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Jersey City Times Staff

NJ’s Home Rule Seems Set to Trump CDC Guidance on School Reopening

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‘It is still very much a district-by-district, case-by-case’ decision, says official with the state’s most powerful teachers union

This story was written and produced by NJ Spotlight. It is being republished under a special NJ News Commons content-sharing agreement related to COVID-19 coverage. To read more, visit njspotlight.com.

Full story link – HERE.

By John Mooney

For all the fanfare surrounding Friday’s guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on how to reopen schools nationwide, New Jersey’s famous home rule still appears the prevailing guidance when it comes to public education in this state.

That seemed the general reaction from education leaders and stakeholders here, as the 35-page report from the CDC about how and when schools can reopen starts to sink in — and by and large, not change much.

Scott Rocco is superintendent of the sweeping Hamilton Township district whose 11,700 students and 23 schools have been in some form of remote or hybrid instruction since the start of the school year.

Rocco said he appreciated the CDC’s detailed guidance as providing more backing for practices already in place. And as he seeks to bring more students back to in-person learning in the spring, that research is no small thing. But Rocco said that will still be a local decision, one aided by already significant guidance and data from the state.

“A lot of it is what we have been doing already,” Rocco said. “Nothing in here that says, ‘Wow, that’s different from what I was thinking.’ ”

Already looking to get more students back 

With the data on infections and transmission pointing in the right direction lately, he added, Hamilton’s senior staff was already looking at options for bringing back more students.

“We’ll try to open up a little more,” Rocco said. “What that will look like, we’re not sure yet.”

The power of local decision-making is nothing new in New Jersey, even long before the COVID-19 pandemic. But it has become a prevailing mantra for Gov. Phil Murphy as he seeks to guide more schools to move to in-person instruction but lets them decide for themselves.

That has led to the widely disparate forms of instruction taking place in the state as the pandemic continues; just under 100 districts are operating with all in-person instruction but twice as many have all-remote and the vast middle a mix of the two.

The CDC’s guidance was seen as a potential balm to unify schools across the country to move toward more in-person instruction and especially send a message to those resistant to the move.

The report said that schools could safely reopen under certain well-known protocols, including mask-wearing and social-distancing. But it also threw in conditions around a complex formula of community transmission, and withheld judgment on the thorny topic of teacher vaccinations. In fact, it held back on many mandates at all.

“I want to be clear with the release of this operational strategy, CDC is not mandating that schools reopen,” Rochelle Walensky, the CDC’s director, said on Friday. “These recommendations simply provide schools a long needed roadmap for how to do so safely under different levels of disease in the community.”

Front and center on the issue have been teachers unions, including in New Jersey, which have been hesitant — if not outwardly opposed — to moving to in-class instruction if it could put their members at risk.

NJEA praises research-based findings

The New Jersey Education Association, the state’s most powerful teachers union, has so far not said much publicly about the new CDC guidelines beyond praise for the researched-based findings and recommendations.

Steve Baker, the NJEA’s communications director, said Tuesday that a letter to its 200,000 members would likely go out in the next week summarizing the guidelines but also saying they should be only part of ongoing conversations between educators and their districts.

“It was a breath of fresh air to listen to the CDC talk about these issues in a very science-based way,” Baker said of the Friday announcement. “It provides educators with a lot more confidence.

“But it doesn’t make the decisions any easier where some of the issues still remain,” he said. “I think it is still very much a district-by-district, case-by-case basis.”

Nevertheless, leaders of the American Federation of Teachers — the national union representing many of the country’s urban districts, including Newark — sent a strong signal Tuesday night that resistance may be softening. The AFT released a poll of its members that said a vast majority were ready to return to the classroom.

“Teachers want a path to safely return to their classrooms because they understand the importance of in-school learning for their kids,” said Randi Weingarten, president of the AFT. “If we can implement commonsense safety protocols, we can not only open, we can do it safely and with the overwhelming support of teachers and support personnel.”

 

Header:  Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Daniel Levin

Board of Education Mum on Reopening

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There was no discussion during Thursday’s Jersey City Board of Education meeting about when public schools might reopen for in-person learning. Superintendent Franklin Walker has previously said that schools won’t reopen for live classes before February 2nd.

The subject was touched on obliquely by Trustee Mussab Ali, who noted that the FDA has yet to approve a Covid vaccine for children under 16. Trustee Gerald Lyons questioned whether vaccinations will be a requirement for staff and students. He added that policies will need to be established.

While several large cities including New York, Washington D.C. and Chicago have rolled out in-person learning without a vaccine, a debate over whether it should be suggested or even mandatory has broken out.

