HOWELL – Building a plane while in flight was how School Superintendent Joseph Isola described how school districts grappled with the short notice from the state that remote learning would replace in school learning back in March.
Now districts like Howell which offers K-8 grade, face an even bigger issue. How to get students back into their buildings safely. It was the subject of a two-and-a-half-hour July 2 Community Interaction Committee meeting.
“The plan we will talk about at our Aug. 5 board meeting may or may not be the plan we are living at the end of September because there will be things that change. We are looking at a phased approach opening up safely for our students, staff and community and hopefully by the end of the school year find ourselves in a normal setting. That is the challenge many school districts are facing,” Isola said.
The Community Interaction meeting featured Board President Mark Bonjavanni and Board members Ira Thor and Christy Mangano, citizen members Heather Wallace, Donna Carnevale, and Marc Parisi along with Isola and Asst. Superintendent of Business Administration Ronald Sanasac.
They went over a variety of issues that the district is facing and parents and staff have questions about.
Some of those discussions were explored again during a July 8 Board of Education meeting.
Isola said that attendance in schools will not be relaxed and that like always the district answers to the state regarding that. “We will require to the extent that we do now but attendance is a consideration for our upcoming policy meeting as it applies specifically to the COVID situation.”
The district is also looking at developing a kind of affidavit/parental contract that acknowledges “you won’t send your child to school with a fever which speaks to why temperature taking may not really be a great indicator of what symptoms are out there. We know parents and students could mask fevers maybe innocently or purposely with over counter medicine like Motrin,” Isola said.
During that same meeting questions were posed by some of the 215 attendees that attended the virtual meeting which included an inquiry about whether there would be any after school activities.
The superintendent responded, “I believe we could see an environment that has virtual after school activities. I am very cautious about what fall sports will look like. We are waiting to see what high school leagues do. We’ve been asked to pause and get guidance from the high school before we make decisions.”
Thor noted that on the college level “we’ve already had schools in the state already put an ax for sports in the fall and that means winter sports as well.”
Isola responded to another question about limiting movement of students within the school from section to section. “In the elementary school it is obviously a little easier as the classrooms are designed to have one class with one teacher for a core subject. Middle school, we get a lot more traffic.”
The use of ultra violet lighting similar to what the New York Subway system is using to sterilize its facilities was also brought up and whether it could be used to clean classrooms at the end of the school day.
“Mr. Sanasac is working on that,” Isola said.
“Ultraviolet technology is long standing however it is not being used during occupancy so that would be an activity for the evening. We are looking at many portable lights and I will have quotes and a presentation for the operations committee,” Sanasac said.
Social distancing was also an issue. It was discussed whether kids might go to school for split sessions. If this is the case, parents might need child care.
A question was raised by a parent whether they would be able to have a say in which day a child might be spending time at home. “It will be considered. I don’t know how much we can accommodate but we will make that part of our considerations,” Isola said.
Another inquiry was whether there would be parent training to give more tools to parents during periods of remote learning. Isola responded, “Yes, we will probably do that during our Parent University program and other parent meetings.”
Thor’s daughter Kendra, an incoming 8th grade student provided an e-mail that was read during the July 8 board meeting public comment period that promoted the idea of why students should return to a live classroom experience.
“Even though my dad is a member of the board I am saying this for myself, my friends and my classmates,” Kendra said noting some of the trouble she had with remote learning.
“I honestly feel for the three and a half months that remote learning took place I did not do much learning. For the first part of this year I was doing well with all subjects including algebra. Sometimes I had a problem with algebra but my teacher was able to help me a lot because we were in person however once we were forced to go to remote learning, I felt like I hit a brick wall in algebra. I did not understand the new work given to me and it could not be explained over a computer screen.”
“My example is one of many as I am talking to friends of how their remote learning experience went. It may be a solution for a few days but it is definitely not a long-term solution,” she added.
The student asked the board and administrators to consider how many students want to return to school and who aren’t doing full remote learning. You should measure classrooms for how students can fit six feet apart. “Nobody can benefit from going back to school some days and remote learning the rest of the days. The full in-person learning by far the best option to take.”
Isola said early on in the meeting that “we are working through our road back plans. We are working on different scenarios as the information and guidance is trickling out and the frequently asked question document report is being done. We don’t want to hurry up and get it wrong. We recognize that we won’t have a one design plan that will fit all.”
