recommended by the World Health Organization to safely reopen. WHO recommends states remain at 5 percent or lower for at least 14 days. Read more.

In New Jersey last Thursday, Gov. Phil Murphy said the number of coronavirus cases statewide has risen to 186,594, with 14,054 confirmed deaths. That included 699 new cases since the day before and eight newly confirmed deaths.

But the daily death rate in New Jersey has been declining since back on April 30, when it reached a peak of 460 residents in 24 hours.

Many other states reached record daily death rates in July (see the daily totals in each state here). They have pulled back on their reopenings, including Texas, which closed bars after seeing record numbers of hospitalizations and deaths.

New Jersey updated its list on Tuesday of states that residents must quarantine upon returning from. There are now 35 states included.

See below for other recent Hoboken coronavirus and reopening updates:

TESTING

• To get a test uptown during the week, call the city's CERT hotline before 201-420-5621 Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. If you don't have health insurance, the city will pay the cost.
• Residents may also try calling their physician, urgent cares, or the state 211 hotline for more information on where to get tested.

SCHOOLS

• The Hoboken public schools are slated to open remotely on Tuesday, Sept. 14, and then buildings will open Sept. 21 for those choosing on-site education.
• The district has offered a reopening plan giving parents a choice of either full-time in-person learning (until 3 p.m.) or full-time distance learning. In the buildings, there will be restrictions, such as kids wearing masks and maintaining a 6-foot distance.
• The governor's school reopening guidance was published on June 26.
• The state has said that all districts must offer a remote learning option.

BUSINESS

• Here is the August schedule of Hoboken "summer streets" that are restricted to vehicles, to encourage walking, bicycling, and outdoor dining.
• Hoboken recently received almost $1.9 million in funding for small businesses, to be distributed in $20,000 grants. Read more here.
• Hoboken businesses received government PPP loans to help with payroll, rent, and more during the pandemic. Read the list here.
• More than 50 of the city's restaurants opened the week of June 15 for outdoor dining. READ MORE.
• Some of those have added "streateries" for outdoor dining. READ MORE.
• Two of the city's weekly farmers' markets reopened in June. READ MORE.
• The city and Patch both have directories of businesses that are open and closed. Check them out and add your listing. READ MORE.
• The city will be closing off certain blocks for businesses to expand and draw foot traffic. READ MORE.
• Here's what you need to know about applying for unemployment and other benefits during coronavirus. MORE.
• Read more about unemployment, small business, and other coronavirus regulations and benefits in New Jersey here.

LIBRARY

• Residents can return library books and other materials by placing them in the library book/media dropbox in front of the library (500 Park Ave.) from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. The library has begun no-contact "curbside pickup" service. Library patrons will be able to reserve the materials online, place their orders via email to hobkcirc@bccls.org, or call (201) 4202346, ext. 5102. For additional details, visit hobokenlibrary.org.

PARKS

• Most Hoboken parks reopened earlier this summer.
• Playgrounds reopened last month. Kids over 2 must wear a mask in playgrounds in Hoboken.

GYMS

• Bhalla said recently, "According to Governor Murphy, the following activities are permitted at indoor gyms starting July 2, as provided by his office: 'individualized indoor instruction by appointment only where an instructor is offering training to an individual, and the individual's immediate family members, household members, caretakers, or romantic partners. If a gym or fitness center is offering multiple simultaneous instructions at the same facility, these instructions must take place in separate rooms or, if they take place in the same room, must be separated by a floor-to-ceiling barrier that complies with all fire code requirements.' "

NURSING HOMES

• New Jersey residents have become alarmed at the high number of residents who have passed away in nursing homes, rehabs, and similar facilities, and have charged that the facilities are undercounting the numbers and not adequately protecting residents and staff. The state has faced questions for weeks from the press about how they will address the problems. They announced plans last month to increase testing at some long term care facilities and to bring in the National Guard to help make changes.
• The state has begun releasing death toll statistics for long-term care facilities like rehabs and nursing homes. See the list here.
• You can report problems with long term care facilities here, or if you suspect coronavirus related misconduct, here.
• Some New Jersey long-term care facilities reopened for limited visits, with precautions, in July.
• Other states have also been dealing with nursing home deaths more recently, including a recent outbreak in a Texas nursing home.

Here are statewide coronavirus resources:

• NJ COVID-19 Information Hub: https://covid19.nj.gov/
• General COVID-19 questions: 2-1-1
• NJ COVID-19 hotline: (800) 222-1222

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