In other matters, President Lorenzo Richardson and Superintendent Franklin Walker spared over $35,000 thousand in raises for 12 non-union employees who report directly to the superintendent. Walker first requested the raises in June.

Walker, apparently eager to bring the matter to a close, claimed that the Board was violating district protocol by not pursuing his recommendations. Richardson argued for taking up the issue up in closed session, as did Corporate Counsel Michael Gross who said that Mr. Walker’s public comments put the district in legal jeopardy. Another attorney, General Counsel Bryant Horsely disagreed, saying that Walker’s comments were not a problem. Ultimately, Richardson’s position prevailed and the discussion was put off.

The board will hold its reorganization meeting as a virtual meeting on Tuesday, January 5 at 6 p.m.

The next virtual Jersey City School Board meeting will be held Thursday, January 28, at 6 p. m.

For past coverage of Jersey City School Board meetings, please click here.

Jersey City Times Staff

See Which Wide of the ‘Digital Divide’ Your School District is on

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Searchable graphic allows you to check whether your school district has the necessary computer devices and connectivity for remote learning

This story was written and produced by NJ Spotlight. It is being republished under a special NJ News Commons content-sharing agreement related to COVID-19 coverage. To read more, visit njspotlight.com.

Full story link – HERE.

By Colleen O’Dea and John Mooney

When Gov. Phil Murphy last week said that 40,000 New Jersey students still are without the necessary computer devices and connectivity for remote learning, it was meant as progress. After all, that number was nearly 10 times higher last spring.

But the digital divide remains stark in scores of districts, many of them low-income, according to the latest survey released by the state Department of Education this week.

And the gaps appear widest in communities that are relying the most on remote learning.

In East Orange, for instance, more than 6,000 students don’t have the necessary tools. Jersey City and Camden are each 2,000 students short. And even in upscale Montclair or Summit, the gap is nearly 1,000 students each.

NJ Spotlight News distilled the latest information into the following graphics that let you see how your district is doing.

Header:  Photo by NESA by Makers on Unsplash

Jersey City Times Staff

Despite COVID-19 Rise, NJ Sticks with Plan to Allow Schools to Decide Instruction Plans Locally

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Not all educators agree with the state’s approach

This story was written and produced by NJ Spotlight. It is being republished under a special NJ News Commons content-sharing agreement related to COVID-19 coverage. To read more, visit njspotlight.com.

Full story link – HERE.

By Lilo H. Stainton

With COVID-19 rates rising nationwide, school officials in a number of large cities — including Philadelphia, Boston and Washington, D.C. — are opting for online education to try to preempt the surge of coronavirus cases that experts predict for the weeks to come.

But in New Jersey, where nearly 10,500 new cases have been diagnosed this week, state leaders said Thursday that they will stick to the current plan that allows district and local health officials to decide what is best for the community’s schools. Currently, roughly one in five districts is providing remote lessons only, they said, and relatively few outbreaks have been tied directly to schools.

“The general community reality is obviously taken into account” when determining school plans, Gov. Phil Murphy said Thursday. “But there is a clear disconnect between the reality of what is going on in our school buildings and the communities that surround them. There’s just no question about that.”

Not all educators are on the same page with the governor’s plan, however. Leaders of some of the state’s most prominent school groups are expected to meet Friday with Murphy staff to talk about the worsening numbers in communities and how they impact schools. And to at least one of them, it is difficult to separate what is happening in schools from their cities and towns, something he called a “false dichotomy.”

“There is a lot of frustration among our superintendents,” said Richard Bozza, executive director of the New Jersey Association of School Administrators and himself a former superintendent. “There is a real sense that the disconnect of schools and their communities is not a real one, and not every case is being reported … How do you not connect schools to the communities they are in?”

‘These numbers are lower than anticipated’

Murphy said that local public health officials have traced 192 cases of COVID-19 to 51 school-related outbreaks since classes resumed in September. “These numbers are lower than I believe anyone could have anticipated,” he added, noting that there are more than 3,000 school buildings statewide.

The virus is spreading increasingly quickly in New Jersey, however, state data show. More than 3,500 additional diagnoses were reported Thursday and nearly 267,000 COVID-19 cases have been reported since March, including almost 16,500 likely fatalities. Close to 39,000 people have been hospitalized as a result of the virus.

