LACEY – Lacey Township Board of Education members spent much of a recent meeting discussing how the district will respond to the COVID-19 crisis when school reopens in September.
The day after the July 20 school board meeting, officials selected the “hybrid” model, which will include some instruction at home and some at school. Many local schools are also utilizing this plan.
School plans are a moving target in some ways, since state regulations keep changing. For example, after this meeting, Gov. Phil Murphy announced that all students (except those with health issues) will wear masks throughout the day. He said this could change if the state’s numbers go down again. Parents are encouraged to visit the district website to get updated information in the weeks ahead.
The hybrid model would give students face-to-face instruction in schools on alternate days. Preliminary plans call for the entire school population to be divided in half, with Cohort A (surnames that end in A through L) and Cohort B (surnames that end in M through Z).
Cohort A students will attend school in person on Mondays and Wednesdays. Cohort B students would attend school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Cohorts will alternate attending school in person on Friday, according to the Board of Education’s Facebook page.
“A and B will each have 90 days inclusive,” Superintendent Dr. Vanessa P. Clark said.
School buildings will operate at 50 percent capacity, according to the Hybrid A/B Cohort Model. The instructional day for students will be for five hours. That will allow for daily prep, daily duty-free lunches, and adequate time for cleaning and sanitization protocols for both buildings and transportation, the Facebook page states.
Here are the hours for the schools:
High School – 7:05 a.m. – 12:05 p.m.
Middle School – 7:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Mill Pond – 8:15 a.m. – 1:15 p.m.
Lanoka Harbor – 8:40 a.m. – 1:40 p.m.
Cedar Creek – 9:05 a.m. – 2:05 p.m.
Forked River – 9:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.
PreK AM – 8:15 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
PreK PM – 9:15 a.m. – 1:15 p.m.
Board members looked at what other school districts are doing to deal with the COVID crisis, including districts from out of state. Lacey has already held meetings with teachers and staff to decide what to do.
The district previously asked for parental responses on what should be done when school reopens in September. They received an impressive 2,400 responses, Clark said at the meeting.
Students who are not physically present on a given day will work on assignments that were discussed on a previous day, she said.
