Caldwell-West Caldwell’s Revised Hybrid Plans Raise Concerns Among District Parents – TAPinto.net
CALDWELL, NJ — Parents in the Caldwell-West Caldwell school district have raised concerns regarding the district’s revised hybrid model that will go into effect this Wednesday, Oct. 7.
In addition to concerns about the disclosure of the change in plans, many have voiced concerns about the amount of time students will receive live instruction utilizing both in-person time before a teacher and the access to live streaming of a lesson being presented by an instructor. Analysis and comparison of other local districts’ instructional time and models have left the parents questioning the administration’s decision that have been incorporated into the latest plan.
Initially the board of education presented a model on August 19 that was to divide the students into cohorts that provided for in-person and alternating remote instruction schedules beginning Sept. 8. However due to staffing issues that plan was altered on August 24 when it was reported at the time by Superintendent Dr. James Heinegg that: “The delay was due to several staffing issues that still have to be resolved, and also a few health and safety issues that need to be resolved.”
In a message sent out to the school community on Monday, Aug. 24, Heinegg stated, “I recognize that the news of delaying an already-partial in-person experience for students will be disruptive for everyone, including parents, staff, and members of the wider community. We will continue to resolve staffing issues and to monitor public health and safety data and will begin to bring in more students as soon as possible.”
On Tuesday, Sept. 22, a day after the Zoom board of education meeting notification was sent from the Superintendent’s office informing the public that the schedule that was presented on Aug. 24 has been adjusted and revised. Notification provided that a form was to be available Wednesday, Sept. 23 on Google Form providing the parents an opportunity to confirm their choice of a schedule for their child(ren) and the form was required to be submitted by Thursday, Sept. 24. The district advised if confirmation were not received by Sept. 24 that “students without completed surveys will be placed in remote cohorts. After September 25, any changes to your child’s schedule–e.g., if you wish to go from Fully Remote to In Person or vice versa–must be made by contacting the school directly. We will try to make these changes as expeditiously as possible, but they may require time in order to ensure compliance with state and local health and safety guidelines.”
Parent Stefani Pagano, who is not supportive of the plan, did her own comparison and analysis of other local district’s hybrid plans compared to Caldwell-West Caldwell’s and stated, “My goal was to actually see what was happening. The documentation on our school plans was very difficult to understand and even harder to compare. I firmly believe that most people have no idea what they actually voted on when they chose in-person or remote on the survey. Until I plotted it all out, I even believed that the new 100% remote option provided the least live instruction which is not true at all.
“I firmly believe families should have a choice whether to go back or stay remote right now. That said, all families deserve the best education we can provide. Our current remote schedule provides more instruction than either of the new schedules. If we are going to change, we should be changing in the right direction.”
The plans presented that will go into effect on Oct. 7 will divide the elementary students into three cohorts, with A and B being split into morning and afternoon sessions for live instruction and independent studies five days per week, while cohort C will be all remote who “may be assigned to join {this} in person session via Goggle Meet broadcast.”
The students of one cohort will be in the building from 8:45-11:05 a.m. for in person instruction. During the afternoon that same cohort will be remote for approximately one and a half hours working independently on assignments.
High school and middle school students under the newly revised plan will be divided into three cohorts, receiving four half days of live instruction from Oct. 7-Nov. 25, the remaining instruction will be remote. New material will be presented every three days in core curriculum content areas. Parental concerns included whether the introduction of new curricula every three days will put the students behind schedule compared to other districts.
Susana Parashah, a district parent who has been concerned with the plan, created a Facebook page “Caldwell Parents For A Better Education” providing a space for parents to discuss the matter. Parathath confirmed that within 24 hours of creating the page over 160 members have joined.
In an interview with TAPinto West Essex, Parathath stated, “The main concern regarding the proposed model is the limited instruction time that the children will be receiving, especially at the middle school and high school. The original hybrid model released on Aug. 14 had the children in the ‘remote’ cohorts receiving roughly the same amount of instruction per day as the children in the classroom. It was far from ideal but at least it was approaching a level of instruction that was adequate.”