Earlier this week, Murphy announced new restrictions on bars and restaurants — requiring indoor dining to end by 10 p.m. — and on Thursday, he said counties and municipalities could impose earlier closing times on nonessential businesses, if needed. He also took steps to ban interstate youth sports, which public health officials said have been connected — sometimes indirectly — to a growing number of outbreaks. The governor reiterated his pleas to wear a mask, maintain social distance and take other measures to reduce community spread of the virus.

“This is a wake-up call. We need your help,” state health Commissioner Judy Persichilli said Thursday, pointing to the escalating daily case count. “If we are lax, if we continue on this trajectory, our state will return to the situation we were in last spring.”

When the coronavirus initially peaked in New Jersey, in April, daily case counts occasionally topped 4,000 new diagnoses, and hospitals were nearly overwhelmed. All schools were operating under remote learning and all but essential businesses were allowed to open.

Murphy: ‘All options remain on the table’

Now case counts are rising quickly, and hospitals are beginning to fill up again, with some being forced to divert emergency patients temporarily as a result of staff or space shortages. Businesses are operating under severe restrictions. All but 162 school districts are hosting students and teachers in the classroom at least a few days a week, according to new state figures, which appear to have changed little since last week. (Some 97 districts are now operating entirely in person, Murphy said, with the rest using a hybrid model or a mix of in-person and online education, depending on the school.)

While schools may not be the nexus of spread, youth sports do appear to be exacerbating the virus’ transmission, according to figures Persichilli shared Thursday. At least 14 outbreaks, leading to 70 cases, were connected to youth hockey events in seven counties, she said, and one-third of the cases that could be tracked back to an incident during October were linked to sports teams.

Given these dynamics, Murphy said shifting to online learning preemptively was not necessary at this time. But he said Thursday, “all options remain on the table.”

Suspending in-person instruction

Bozza of the New Jersey Association of School Administrators, who has been outspoken before about the ambiguity in the Murphy administration’s school guidance, said he thinks a statewide move to suspend in-person instruction should be considered. “Schools are losing more staff still,” he said. “The anxiety is growing, and if the governor sent that message [to close schools through December], I think it would be welcomed, quite frankly.”

But the governor’s strategy made sense to Chuck Sampson, superintendent of the Freehold Regional High School district, which includes roughly 10,600 students. While there have been close to 60 cases diagnosed among pupils, teachers and staff since September, Sampson said none of these have been traced back to in-school infections.

“I agree with him 100%,” Sampson said of Murphy’s approach. “I truly think my schools are the safest place to be,” he said, citing the strict protocols in place for masking and social-distancing and the modern air-circulation systems in the district’s facilities.

“It would be heartbreaking to me to have to close our schools on a larger (statewide) order because I think it would be at the expense of the children who are school-dependent,” including students with limited English skills or learning challenges, Sampson said.

— John Mooney contributed to this story.

 

Header:  Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Jersey City Times Staff

Editorial: It’s Time to Bite the Bullet on School Reopening

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On Monday night School Superintendent Franklin Walker predicted that Jersey City schools would continue remote learning until February. Walker had previously targeted November for reopening. While some educators and parents are no doubt relieved by the news, we believe that Walker’s recommendation is a cop out.

According to the Jersey Journal, which covered Monday’s caucus meeting and later interviewed Walker, the superintendent explained, “We have had schools (in the state) that have gone to some hybrid structure, and they have had incidents where they had to close down. We certainly had a chance to learn from our neighbors and other areas that started school long before us, and the indication at this point and time is not to put ourselves in that situation.”

At first blush, Walker’s explanation seems to make sense. If school districts nearby have been unable to pull off a return to school, why would Jersey City be able to? Why not err on the side of caution?

Here are five counter arguments the Board of Education should consider:

1. There is evidence that virtual learning is having dire educational impacts. Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser has cited data showing a sharp drop in the number of the youngest students who are meeting literacy benchmarks. According to the Washington Post, D.C. Public Schools released data showing a decline of 22 percentage points in the number of kindergartners meeting literacy goals at the start of the school year compared to a year ago and a nine-percentage-point drop in students through second grade who are meeting these targets. There’s no reason to think that these numbers would be different in Jersey City.

2. Though many large cities in New Jersey are electing to stay with remote learning, other larger cities, including Chicago, Miami-Dade County, Houston, and San Diego are opting to resume classes in some form. New York City, a much larger and more complex school system, has managed to implement a partial reopening.

3. According to an article in The New York Times, experts believe that children are unlikely to stoke coronavirus outbreaks. Infection rates are particularly low at the elementary level. The Times quoted Dr. David Rubin, a pediatrician and infectious disease expert at the University of Pennsylvania. “I think there’s a pretty good base of evidence now that schools can open safely in the presence of strong safety plans and even at higher levels of case incidence than we had suspected,” he said.

