South Orange-Maplewood Schools Prepared To Move To Hybrid Model

MAPLEWOOD AND SOUTH ORANGE, NJ – After more than a month of remote learning due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, South Orange-Maplewood school officials began a phased-in educational model this week that will lead to students returning to the classroom next month.

As New Jersey’s coronavirus positivity rate remains at 3 percent, the district remains on target to begin its hybrid model of learning beginning on Nov. 12, superintendent Ronald Taylor told school board members Monday night. The phased-in approach, he said, allows for a thoughtful and strategic return to help provide some normalcy to students, teachers and school administrators.

The district has scheduled a Town Hall meeting for Monday night to provide Pre-K-8 families with information about the reopening plan before a second meeting is scheduled for Columbia High School families. The district has also set an Oct. 28 deadline for preference forms for both Pre-K-8th grade students and those attending Columbia High School. The deadline allows district officials to plan for how many students will be participating in the hybrid model, Taylor said.

Taylor said Monday that the district has made upgrades to its buildings to ensure the safety of students and staff members, including the installation of HEPA air filters in every classroom. The district has also made an investment in technology that will allow educators to have more success in reaching students.

Teachers returned to school this week on a voluntary basis to begin broadcasting virtual classes, which began Phase 2 of the district’s reopening plan. Taylor told board members during the presentation that district officials feel confident moving forward out of the all-remote phase as positivity rates have remained steady over the past month. According to Taylor, both Maplewood and South Orange have each reported 11 confirmed positive cases of the coronavirus since the beginning of October.

He said that district officials remain in daily communication with local health officials and will continue to monitor positivity rates, which would determine if the district needs to make any adjustment to its current plan.

Under the phased-in approach, district teachers would return to the classroom on a mandatory basis on Nov. 9, three days before the hybrid model is set to begin. On Nov. 12, Pre-kindergarten through second-graders will begin hybrid learning as will sixth-graders at the middle school level, Taylor said. During Phase 3, students would also return to Columbia High School with no more than 500 students being at the school at one time. Students will be placed into two cohorts and will attend classes in-person two days a week with Fridays being designated as an all-district, all-virtual day.

Phase 3 will run until the Thanksgiving holiday and the two-week period will allow the district to evaluate the success of its hybrid model, Taylor said. Following the break, Phase 4 will begin when all students at the elementary and middle school levels would begin hybrid learning with the exception of those families that have chosen to remain in the all-virtual model throughout the year.

If health trends continue to allow the district to keep its plan in place, Phase 5 would begin on Jan. 4 with hopes of moving toward the final phase – when a return to full in-person learning would take place – when state officials deem it possible for that to take place. As part of the plan, students will attend school on a shortened schedule that does not allow in-person lunch because of the risks associated with the transmission of the coronavirus, Taylor said.

Taylor told board members that the district has been respectful of district employees, many of whom expressed “grave concerns” about returning to in-person instruction at the start of the school year. As of this week, Taylor said district officials have received 32 requests to work from home, one resignation, seven retirements and five staff members requesting medical leaves based on a number of criteria, he said.

The district continues to attack what Taylor calls a digital divide based on the number of families who do not have access to digital devices or Internet access. The district issued 1,200 Chromebook devices in the spring and has since issued another 1,220, Taylor said. While the district still does not operate on a 1-to-1 student to device ratio, the distribution of Chromebooks in addition to 72 hotspots has provided technology to district families. Taylor said that an additional 40 hotspots have been purchased and that there is currently a waiting list for those families requesting that technology.