Moorestown School Reopen Plan Includes In-Person, Remote Learning

MOORESTOWN, NJ — The Moorestown Public School District is proposing options for families to send their children back to school part-time or have their children engage in full remote learning when school resumes in the fall amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Their proposed plan was presented during Tuesday night’s Board of Education meeting, in which 500 people logged on to participate in the Zoom meeting.

Under the hybrid portion of the plan, students in all grades will be split into two groups, with one group attending class in-person on Monday and Wednesday, and the other attending in-person on Tuesday and Thursday.

On days in which they are not in school, children will engage in remote learning. All students will engage in remote learning on Fridays, which will be abbreviated days so the classrooms can undergo a deep cleaning and the staff can engage in professional development.

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There will also be a 100 percent remote learning plan after Gov. Phil Murphy said the Department of Education would provide guidance for parents to allow for them to opt for all-remote learning for their children this fall. Read more here: NJ To Offer Remote-Learning Option For Schools Amid Coronavirus

Specialized populations will go to school five days a week, including a half day on Fridays. All students can’t go back to school five days a week because it would be impossible to adhere to social distancing guidelines set forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Superintendent of Schools Scott McCartney said.

There was some concern about delaying the deep clean until Friday when many districts are sending children to school Monday and Tuesday, holding the all-remote and deep clean day on Wednesday, and sending students back to school for Thursday and Friday. McCartney said the plan Moorestown is proposing works best for their district.

Officials said the district has more Wednesdays off than Fridays, so having Wednesday off would have cut into instruction time. There was also some concern about having an early dismissal on Friday, cutting into learning time for students.

The district chose to send students to school every other day because there would be too much time in between teachers seeing students if they went to school two days in a row, followed by three days of remote learning and the weekend.

“Our needs are great, but our options are not,” Board of Education President Sandra Alberti said at the beginning of the meeting. “The thing to keep in mind is we’re talking about how to educate our children during a global pandemic.”

The district said it will improve communication with parents, particularly when it comes to assessments. It also asks parents to let them know how they can improve communication via email.

All remote learning will be a mix of live instruction from the teacher and learning on their own, although it wasn’t completely clear how much time would be spent on live instruction for remote students.

Remote learning will be different from what it was in the spring when the district was suddenly thrust into remote learning due to sudden school closures for the pandemic.

Students will have to log in at a certain time, have a morning meeting with their teachers and follow a schedule. They will also be expected to get dressed and eat breakfast before learning begins. There will be a separate group of teachers assigned to remote learning than those who are assigned to hybrid instruction. School days will begin and end at their traditional times.

Chromebooks and other necessary materials will be provided to students down to second grade and possibly down to first for remote learning. There will be a mix of hard copies of lessons and Google Classroom work for remote students.

Students attending in-person will have to wear masks on the bus and throughout the school day. They will get mask breaks as needed while in the classroom, and they can remove their masks in the cafeteria only to eat, and there will be assigned seats.

The district expects between 50 and 75 people in the cafeteria at a time. They are aiming for class sizes of about 12 students, which is half the normal size of a class.

They will have to wear masks during recess, and will be assigned specific playground equipment to play with.

Attendance will be taken daily. And of course, as the coronavirus pandemic evolves, schools may be forced to move to an all-remote learning environment as they did for the 2019-20 school year.

The meeting came one day after Murphy said that "every education expert has confirmed that in-person education is critical, and remote learning is only an acceptable substitute when absolutely necessary." Read more here: Gov. Murphy: In-Person NJ Education 'Critical' Amid Coronavirus

On Tuesday, the head of the state teachers union said it's "not plausible" to open up on time in September amid the coronavirus crisis, contending that the Garden State's educators, staff and administrators don't have nearly enough time to get ready. Read more here: NJ Teachers Union: Not Safe To Open Schools On Time Amid COVID-19

On Tuesday night, the Board of Education approved the Moorestown Public School District's proposal to push back their start date to Sept. 8 to allow for additional professional development days for staff. Read more here: Moorestown Set To Push Back First Day Of School Due To Coronavirus

Safety was a topic of conversation during the meeting, including what will happen if a student or staff member tests positive for the coronavirus. Anyone who gets sick during the day will have to go to the nurse and the nurse will notify the parents, who will then pick up their children.

Contact tracing will be done for those who may be directly impacted, and school wouldn’t necessarily close. Remote education will be able to continue for anyone who is quarantined, and teachers may be able to continue teaching if they must be quarantined.

Parents will be asked to take their child’s temperature at home. Anyone who is sick will be asked to stay home. Students who must stay home on a given day but aren’t quarantined may be able to participate remotely, but nothing concrete has been determined, officials said.

After parents take their child’s temperature, they will have to file their results with their school. Staff will check, and if nothing has been filed by the time the child reaches school, they will go to the nurse to be evaluated in-person before joining the rest of the school’s population.

Hand sanitizer will be available throughout the school.

The district faces extra costs for safety, including PPE. While students will be expected to bring their own masks, the district will have extra masks if need be. It is tapping into FEMA grants to pay for safety, and CARES funding for cleaning supplies.

The district is exploring options for students for families with working parents to engage in before or after-school programs. It is looking to create a designated space in each school for students who need those programs.

Athletics and after-school activities won't begin right at the beginning of the school year, but the district does want to re-start them at a later date. School concert dates remain in place for the 2020-21 school year.

The NJSIAA, the state's governing body for high school athletics, has delayed the beginning of fall sports by one month, to October. To see the NJSIAA's latest guidance, visit njsiaa.org.

The proposal will be referred to the Burlington County Office of Education, which will provide feedback before being presented to the public. The county office doesn't need to approve the plan.

It is also not up to the Moorestown Board of Education to approve the plan, but it will be asked to approve policies related to the plan at its Aug. 18 meeting. No vote was taken on Tuesday night, although the district did say its role in approval may change before the next meeting.

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