4. In an interview on CNN last night, Dr. Anthony Fauci predicted that the U.S. may not return to “normality” until late 2021 or possible early 2022. If Superintendent Walker and the Board of Education are thinking that the situation in February will be substantially different from the situation we confront now, they may be sorely disappointed.

5. Jersey City has a seven day average infection rate of approximately 7.6 cases per 100,000. Chicago and New York, which are both reopening, are at 28.7 and 7.7, respectively.

Restarting classes, even with a hybrid system, is a weighty decision. The health of our children and our families should be paramount. And there is some evidence that communities of color will need more convincing as to the safety of reopening. However, the health calculus must also include the mental health and the education of school children, many of whom come from homes that cannot provide the support they need to learn online.

The superintendent, the Board of Education and the teacher’s union can’t put this decision off forever. One approach would be to start with elementary school students who pose the least risk and may be suffering the most academically. The CDC has published an exhaustive list of strategies to minimize spread. Jersey City should study these options and use its best judgment to choose how it will reopen schools prior to next February. However, simply kicking the can down the road and hoping that the decision will get easier any time soon is a mistake.

 

Jersey City Times Staff

Laptop Shortage, Lack of Internet Access Behind Bumpy Start to Remote Learning

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With internet access going from luxury to necessity, communities can wind up completely out of the loop as state’s virtual curriculum looks to gain traction

This story was written and produced by NJ Spotlight. It is being republished under a special NJ News Commons content-sharing agreement related to COVID-19 coverage. To read more, visit njspotlight.com.

Full story link – HERE.

By Raven Santana

Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop pointed to Zoom glitches, laptop delays and not enough Chromebooks as some of the issues the city experienced while opening the virtual school door last week for some 30,000 students.

“Early August, there was a rush from every municipality, literally across the county, to secure Chromebooks and that’s created delays, and obviously frustration, along with that,” the mayor said.

The issues were addressed by Jersey City Public Schools Superintendent Franklin Walker during a virtual town hall meeting.

“We had almost 10,000 parents complete the survey. And during that period of time, 24% said they needed a device, so we were looking at 2,400 requests. And based upon that, that’s what we planned our survey around and planned our need to fulfill the technology support for students,” Water said.

“I hear really mixed feedback from parents. A lot of them are struggling with some of the information, but, you know, it’s really uncharted territories for the Board of Education and the superintendent. It’s not easy and people are doing their best to work with them, but there is a degree of frustration,” Fulop said. “We hope that parents are patient. We are doing our best as a city and hopefully we’ll be back in school sooner than later.”

Sen. Michael Testa (R-Cumberland) says the technological gap expands far beyond the basic problems of not being able to provide students with Chromebooks.

“I think what has fallen through the cracks in this state is the fact that there are still sections of our state that don’t have access to the internet. So even if that student had a Chromebook or had a laptop given to them, the internet access is spotty at best,” Testa said. “Access to the internet for years was deemed a luxury, but now it’s a necessity. There are sections, significant sections, of my home county that do not have easy access to the internet.”

Gov. Phil Murphy addressed the issue at his coronavirus briefing on Monday.

“I’m not happy at all with the existence of any digital divide — rural, urban or suburban,” Murphy said. “But I don’t think any state is doing as much as we are doing right now to close that, and it ain’t going to be overnight.”

Vineland High School principal Suzette DeMarchi and assistant principal Jacqueline Roman Alvarez say their students now have internet every day. Their remedy for spotty internet came in the form of a grant for hotspots.

“What this does is it gives us the opportunity to get a free device with internet access — that hotspot — in our students’ hands that are in need. Yes, many of our families do have access. However, we need to make sure it’s in the hands of all,” DeMarchi said.

“There are layers to this that we are still honing in on. Again, this is a pandemic. It is uncharted territory,” Roman Alvarez said.

It’s called lesson planning on the fly and there’s no previous syllabus to draw from for administrators.

 

Header:  Photo by John Schnobrich on Unsplash

Daniel Levin

Superintendent Walker Doubts JC Schools Will Reopen Before November

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At the Jersey City School Board meeting this past Thursday evening, Superintendent Walker cast doubt that Jersey City’s schools would reopen before November.

“My concerns are that if we are out in September, there is a good chance we will be out in October as well,” the superintendent said. He added that if they do decide in September that the schools will reopen, it will still take weeks to put things in place:

“There is a good chance with us not going back in September it probably means we will not go back until November, if we go back. If we do not go back in November, we could be out till January. Our position is to err on the side of caution when it comes to the safety and welfare of our children.”

