Holmdel BOE Rejects Teachers’ Union Call For Remote Learning

HOLMDEL, NJ - Despite calls from the local teachers’ union to move district classes to a remote schedule, the Holmdel Board of Education is saying it won’t budge.

In a Dec. 19 letter addressed to the Holmdel Township community, the board called the union’s recent demand to close schools an “unacceptable option based on the preparations the District has made to provide a safe working and learning environment.”

You can read the full letter here.

The letter also details a heated Dec. 16 meeting of the Holmdel School Board, in which the president of the Holmdel teachers’ union “publicly attacked” interim Superintendent of Schools Dr. Leroy Seitz in challenging his leadership and demanding the board to find a replacement.

“The union has consistently argued that our schools should remain closed and that we should follow a half day schedule instead,” the letter reads.

The board also alleges that the union has “now orchestrated a spam assault on the community, using the services of an outside politically-oriented organization, to flood the email accounts of Board members and residents with their complaints.”

A representative from the union could not immediately be reached for comment.

Previous coverage: Holmdel Schools To Delay In-Person Return Amid More COVID Cases

This week, a full-day schedule was instituted for students in preschool through sixth grade, according to the letter, with more than 65 percent of elementary students participating in the in-person curriculum. Grades 7-12 are slated to remain on a half-day hybrid program, with an alternative all-virtual option also available.

Before Dec. 14, the school district had been operating on an all-virtual schedule since Nov. 18 after reports of 87 students and 37 staff members in quarantine.

The district further argues that it has spent over one million dollars to date on pandemic safety measures for students and staff by implementing heightened cleaning standards and high-end safety technology in "careful" compliance with CDC and state guidelines.

Monmouth County is located in a designated "high risk" zone, according to the COVID Regional Risk Assessment. On Dec. 18 alone, the county reported more than 335 new positive COVID-19 cases. Since the pandemic began, Holmdel has reported 661 cases.

“We do believe the ultimate success of our schools lies in all of us complying with health guidelines to blunt the spread of the disease,” the board’s letter adds, “although the union argues that community members are not doing enough.”