Summit Releases Final School Reopening Plan – Patch.com
SUMMIT, NJ — After revealing initial details of its school reopening plan last month (see them here), the Summit public schools released their final, more detailed plan Tuesday, including information on coronavirus safety procedures. The link is here.
On Thursday at 7 p.m., the district will host a “community forum regarding the district’s reopening plan.” Details of how to access it (via a Zoom link) are posted on the school district’s website.
On Tuesday, the Summit teachers’ union released a letter about the plan, including questions and concerns for the district.
Last month, the district said it would allow students the option of either attending five days per week, single session with no lunch, or being all remote (the state has said that every district must offer an all-remote option.)
Acting Schools Superintendent Robert Gardella said last month that the “blended” plans chosen by nearby districts, in which students alternate in-school and remote learning each day, could present a problem, and added that Summit parent surveys revealed that 87 percent of respondents wanted children in the buildings.
“While there is no perfect model,” he wrote, “we believe that this is the best for our students academically, emotionally, socially, and behaviorally. … A-B rotation schedules have been presented as an option by the state and are being pursued by several districts. An A-B model means that students are not in school on alternating, full days. This fact raised questions in our district: Where are students on their remote only days? Who are they with? Are they gathering? Are they distancing? Are they wearing masks? Are they supervised? Are they receiving health screenings?”
Earlier, the district had encouraged parents to help their students practice “mask endurance.”
Over this past weekend, the district said in an email: “If parents/guardians have any questions or comments about the plan, they can submit them using a Google Form which will be posted on the reopening web page on Tuesday. Members of administration will be serving as panelists in a remote forum where submitted questions will be read aloud for them to answer … the form will remain open during the forum.”
Summit schools were originally supposed to reopen on Aug. 31 (as per the calendar), but now will reopen Sept. 1 for students.
While most children in the United States have avoided severe symptoms from the virus, a large-scale study in South Korea, quoted widely last week in American media outlets from the New York Times to the Wall Street Journal, suggested that teens spread the virus at the same rate as adults, and more easily than younger children.
The CDC also confirmed a large outbreak at a camp in Georgia in a press conference Friday.
Some teachers’ unions, including in Essex County, and the state teachers’ union, have said they believe learning should stay remote for now. But working parents, parents of special needs children, and others have argued that they need aspects of on-site learning.
Around the state, school districts have been announcing a variety of options. One New Jersey district, Old Bridge, offered a choice of in-person learning only four hours per week and the rest remote, or all remote. Hoboken offered a choice of either full-day in-person learning or full-day remote. Cranford and Millburn have offered blended plans, with single-session days and a remote component.
Gov. Phil Murphy warned recently that New Jersey’s coronavirus cases are on the rise again, and he believes that indoor parties have been largely responsible. Read more: Gov. Murphy Warns That NJ’s Coronavirus Cases Are Rising Again
But the current daily death rate is down from New Jersey’s peak: a high of 460 deaths in 24 hours on April 30, or one person every three minutes.
Last month, Gov. Phil Murphy ordered residents to wear masks. He also has asked for residents to quarantine after coming from 34 states that are seeing spikes.
States around the country have had to pull back on their reopenings, including Texas, which is seeing a record number of hospitalizations and deaths. See the daily increases in each state here.
Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration released its broad school reopening guidelines to the districts late last month.
Coronavirus testing
- To find out about getting tested in Union County, contact your doctor, visit covid19.nj.gov/testing.
- If you’re a Union City resident, you can make an appointment at the testing site by calling 908-214-7107.
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