Summit Students Back To School Tuesday; Teachers' Union Comments

SUMMIT, NJ — The Summit schools will be among the first in New Jersey to start the new year amid the coronavirus crisis, with students returning on Tuesday. As with other districts, families were able to choose whether to return on-site (with health precautions in place) or online.

In the district's reopening plan:

• Students in fifth grade and younger 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 by Monday 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 earlier this month, 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.

Teachers' union held protests

The Summit staff returned Monday even after the teachers' union held two sit-ins in front of the city's middle school last Wednesday, saying it was not safe for their staff to return to school buildings.

The matter was also covered in the New York Times on Friday, in which Summit High School teacher Wendy Donat, the vice president of the teacher's union, said, “We’re still mystified how they’re going to bring 20 students into an elementary school classroom and keep them six feet apart ... I’ve been to student funerals. I would prefer not to go to any more.”

On Monday, Donat told Patch, "We are not currently planning any job actions. Although not all of the promised PPE has arrived and it is certainly not as plentiful as described, the district has met the minimum standards to open tomorrow. There are still plastics dividers being installed and staff waiting for N95 masks. As of this afternoon, a number of classrooms were waiting for plexiglass protectors for desks used by in class support teachers and aides."

She added, "Thankfully it will be relatively cool tomorrow so we don’t have to worry about the lack of air-conditioning in many classrooms. We emailed all the school PTO Presidents and encouraged them to personally walk through each building to make sure it was prepared. ... We will continue to monitor the situation and ensure that our students and staff are safe. We also encourage parents to talk with their children and reinforce safety protocols."

More than 180 districts across New Jersey have opened only remotely, some (such as nearby Millburn) saying didn't have adequate staff, with many teachers taking family leave or reporting pre-existing conditions. (The federal government has said that as many as half of non-elderly adults could have pre-existing conditions.)

The CDC says that most children will recover from the virus, but they are "at risk for severe covid-19." The CDC notes, "Reinforcement of prevention efforts is essential in congregate settings that serve children, including childcare centers and schools."

Summit has had relatively few new cases of covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic, and confirmed 9 new cases in the last month. Read more here.

Children in other parts of the country, while not as vulnerable as adults, have lost a parent, both parents or siblings to the virus.

Changes to the reopening plan in Summit

The Summit schools were originally set to reopen to students on Aug. 31, but were scheduled last month to reopen on Sept. 1.

Then-Acting Superintendent Robert Gardella explained in July why he thought it made sense, from a health perspective, for students to be in the building five days a week (see link).

Many districts revised their initial reopening plans or went all-remote earlier this month after the state said that they did not have to open their buildings at the beginning of the year, if they didn't meet the new health guidelines. This is the new state health document: NJ DOH COVID Recommendations for Schools.pdf.

Coronavirus trends

On Saturday, New Jersey's total death toll climbed to 14,153 after four confirmed deaths were announced since the day before. The state also announced 388 new confirmed positive cases, bringing the total cases since the beginning of the pandemic to 191,611.

However, this daily death rate has declined since back on April 30, when it reached a peak of 460 residents in 24 hours, or one person every three minutes.

Many other states' death rates reached records in July (see the daily totals in each state here), and had to pull back on some of their reopenings. New Jersey has asked people to quarantine if returning from 31 states.

More than 176,000 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.

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

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

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