Toms River Schools Starting 2020-2021 With Remote Learning

TOMS RIVER, NJ — The Toms River Regional School District plans to start the 2020-2021 school year with fully remote learning, Superintendent David Healy said Thursday evening.

The decision wasn't completely unexpected, as it had been raised as a probability Wednesday night during the the Board of Education's curriculum committee meeting. The meeting was continued for three hours Thursday evening, giving parents an opportunity to ask questions, after 6 hours of committee meetings Wednesday that touched on a number of subjects that affect the plans for reopening.

Healy said the decision to go to remote was due to a combination of factors. Staffing issues, including the inability to find long-term substitutes for teachers who were going on maternity leave, was one of the most pressing issues. But continually changing guidance from the state, including 19 pages of health rules issued Thursday, created challenges that were impossible, he said.

"We could go back to school on the 8th, on the 9th have one or two cases and have to shut down a whole school or multiple schools," Healy said of the new health rules issued by the state Department of Health. He said that created "a roller coaster of unfairness" because it would leave parents scrambling, much like they had to do in March.

And he said the reality of that possibility was driven home after word got out that a Little League baseball player in the township had tested positive for the coronavirus.

"This is the most challenging thing I've ever experienced in my career," Healy said. "I'm not one to blindside or drop the bomb on anyone. I feel bad that we're two weeks from school starting."

Under guidelines issued Wednesday, districts can opt to start with fully remote learning if they can show the state they are unable to meet the minimum standards outlined in "The Road Back," along with a plan and a date the district intends to resume some form of in-person schooling.

Healy did not give a date for when the district might shift to the hybrid model, but said the goal is to get back in school as soon as possible.

An attestation form that the state Department of Education had asked districts to sign — and which school district attorney Stephen Leone had advised Healy not to sign — was withdrawn Thursday by the state for revisions, Healy said. State officials said a number of school district attorneys had advised districts not to sign them.

"We were prepared to not sign the attestation and still go forward with the hybrid learning model," he said.

The process and the continual changes from the state have created an untenable situation, and left board members frustrated and angry.

"How are we ever going to reopen if we have to say no one is ever going to get sick," board member Jennifer Howe said Wednesday night, referring to the attestation form, which required districts to certify they would do everything to stop the spread of the coronavirus. "These kids need to be in school."

"The quality of being in the classrooom (for half days) isn't great but the quality of being at home every day is terrible," she said.

"We look to our state leadership for our schools and get nothing but constant change," board member Michele Williams said. "This is a game being played with us."

Board vice president Ginny Rhine said it appeared that Gov. Phil Murphy and state officials were deliberately forcing districts into an unpopular position; more than 60 percent of the district's parents wanted a return to some form of in-person schooling.

"Local control is an illusion," said Anna Polozzo, the board president.

The staffing issues were a significant piece of the issue, Healy said. About 120 teachers had requested the ability to work virtually because of legitimate health concerns, he said.

A handful of teachers had requested leaves of absence, but Assistant Superintendent Cara DiMeo said there was a possibility those requests would change with the all-remote opening.

The assertion that teachers who have sought a leave of absence or request or asked to teach virtually should just be replaced ignores a reality that is challenging districts throughout Ocean County: teachers aren't lining up for jobs.

"The biggest challenge for Ocean County districts is staffing," Healy said. "We are having difficulty finding staff to fill long-term leave positions, including maternity leave."

Finding substitute teachers for last-minute callouts is a tremendous impediment, and had been a significant issue before the pandemic.

On Wednesday night during the annual update from ESS, the company that handles supplying substitute teachers for Toms River and a number of districts, the board was told that nearly 30 percent of its substitute teacher requests went unfilled in the 2019-2020 school year. At Toms River High School South, it was nearly 40 percent.

The district pays $12.32 per hour for substitute teachers, less than other districts in the area and less than what many people can earn in an entry-level job.

The district also is faced with staff cuts as a result of the reduction in state aid under S2. Those notifications will be going out to staff in the coming days.

All of that combined means ensuring students are properly supervised was going to be problematic under the hybrid model.

Board member Alex Mizenko said teachers and staff "have the right to expect their working conditions are safe," and expressed dismay at attacks that had been leveled at teachers who have serious health issues that put them at risk.

Healy said that backlash was an expected outcome of the state's handling of the schools aspect of the pandemic.

"When the governor punts decisions to 600 districts, you're pitting district against district, parents against teachers," Healy said. "When he punted he knew he was going to create this climate."

And he said comparing what works for a 1,200-student district with what an 11,000-student district can do is an unfair comparison.

DiMeo said the district has made a number of changes to how its remote learning and virtual instruction will look and will continute to do so.

Plans for special education students — whose instruction and therapies present unique challenges because they typically involve a lot of one-on-one work — are still being discussed. A special meeting for parents of special education students will be held Aug. 18 and parents of those students should expect a robocall with details, officials said.

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