Wayne Officials Present Return To School Plan: What To Know

WAYNE, NJ — Over 1,000 people tuned into a Thursday night Zoom meeting to watch Wayne Public Schools officials announce a return to school proposal for the 2020 fall semester.

The plan, which included information on cleaning procedures, transportation and the proposed hybrid learning model, was presented by Superintendent of Schools Mark Toback and Assistant Superintendent Donna Reichman.

In the proposal, students at all three levels would learn in a hybrid, cohort style model.

View the full proposal here: https://bit.ly/32q4t73

At Wayne elementary and middle schools, students will be separated into two cohorts, which encompass roughly half of the respective class size.

In-person learning would be done two consecutive days, with no in-person learning on Wednesday. On Thursday and Friday, cohort B students would attend class in-person, with cohort A students learning remotely.

At both Wayne Valley and Wayne Hills High School, students will be separated into three cohorts. Though it's been commonplace at other schools in the area, particularly in Bergen County, to separate students into two cohorts, Toback said the three cohorts better accommodate the size of the high schools.

The learning schedule at the high school will be much different that the younger grades, as students will attend in-person classes for a full week — excluding Wednesday — and will rotate to remote learning for two weeks at a time.

For example, cohort A students will attend class in-person on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday during the first week of school, but will not be in a classroom again until week four.

In addition to the learning model, school officials discussed health and safety precautions which have been put in place for the return to school, which includes expanded cleaning efforts and a mask mandate.

"The only way to have a sustainable plan is to keep everyone as healthy as possible," said Reichman.

Wednesdays will feature no in-person learning at any level to allow deep cleaning of school busses and school facilities, officials said.

Additionally, the district is currently exploring screening apps for both staff and students, and will incorporate contact tracing during the semester.

Despite the rollout of plans, the district has left room for students to exclusively choose distance learning if the student or the student's parent feel unsafe in the building.

Teachers may also receive accommodations to work from home, officials said.

A survey will be sent to parents of students in the district in which they can provide comment and feedback on the proposal.

Additionally, a public comment and feedback period begins on July 20. Those responses will be reviewed at the next Board of Education meeting.

The final plan must be made public one-month prior to the beginning of school, which would mean a plan will need to be formalized by Aug. 8.