Toms River Schools' Tentative Fall Reopening Plans Evolving

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A survey sent to parents in the Toms River Regional School District this week is seeking their input on five possible choices for schooling starting in September.

But even as district officials seek that input, they continue to emphasize that everything under discussion is tentative. That's because information from the state continues to change, district officials said.

"It's a challenge. We're doing everything we can to put together an instructional model," Superintendent David Healy said Wednesday night during the Toms River Board of Education meeting.

"As things evolve we're always revisiting it and looking into other options," he said. "We're very careful to speak about these are tentative plans because our experience to date with this COVID issue since March has been the rules (from the state Department of Education) change daily if not hourly."

Gov. Phil Murphy announced that New Jersey schools can resume in-person instruction in September, provided their district creates a safety plan approved by their school board. But he also said he'll pull the plug on reopening if cases go up again. Read more: Gov. Murphy Issues NJ School Reopening Rules Amid Coronavirus

"I use the term 'the here-and-now.' We're developing plans based on what we know in the here-and-now, knowing full well that the here-and-now changes," Healy said. "All of our discussions in the planning stages include Plan A-B-C-D and so on because we fully expect things to change by the time school starts in September, if it does start in September which I highly doubt. I doubt the school year will start for districts in September."

The challenges are many, and parents who emailed questions during the board meeting asked about a variety of issues, from how the schedule will affect parents who work outside the home, including district employees to what will be done for special-needs students, to what's being done to improve remote instruction.

The five options presented in the survey include four variations of student rotations, with students broken into "A" and "B" groups:

• Group A in school Monday/Wednesday, Group B Tuesday/Thursday, with Fridays remote learning for all;
• Group A Monday/Tuesday, Group B Wednesday/Thursday, with Fridays remote;
• Group A and Group B alternating full weeks of in-person instruction;
• An ongoing Group A/Group B daily rotation with no consistent schedule of days.

The final option is fully remote learning.

The in-person days would be four-hour days with shortened class periods without a lunch period because of the social distancing challenges created by having a large group of students eating lunch together.

"We don't want to provide a model just to provide a model," Healy said. "We want to make sure it's enhanced to its maximum, and that includes a live virtual remote learning model."

Assistant Superintendent Cara DiMeo said the district has been using feedback from parents about the spring remote learning to make improvements, including purchasing software and providing training to help teachers become more comfortable with remote teaching.

The concerns raised by the New Jersey Education Association and the items the teachers union wants to see included in any reopening plan also will have a big impact.

Among the items mentioned in an NJEA draft document that circulated this week was weekly testing of students and staff for the coronavirus, and students wearing face coverings from the time they leave home to the time they get off the bus after school.

The testing is an expensive and unwieldy proposition, Healy said.

"The rapid tests are roughly $50 a test," he said. If the district was asked to test every student and staff member, it would cost $900,000 per week just for the tests. And then there would have to be people in the district designated to oversee and track all of the testing and results.

"I think it's unrealistic logistically," Healy said.

Steven Baker, communications director for the NJEA, said the draft that circulated on Twitter "is not an official position of NJEA. It was a draft of concepts being considered and revised as NJEA continues to advocate for the health and safety of New Jersey’s public school students and staff."

NJEA’s official Education Recovery Plan does not mention testing for the virus for students or staff, but Baker said the union is watching the developments with the virus's resurgence in many states after they reopened, and is updating its guidance to its unions.

"It is going to take an exceptional level of caution and care to create a safe environment for in-person instruction during this pandemic," Baker said. "It will not be easy to do so, but it is also necessary. It is not yet clear when the state of New Jersey and individual districts will be prepared to provide the necessary level of protection to safely reopen school buildings for in-person instruction. Whenever school building do reopen, NJEA members will insist on the highest safety standards to protect our students and colleagues."

The NJEA has requested that all students wear masks all day, an issue that is seen as a challenge as well. Some Toms River parents on Wednesday night expressed concerns with students having to wear masks all day in school, particularly in the district's schools that lack air conditioning. Others asked about what will be done for students who have sensory issues and cannot wear masks. Still others oppose the idea of children wearing masks at all.

The state Department of Education has made masks an option in situations where students cannot be 6 feet apart. And under executive orders from Gov. Phil Murphy, masks are required indoors for many situations, including stores and businesses.

Healy said the district is required to provide masks for staff and students — business administrator William Doering has estimated the cost at $1 million to provide masks for every student and staff member for the school year.

Other issues parents raised that Healy acknowledged make the planning for in-person instruction challenging include what happens if a student or a staff member does test positive for the virus, prompting a need for quarantines and child-care issues, including for staff members who will need to be in school teaching.

Healy said there will be some issues that have to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. And DiMeo said the district is looking to keep children from the same family on the same A or B schedule to try to limit issues.

One change the district has planned is opening the school year with three professional development days to help teachers across the district be more comfortable and familiar with the virtual instruction. The school calendar change, expected to be approved at the July 29 school board meeting, would have classes for students start Sept. 8.

Healy also said that if the pandemic calms enough to resume full-day, in-person instruction, the district will happily resume go back to having teachers and students in the classroom.

Note: This article has been updated with a statement from the NJEA regarding testing, which was referenced in a draft document that circulated on Twitter.

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