Superintendent Walker also spoke about scheduling and other matters.

There will be a “hybrid schedule for staff and possible furlough for others,” he noted, and class schedules would be posted on the district’s website. Teachers will take attendance at the start of each class and, as requested by parents, all schools will have “a nurse and an assistant.” The superintendent also reported that terminal pay for retirees had been approved by the board and would be released.

The meeting also featured remarks by Victor Pennetta, whose company, Pennetta Industrial Automation, has been brought in by the district to address concerns over ventilation in the schools.  Pennetta said that the board had “kept up with code” over bring fresh air into classrooms and other spaces in the schools including the older buildings over the years. He noted that each classroom has ventilation equipment that brings in the legally requisite amount of fresh air and has an exhaust system that pulls the inside air out.

“We are constantly bringing in fresh air, and we are  constantly purging classrooms,” Pannetta said. “The air goes through a filtering system before being distributed. When reducing students in the space, the ventilation will be much better, and there will be additional ventilation and exhaust. They have been going through the buddings with Facilities [the Facilities Department] making sure systems are up to snuff, and so far everything has been pretty good.”

Finally, the meeting featured discussion about when the school board should meet next. Board member Mussab Ali asked whether the next meeting, which is slated for September 24, should be moved up to give parents more notice should the district decide to reopen schools in October. Given the length of time needed to prepare for reopening and the fact that it is already late August, Superintendent said that the next meeting could indeed remain September 24.

The next virtual Jersey City School Board meeting will be held Thursday, September 24, at 6 p.m.

For past coverage of Jersey City School Board meetings, please click here.

 

 

 

Jersey City Times Staff

‘This Pandemic Has Taken Everything from Us’ — Student Rep’s Plea to State Board

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Incoming senior at second state Board of Education meeting urges help for fellow students

This story was written and produced by NJ Spotlight. It is being republished under a special NJ News Commons content-sharing agreement related to COVID-19 coverage. To read more, visit njspotlight.com.

Full story link – HERE.

By John Mooney

The student representative to the State Board of Education typically gets a few words at the beginning of the monthly meetings, often focusing on a specific issue of interest.

But the start of the board’s virtual meeting yesterday offered a chance for Sabrina Capoli, the newest student member and an incoming senior at Seneca High School in Tabernacle, to touch on a topic on everyone’s mind: reopening schools in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

And she didn’t mince words.

Capoli, also president of her high school’s senior class, spoke of the sacrifices her generation has made over the past six months and the challenges ahead. With the help of the state’s student council association, she conducted her own survey of more than 1,000 middle and high school students across New Jersey — not exactly scientific polling but including some good advice and insights for the adults. And she talked about the mental-health toll on students that everyone will need to pay attention to as schools reopen both in buildings and remotely.

The following is a lightly edited version of her full statement:

“Thank you, Madame President and good morning, everyone.

“The New Jersey Department of Education has been committed to promoting social and emotional learning in schools in the past, but I believe that I speak on behalf of every student in New Jersey when I stress that this commitment is more important now than ever before. This pandemic has taken everything from us. For many of us, this virus has stolen precious moments from our hands that we will never get back.

‘Hard to recover’

“Teachers, staff and administrators, I call upon you to recognize that you may be able to make up for lost time in future years, but we, the students, will not. Proms, musicals, athletic seasons, graduations — gone. This will be hard to recover from in the coming school year. It is difficult to look at this year with an open mind, or heart for that matter.

“For this reason, students will need to ease back into their normal routine, while staff ensures that they are not overwhelmed with the amount of schoolwork. Along with that, many surveyed students requested academic breaks throughout the day to help reduce stress. This could go hand in hand with another type of break: mask breaks. Implementing a designated time where students can be outside without a mask may reduce the chance of those students removing it during the school day, while promoting responsible decision-making.

“Other aspects of responsible decision-making will include practicing good hygiene and social distancing. Posting song lyrics on bathroom walls that take 30 seconds to sing can help students wash their hands effectively, and purchasing decals placed six feet apart for the hallways may help encourage social distancing.

“When we return to school in the fall, this may be the first time some students will have interacted with their peers in almost six months. This separation most likely has stunted the growth students have made in important aspects of social-emotional learning, such as “social skills” and “pro-social behaviors.” In a survey I conducted that reached almost every county in New Jersey, around 79% of students reacted negatively to their online learning experience. Of that 79%, 91% of those students blamed their poor experience on lack of socialization.