She continued, “With the new model, when children at the higher levels are not in school, they are receiving 1-2 hours of instruction per day. This will be particularly devastating to children who are on the “full remote” plans. The state guidelines mandate a minimum of four hours of instruction per day. Any reasonable person can see that the current plan does not come close to fulfilling that mandate. Watching videos and completing assignments are not “instruction” by any reasonable person’s estimation. At best, the current plan is a disservice to the children and the community, at worst it is discriminatory against the children and families who had no choice but to choose the “full remote” plan.”
Heinegg stated that the district follows the requirements set forth by the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE). Heinegg said, “In The Road Back, the NJDOE explains: ‘Hours of instructional time are not defined as a student’s time spent in front of a teacher or in front of a screen, but time engaged in standards-based learning under the guidance and direction of a teacher.’ When students do not have live class with the teachers (either in-person or remotely), they have asynchronous work assignments from teachers so that the total instructional time on all days is at least four hours.”
That same section of the Road Back also references: “Plans will look different in each district to meet the unique needs of their community, but considerations should be made to balance reducing student screen time with facilitating meaningful interactions between teachers, students, and their peers.”
However, it is the limited hours of live instruction whether in class or opportunity for remote student to have access to the class that is of concern to the parents. When questioned if the technology capabilities precluded such opportunities Heinegg responded, “We are increasing bandwidth in the district, so expect to be solid with respect to technology. We are piloting live-streaming with some teachers during the first round of in-person instruction in early October.”
Parathath believes that the students will be adversely affected by the plan, noting, “The comparable and nearby districts to Caldwell/West Caldwell have all found ways to accommodate adequate, if not superior amounts of instruction for their children. For example, West Essex, Verona and Livingston are offering almost 23 hours of live instruction per week (in-person + remote). By comparison, Caldwell/West Caldwell will be offering 12-13 hours of live instruction per week. The children of Caldwell/West Caldwell are being completely left behind in comparison to their peers. These children have already lost so much, and this district is now trying to take away their right to an education. The management of this crisis by the administration is bordering on negligent. Other districts have found creative ways to combat the crisis. Our district gave up.”
One of the requirements of the NJDOE’s Restart and Recovery Plan for Education required parental input regarding the plans to reopen the schools which took place during the summer. Heinegg confirmed, “We wanted to include as much parent input as possible on the Restart Committee, so we had multiple meetings: Parent input sessions were held via video conference on July 16, July 23, July 27, July 30, and Aug. 6. Each input session had over 200 participants and lasted approximately two hours. Four parent surveys were distributed, and parents also had the opportunity to provide feedback via email and telephone. “
However, transparency and information keeping the parents informed also received criticism. Parathath, when questioned if the parents were satisfied with information forthcoming from the district, stated, “Absolutely not. The only person from the district and BOE who has responded to any of my messages has been Chris Elko, who is not on the board but is currently running for the seat in November. Not only has the administration been unresponsive, they have been underhanded in the way that they have released changes to the plan. The new plan was released one day after the September BOE meeting with no forum for comment or questions.”
Parathath continued, “Furthermore, parents were required to re-commit to either full-remote or hybrid in a matter of days with no forum, again, to ask questions. All questions to the Superintendent James Heinegg went unanswered. In conversations with other concerned parents, no one who reached out to Dr. Heinegg received a response from him. Several reached out to the county and received responses in less than 24 hours. There very well may be a reason why we needed to throw away the previous hybrid plan, however no one to my knowledge has yet to receive any kind of explanation.”
When reached for comment, Board of Education candidate Chris Elko said, “During this chaotic time, our district should be over-communicating with families. They are not. Our district should be collaborating with neighboring school districts to find the best approach. We are clearly behind. We need to improve on the good parts of this plan, like an option to attend elementary schools five days a week, without impacting remote learners. I hope those improvements are coming soon.”