Summit Mom Talks About Back-To-School; Board Meets In Person

SUMMIT, NJ — The Summit schools reopened for students on Sept. 1, with some families choosing on-site education five days a week, and others learning remotely. It's a different kind of school year than any that the kids — or parents, teachers and grandparents — encountered before. Despite some community members sharing concerns before the year started, they were also optimistic.

One mom, Melissa Sheer Lipschitz, whose company (Kent Place Communications) is located in Summit, weighed in this year to say she's "impressed" with the year so far.

How does a parent ultimately decide they're ready to send their child back to school, after the buildings have been closed since March?

"I was encouraged after reading interim Superintendent Gardella's letter to parents on July 23rd where he walked us through the board's and the district's thought process on how we were preparing our schools to be safe environments for our children," she said this week, "as well as by the low cases of infection in Summit specifically." Lipschitz also cited New Jersey's flattened curve. READ MORE: Summit Updates Coronavirus Case Statistics

[READ MORE: Summit Middle School student tests positive, superintendent says Thursday night.]

"I think parents need to make the decision that best suits their family and their children's needs," she noted. "In the July 23rd email we were told that the district had received more than 2,700 responses to a "reopening" survey (approximately 1/3 of all households in Summit), with 87 percent of respondents indicating their intent to send their child to school for in-person instruction in the fall. There needed to be a viable solution for the 10-15 percent who didn't plan to send their children in person. Remote instruction should be robust and reliable for all of our children, as we don't know what the future may hold for us as a district due to the unpredictability of Covid 19 transmission."

In the last two weeks, several districts in the New York/New Jersey area made last-minute decisions to go fully remote, or had to notify parents and teachers that a student was exposed to the virus. In East Brunswick on the second day of school, parents were notified that multiple students were exposed and will have to quarantine for 14 days, as will their siblings.

"I love that teachers, based on what kids are telling me, seem to feel comfortable in their environments and continue to feel safer every day," said Lipschitz, who moved to Summit 12 years ago and has daughters in sixth and 10th grade. "I love that the kids seem to be taking this seriously, wearing their masks, keeping their distances and using hand sanitizers. The only downside to the plan is that while every other day for half days [is] ok, I would love for them to be able to go more days/fuller days in the future ... it is a step for our kids towards 'normalcy.' "

She said, "Obviously if we can stay safe, our kids continue to follow their protocols on mask wearing, distancing and sanitizing, I would love for the kids to go back in person for additional days."

When asked if she's concerned about children bringing the virus home — while most children who test positive will recover from it, some have lost a parent, both parents, teachers, or siblings — Lipschitz said that her children have been rigorously following safety protocols, and want to do what they can to stay in school. She also noted that New Jersey has enforced strict protocols since spring, like mask-wearing in stores. (States with fewer restrictions suffered record deaths and hospitalizations over the summer.)

"They don't want full time virtual school," she said. "It is a motivating factor for them. I hope their friends and classmates feel the same."(What do you think about school reopening? How is the school year going for you? Comment below or email caren.lissner@patch.com.)

Board meeting and calendar

The board planned to meet in person, limiting the occupancy to 25 people, on Thursday night. Check out the livestream here.

The updated school calendar is on the school website, listing upcoming religious holidays and an in-service day on Oct. 19. The annual teachers' union convention is listed for Nov. 5 and 6, although it will be remote this year.

In the district's reopening plan:

• Students in grades 5 and under can attend single-session days (no lunch) five days a week.
• Older students attend every other day in A/B cohorts, also single-session.
• As in all New Jersey districts, families could also choose full-time remote education.

Parents were required to fill out a form last week that "confirms that children will be screened at home each day for a fever (100.4 or above) and/or COVID-19 symptoms (listed below) and that parents will keep students at home when sick." The form can be found here.

The Summit district released its final reopening plan in mid-summer, then revised the plan to eliminate five-day on-site learning for sixth graders and older due to new state health guidelines, changing it to alternate days. A link to the most updated letter from new Superintendent Scott Hough is here.

Statewide, residents are encouraged to social distance, wear masks in public places, and limit most indoor gatherings to 25 people.

Local coronavirus statistics

• A recent breakdown of Summit coronavirus cases and fatalities can be found here.
• More than 190,000 Americans have now died of coronavirus, and more than 5.6 million have tested positive.
• More than 900 health care workers have died of the virus nationally. Others are simultaneously fighting misinformation as they try to fight the virus.
• A viral social media post was removed from Twitter last week that misstated that only 9,000 people died from the virus. The confusion stemmed from the fact that people who died of the virus also were confirmed to have died from pneumonia caused by the virus, and other factors.

Here are statewide coronavirus resources:

• NJ COVID-19 Information Hub: https://covid19.nj.gov/
• General COVID-19 questions: 2-1-1
• NJ COVID-19 hotline: (800) 222-1222

Got news? Email caren.lissner@patch.com. To be the first to get news alerts with breaking stories in Summit, or to get a free local newsletter each morning, sign up for Patch breaking news alerts or daily newsletters.