“To ensure that students are getting their social “fill,” classroom or small group discussions could be prioritized in class, and even used as a learning tool, similar to a Socratic seminar or a class debate. This collaboration will also help students later in life when they enter the workforce.

‘Helping remote-only students stay connected’

“Sadly, some students, for varying reasons, may not be able to return to in-person education for the 2020-2021 school year. These students must not be forgotten. Live Zoom calls, or daily messages from staff, help foster an inclusive learning atmosphere which will help promote a sense of self-confidence and a feeling of significance for these to completely remote students.

“Other helpful resources can include guidance counselor sessions, therapy dog visits (which we have at my school and are awesome) and general awareness encouraged by staff, in terms of mental health and the available resources.

“In order to sustain the mental, social and emotional health of the young people of New Jersey, staff members — the people we rely on for guidance — will need to be proactive. A student’s mental health dictates every action they make, from the moment they wake up to the moment they fall asleep.

“The six-foot divide between us will not divide the students of New Jersey. The bonds we make in school are too strong to let spatial distance separate our hearts. This coming school year will look very different from any other, but I am excited to see where it may take us, students, staff and New Jerseyans alike.

“Thank you.”

Sally Deering

Schools Go 100 Percent Virtual In September

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On Thursday, the Jersey City School Board unanimously approved Superintendent Franklin Walker’s five-phase plan to re-open schools in September with teachers teaching remote, virtual classes in phase one.

Effective Monday, August 17, all full-time (12-month) employees including custodians, office staff, and security personnel will report to work in person on a regular five-day schedule to begin cleaning the Jersey City Board of Education’s 45 buildings in preparation for the school year.

Teachers will report back to the classroom on Tuesday, September 8, and will begin teaching virtual classes from their classrooms to all students scheduled to report on Thursday, September 10. During that month, Superintendent Walker, the school board, and teachers will assess the safety of in-person classes with available scientific data. Until then, virtual classes will be the norm until it is safe for children to be back in the classroom.

“We all have an obligation to prepare to educate our children,” Superintendent Walker said.    “I want to make sure we have those dates clear as we continue to deal with the challenges that have been created by this pandemic.”

Superintendent Walker and the Jersey City Board of Education seem to be in line with much of the rest of the country where, according to a study published Tuesday by Burbio on CNBC.com, half of all elementary and high school students in the U.S. will be taught virtually only this fall. The study found that 52 percent will go to school virtually and 25 percent will attend every day. The remaining 19 percent will have some form of hybrid schooling, combining online and in-person learning. (Four percent of districts remain undecided.)

“Over the last few weeks we have seen a resurgence with the pandemic across the United States, especially in states which rushed to open after the initial shutdown in March and April without a clear reopening plan,” Superintendent Walker said. “We are seeing daily positive cases averaging 750,000 across America with 15,000 deaths daily. As of today, we have close to 5 million Covid-19 cases in America with 150,000 souls lost. Schools have reopened per their regular reopening calendar in some of the southern states like Georgia, and we are receiving very troubling news of dangerous spikes in cases in school among children and employees.”

To make his point, Superintendent Walker offered examples from the U.S. and abroad. Florida reported that 35 percent of children tested were positive. Israel, “which did a great job in the first phase of containment” saw its positive cases spiral out of control after schools reopened. Superintendent Walker said. “New Jersey has done a great job in the containment and a great job in the reopening of New Jersey, that is until recently,” Mr. Walker continued.

On Tuesday, according to CBS.com, more than 400 teachers in Elizabeth refused to teach in-person classes because of health concerns. In a recent response to the spikes in coronavirus infection, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy revised the June 26 guidelines presented in the New Jersey Board of Education’s “Restart and Recovery Plan: The Road Back” to reopen schools and said he will announce plans to facilitate remote learning as an option.

“We have seen our cases flatline or plateau, but unfortunately in recent days the governor has alerted us that our rate of transmission has spiked, nearing the 1.5 level,” Superintendent Walker said. “We have seen spikes in cases prompting the governor to roll back some of the reopening plans. In light of all these recent developments across the nation and what we’re seeing internationally, in addition to continued restrictions on indoor assembly in New Jersey, I cannot in good faith ask our employees and children to return to a full in-person schedule after Labor Day.”

Instead, Superintendent Walker’s  reopening plan is a five-phase timeline that begins with 100 percent virtual learning in phase one and ends with all 30,000 Jersey City public school children back in the classroom in phase five. The Board of Education has undertaken multiple surveys with teachers and parents, Superintendent Walker said, and it is clear “a majority of our parents prefer to start the year with virtual learning, which is what we’ll do”.

