Moorestown Superintendent Lays Out Plan For Rest Of School Year

MOORESTOWN, NJ — The end of the school year will be more complicated this year due to the remote learning environment that has resulted from the outbreak of the coronavirus, Superintendent of Schools Scott McCartney said.

The Moorestown Public School District’s r administration, faculty and staff will begin a scheduled approach for staff to close out the marking period, access their classrooms and clean out desks, lockers etc., beginning June 5, McCartney said in a letter to the community.

“We know many of you have already come into the schools in the early stages of our closure to get personal items, but we will still package and label any items that belong to your student,” McCartney said. “Each building principal will then schedule a time and location for you to pick-up those items during the week of June 15-18. Principals will also include instructions on returning school materials. In addition, separate instructions will be provided for returning computers and related technology devices. In all cases, we will adhere to social distancing guidelines.”

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At the same time, the district will shift its focus from teaching new content to wrapping up content, projects, assignments and assessments for closing out grades by June 12. New instruction will conclude on June 5.

After that, there will be enrichment, SEL activities, school-based activities and ongoing “meetings” with classroom teachers, counselors and administrators.

“This will be even more so the model June 15- 18 as we engage in the collection process of collecting and disseminating items,” McCartney said. “Please continue to check Google Classroom and have your student attend scheduled meetings and activities.”

Information and engagement will still be available through Google Classroom, there will still be access points with teachers and there will still be activities to engage students.

However, the assignments and activities will be structured differently depending on each building and teacher’s closeout schedule, McCartney said.

“Teachers will be scheduled on certain days during this time to be off-line as they work in their classrooms,” McCartney said. “The month of June, as it typically does, will focus more on transitional, celebratory, and Social and Emotional Learning activities while closeout takes place.”

Students and parents can help the school district by doing the following:

• Returning Items: To the extent possible, please wipe everything down with a sanitizing wipe prior to placing items in a bag clearly labeled with your child’s name, school and teacher’s name.
• Personal Protective Equipment (PPE): When dropping off at your assigned time and location, please wear appropriate protective gear as directed by the State of New Jersey when in public.
• Retrieving Your Items: Keep in mind that items in the school have been untouched now for well over a month and all research that we have seen indicates the virus does not live that long on surfaces. While staff will also wear PPE, the school encourages residents to use safe protocols for cleaning and/or sanitizing items the district returns
• On-Campus Expectations: While on campus, please remember this is not a social gathering. Utilize social distancing guidelines and please do not congregate before or after your specified drop off or pick up time.
• Be Patient: The school district will do its best to keep things moving as swiftly and safely as possible, but things may take longer than expected.

“We understand there are still more questions than answers in a lot of this and the direction continues to evolve from the State and Department of Education,” McCartney said. “The key to our collective success is flexibility, patience and simply knowing that in the end, we will get this done.”

Read more: NJ Coronavirus Updates: Here's What You Need To Know