Verona Parents Demand More In-Person Class: ‘Hybrid Not Healthy’ – Patch.com
ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — The debate about reopening schools amid the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage in Essex County.
The latest salvo took place in Verona last week, when more than 150 parents and students gathered outside town hall in a show of solidarity. Protesters said they launched the rally after learning the district didn’t have any plans to offer more in-person learning for the current school year – or the next.
Some hefted signs that read “Get in the room and off the Zoom,” and “Hybrid isn’t healthy.” But others carried slogans reading “We love Verona teachers.”
Verona isn’t the only town in Essex County to see protests from local parents who want schools to reopen. Other recent outcries have been seen in Montclair, Nutley and the South Orange-Maplewood district.
The Verona Public School District has moved from a remote to a hybrid schedule. However, a major stumbling block in the quest for more in-person learning has been the guideline to keep six feet of social distancing between students.
Learn more about the district’s COVID-19 safety efforts and reopening plan here.
Verona school officials have maintained that they want to return students back to in-person classes “as soon and as much as possible.” But according to the group of parents behind Friday’s rally, Verona Voices for More In-Person Learning, school officials need to speed up their efforts.
The reopening debate is evolving and isn’t the same as it was last year, according to Mike Dupree, a member of the group. And “hybrid” is no longer a label that administrators can rest their laurels on, he said.
“Most hybrid models, like what we have in Verona, are inadequate and offer students less than a third of their typical in-person learning time,” Dupree argued.
Other Verona parents agreed.
“Our administration has been inflexible in their adherence to students being six feet apart while masked, but this is a guideline and not a requirement,” Kristen Donohue said.
Donohue pointed out that the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) new guidance recommends placing desks six feet apart “when feasible” with children wearing masks, and the American Academy of Pediatrics says greater distance “may outweigh the potential benefits” if it reduces classroom time.
Nancy Corral Ziebert, a clinical psychologist, said that she has seen the “colossal toll” that remote learning is taking on students’ academic learning and mental health.
“Last year, my practice saw a 30 percent increase in therapy sessions, entirely due to the stress of the pandemic, and, because we primarily see children, we can deduce that this was due to the stress of school closures in particular,” Ziebert said.
“In school districts’ efforts to address one health crisis, they are secondarily creating a mental health epidemic that will have a lasting negative impact on an entire generation of children,” Ziebert added.
According to a statement from organizers, here are some of the demands that Verona Voices for More In-Person Learning is making of local school administrators:
- “The delivery of an actionable plan with clearly defined benchmarks, in consultation with public health officials, to increase in-person learning for students K-12 this spring and fall”
- “Be creative and innovative in order to support more in-person learning (e.g. infrastructure planning and openness to reexamine six foot guidelines once benchmarks are met) to allow less cohorting and more in-person time”
- “Consistency in policy. Protocols are allowed in extracurricular programs (e.g. less than six feet of spacing) are not allowed in class settings.”
- “Clear and transparent communication from the administration to the entire district community – parents and teachers”
- “The acknowledgment of the very real social, emotional, and academic impact remote learning is having on children at every grade level”
Verona Superintendent Rui Dionisio addressed some of the ongoing concerns from parents in a Feb. 22 letter to the community.
“We understand that families are frustrated with guidance from the CDC and the New Jersey Department of Health,” Dionisio wrote. “The [Verona Board of Education] and I feel your hardship, and recognize that each family has a personal story of how this crisis is impacting your lives, jobs and children.”
“We want to return our students back to in-person school as soon and as much as possible,” Dionisio said. “We will continue to review the evolving nature of this pandemic and continue to make thoughtful decisions maintaining safety of staff and students as we move forward together.”
Dionisio added:
“The district continues to review feedback from reopening committees as we look ahead to the spring and next school year. Scheduling is an ongoing, complex process and we have begun working on plans for September. We will continue to review school reopening committee feedback in conjunction with guidance from the Governor’s Office, New Jersey Department of Education, and New Jersey Department of Health.”
Dionisio shared the following COVID-19 statistics for the district on Friday.
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