In a recent parent survey, 9,700 responded with 52.8 percent indicating they would not send their children back for in-person instruction and 42 percent saying they would. An overwhelming 76 percent of parents said they would not allow their child to ride a bus.

In the public comments part of the meeting, more than 40 parents called in to speak directly to the board, mostly in support of phase one’s remote learning.

Parent Tiffany Kane said she was all set to urge the board to remain in phase one and was pleased that the board was in full support of the measure.

“I do appreciate the board’s sentiment to keep us home as well,” Kane said. “I believe it is the safest place for us to be right now.”

Maria Enriquez, a parent of four in the Jersey City Public Schools and a special education teacher, echoed Ms. Kane’s comments.

“I have four kids in public school,” Enriquez said. “There is so much to be done for school buildings to be safe. My children will go back to school buildings but only when its safe.”

Parents are in a wait-and-see mode, Superintendent Walker said.

“Even though we have precautions in place, there are a lot of anxieties that exist,” Superintendent Walker said. “The plan that we have in place is a productive robust plan that can work. We will all work in tandem to ensure we will open responsibly and transition to in-person learning in phases as the science data supports it. The district understands the magnitude of the ongoing situation and will undertake efforts to support our children with proper nutrition during this pandemic phase as we have been doing these past five months. We will also undertake additional steps to see how we can support our children with counseling or any support service that can be delivered remotely.”

The Board of Education plans to ensure all Jersey City public school children have the required electronic devices and internet access for virtual learning during the pandemic.

“The health of our children, teachers, and employees come first,” Superintendent Walker said. “We will navigate and adapt and do everything to ensure a thorough and efficient education for our children and support them with additional services during this very tough time.”

Jersey City Public School’s Reopening Plan for 2020-2021 features five phases:  phase one: fully remote learning; phase two: limited in-person learning for a small group of students; phase three: easing restriction with more students receiving in-person learning; phase four: most students return to in-person learning with some exceptions for remote learning; and phase five: in-person learning for all students with limited safety restrictions.

Teachers will teach from their classrooms, Superintendent Walker said, in order to have the proper resources. They will be socially distanced and every precaution will be provided to ensure their safety. Surveying teachers, 86 percent said they would return to work; 14 percent said they would not return based on health conditions.

“We don’t know at this point in time when we will be able to implement in a safe and secure way phase two,” Superintendent Walker said. “Phase two is based on the hybrid model, in-person instruction and remote, and a group that will be all virtual. We open in phase one and reassess after the first month and make a determination after the first month.”

Trustee Marilyn Roman said: “This is a good plan, the kind of plan the state wants to see.”

The next virtual school board meeting will be held Thursday, Aug. 27, at 6 p.m.

Jersey City Times Staff

New COVID-19 Front Line? Educators, Health Experts Say It Will Be Schools

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New Jersey lacks adequate guidance for reopening schools in the fall, say those charged with making it happen

This story was written and produced by NJ Spotlight. It is being republished under a special NJ News Commons content-sharing agreement related to COVID-19 coverage. To read more, visit njspotlight.com.

Full story link – HERE.

By Lilo H. Stainton

While families, policy experts and public officials nationwide wrestle with the pros and cons of reopening schools during the pandemic, education and health leaders in New Jersey seem to agree that districts here lack the regulatory guidance and critical resources to safely restart in-person lessons next month.

The state Assembly Education Committee took testimony Monday from school nurses and public health officials who said districts need help developing testing protocols, ensuring contact tracing programs are in place, and securing sufficient personal protective equipment, or PPE, to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

By way of example, one expert said, medical supply distributors don’t recognize schools as health care facilities, making it hard for districts to create the stockpile they need to conduct regular testing or protect nurses who encounter sick students.

Related content: NJ’s Powerful Teachers Union Says Remote Learning This Fall

“We have to acknowledge, the front line of this pandemic is now moving to the schools,” said Dorian Vicente, a middle-school nurse in Morris County and president of the New Jersey State School Nurses Association. “There are still serious concerns to the feasibility of reopening safely and controlling the spread of COVID-19 in schools and school communities.”

At the same time, though, special-education and child-welfare experts warned that remote education — hastily arranged when schools were closed in March — is not effective for some children with disabilities, and those with more significant needs are likely to suffer the most.

Online learning also forces too much responsibility on parents, they said, and exacerbates educational gaps between poor and wealthy children.

“Remote is just not for all learners,” said Teresa Taylor, director of special education in Jackson.

