Phillips updates the Glen Ridge community on COVID-19 cases, response in the schools – Essex News Daily
GLEN RIDGE, NJ — Glen Ridge School District Superintendent Dirk Phillips updated Board of Education members and the public on COVID-19 cases in the district and district initiatives at the BOE meeting on Oct. 11, saying that the low case count at Glen Ridge High School can probably be attributed to the number of students and staff members who are vaccinated.
“We do have two schools that had a high number of quarantines, and that was related to a number of individuals who tested positive for COVID,” Phillips said at the meeting. “Forest Avenue had three classrooms that had to be quarantined, so we had 75 total (people quarantining) there.”
Nine people tested positive for COVID-19 at Forest Avenue School. At Ridgewood Avenue School, 25 people had to quarantine and two people tested positive for the virus. Two people had to quarantine at Linden Avenue School; there were no positive cases at the school. At GRHS and Central Avenue School, there were no required quarantines or cases from Sept. 12 to Sept. 24, which was the most recent data available for Phillips to draw from.
“We did sign up for the state program to have on-site COVID testing happening,” Phillips said. “I am meeting with the vendor that’s been assigned to Glen Ridge. We’re looking at testing our staff who are unvaccinated because it’s part of the governor’s executive order, but we’re also looking into the possibility of testing students if their parent chooses that option.”
He reminded parents to continue to do wellness checks on their children’s health to prevent the virus from potentially spreading in Glen Ridge through the school district.
“Every time we have a case it’s difficult to deal with,” Phillips said. “It tends to lead to about five to 10 other students that need to be quarantined. In order to maintain a healthy environment, it starts at home. If your child meets the criteria that they need to be excluded from school, please keep them home. Call the nurse and talk through that process with the nurse. By keeping your child home you’re helping other students who might have to quarantine if they did come to school.”
According to the Essex County Health Department, as of Oct. 19, Glen Ridge has seen a total of 470 COVID-19 cases and experienced 14 deaths.
After the virus update, Phillips told BOE members about a professional development day in which all district staff participated, which focused on diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and inclusion models. The second half of the professional development day focused on training to assist students with dyslexia, verbally de-escalate situations and teach students with autism.
The strategic planning process also started in early October, according to Phillips.
“We first met last week with the committee,” he said. “We have about 27 members in the core group. They include administrators, staff members, board members, representation from parents and a couple of community members. We really started laying the groundwork and working as a team. We started looking at shared values and started working on a mission statement.”
The district is also going through an audit of its special education department; interviews with parents, principals and BOE members will be conducted this month. There will also be observations in resource classrooms, inclusion classrooms and self-contained classrooms.
“They’re trying to be as thorough as possible when they’re looking at our special education program,” Phillips said. “What are our strengths, what are our weaknesses? Are we following all the mandated guidelines? What are areas we can improve on when providing instruction to our students?”