Summit Middle, High Schools To Move To 5-Day Learning In April

SUMMIT, NJ — Students at Summit Public Schools will begin spending more time learning in-person beginning next month as the district’s middle and high school returns to five-day learning, the superintendent’s office announced recently.

Students in grades 6-12 will begin attending classes five days a week on April 12 on a single session schedule with remote instruction taking place in the afternoon, district officials announced.

Students in grades 8 and 12 will begin returning to the classroom for the new schedule on April 12 followed by students in grades 7 and 11 on April 15th and finally students in grades 6,9 and 10 on April 19. District officials said that they are not planning on altering the schedule once changes are made but will adjust if there is a spike in confirmed positive coronavirus cases and will consult the Department of Health if changes need to be made.

District officials said in the email to parents that several factors went into the shift to five-day in-person learning. Officials cited both local and national trends that suggest that the school environment is safe for both students and staff. In addition, district leaders said that community health trends as far as the coronavirus have been moving in the right direction and that the benefits of learning in-person and having social interaction with other students have been well-documented.

Health officials have determined that eating lunch while unmasked remains a high-risk activity which has kept the district from adding lunch into the schedule, officials said. Recess for students in grades K-5 also remains a risky proposition at this time but district officials said they will continue to explore “creative alternatives” through the end of the school year.

The district said it is working toward a goal of providing the most in-person learning opportunities as possible and said that an additional 2,000 space dividers have been ordered to help maintain proper social distancing requirements. The dividers are expected to arrive in April and district officials said they cannot expand in-person learning for middle and high school students until additional personal protection equipment has been secured for staff members.

The staggered schedule will allow staff members adjust to any unforeseen obstacles that may arise as they relate to PPE, student movement or classroom set-up.

District officials said there will be two opportunities for parents to register their students for either in-person or remote learning between the week of April 12 and the end of the school year. All parents must make an affirmative selection during both registration periods. The district has set a deadline of March 26 to select instruction for a grade-specific start date until May 7. Parents will then have until April 30 to choose their student’s learning model from May 10 until the end of the year, the district said.

Students may shift from in-person to remote learning at any time but after the deadline, parents who choose remote learning for their students will not be able to move into the hybrid model because of safety protocols. The monthly opportunity for parents of students between grades K-5 to switch from remote to hybrid learning will remain the same.