District-by-district planning

New Jersey’s current plan calls for the state’s nearly 600 school districts to reopen on schedule in early September, with safety modifications in place based on pandemic response plans that must be approved in advance. Assemblywoman Pamela Lampitt (D-Camden), the committee chair, said 400 districts have submitted plans for review and many embrace hybrid models that call for groups of students to alternate between in-person and remote learning. Parents also have the option of opting for online education only for their own children.

Lampitt said the committee aimed to ensure that, whatever route they chose, districts plan appropriately.

The panel also advanced three related bills. One would create additional spending flexibility for COVID-related school expenses. Another would enable the state to purchase PPE and other safety materials on behalf of districts. And the third urges the federal government to provide more funding for schools to address the pandemic.

“There’s grave concern,” Lampitt said, describing school-related outbreaks in North Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee “We’ve got real examples where schools have opened and they thought they had dotted their I’s and crossed their T’s. But if there’s anything we can learn from them, (it’s that) there is more that we can do.”

“The bottom line is we need to make sure our schools are safe for our children to return,” Lampitt added. “And we have only a short window of time to get this right.”

Her colleague on the education committee, Assemblywoman Mila Jasey (D-Essex), has introduced a measure that would delay in-person school until the end of October. And a growing chorus of teachers unions and education officials are urging Gov. Phil Murphy to opt for remote-learning only for the rest of 2020.

More than 185,000 New Jerseyans have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since March, including more than 14,000 who have been confirmed to have died as a result.

‘Unusual’ school year

Murphy notes the state’s goals are to protect the health and safety of students, teachers and staff, and to pursue “the best educational outcomes possible,” while acknowledging that in-person learning “dwarfs” what children can learn online. He has also pledged to continue to listen to all sides as the planning process continues.

“Let’s all accept this is not going to be a normal year,” Murphy said in late July. “This is going to be unusual no matter how we slice it.”

Another critical feature of the state’s plan is flexibility, Murphy has said, which he said will enable districts to create more equitable options for students and staff. The state Department of Education has issued a 104-page reopening plan that outlines minimal standards and references expert guidance from other state and federal agencies, but leaves many decisions up to the individual districts. That was followed at the end of last week by an FAQ document with more than two dozen questions and a checklist for districts to follow as they proceed with reopening.

But stakeholders testifying Monday suggested these documents were not sufficient. Vicente, with the school nurses association, said that in addition to PPE supplies, districts need access to infection control expertise, localized data on coronavirus transmission, and assistance with contact tracing, which the state plan calls for them to do in conjunction with local health departments. And they need better guidance from state overseers, she and others stressed.

“Frankly, during this past spring, schools and local health departments were essentially forced to make decisions in a vacuum without any set guidance from our state [education] department. No one wishes to be in that position in September,” said Megan Avallon, president of the New Jersey Association of County and City Health Officials, and director of the Westfield Regional Health Department. “Unfortunately the local public health infrastructure is underfunded and under-resourced,” she added, which exacerbates the challenges.

Eileen Gaven, a school nurse in Middletown, said her community offered an example of how schools compound the spread of the novel virus. A massive house party in the Monmouth County community led to 68 positive COVID-19 tests results, she said, and contacts with those teens and young adults  have caused her district to face a “continuous cycles” of staff and student quarantines in pre-season fall sports programs and in-person, summer classes for 175 students with disabilities.

“It doesn’t matter where the outbreak started in Middletown, our schools have felt the ripple effect,” Gaven said. “Imagine what will happen in three weeks when we go from 175 (students) in our district (facilities) to 10,000,” she asked.

Some needs unmet with remote learning

Advocates for students with disabilities said that while protecting public health is essential, online learning does not allow the districts to fully meet all needs for some students with disabilities. Social and behavioral issues are hard to address remotely, said Taylor from Jackson, and some students are developing new needs after being isolated for so long.

Others raised concerns about the impact of remote learning on working parents.

Barbara Gantwerk with the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association was among those who urged the state to consider giving in-person education priority to certain students with disabilities, when classrooms are safe. But she said schools need better direction from the state on how to provide services for these children, especially those that require help with feeding tubes, catheters or other medical devices, and they need sufficient staff to make in-person learning safe.

“To me, this is not an issue that should be done school-by-school. This is an issue we should have (statewide) health protocols,” she said.

The DOE did not respond Tuesday to a request for comment on the need for additional direction. A spokesperson for the Department of Health said that agency is working on its own guidance document for schools in conjunction with the education department.

 

Header: Photo by Maximilian Scheffler on Unsplash

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