HOWELL – On September 10, students will be heading back to school in the township starting the 2020-21 school year like never before.
That goes for teachers, administrators, various staff and parents as well. Like school districts across the state and beyond, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, students were relegated to remote instruction starting in mid-March of this year. That method continued on through June.
The kindergarten thru 8th grade district includes the following schools: Adelphia Elementary School, Aldrich Elementary School, Ardena Elementary School, Greenville Elementary School, Griebling Elementary School, Land O’ Pines Elementary School, Memorial Elementary School, Newbury Elementary School, Ramtown Elementary School, Taunton Elementary School, Howell Middle School North and Howell Middle School South.
This month marks the return of teachers and children truly being back to school as sanitized classrooms will host two methods of education. They include an all-remote option that parents could select for children which involves receiving lessons on the computer at home and a hybrid model that has students attend school two days a week and receive instruction at home on days when they are not in the classroom.
Around 70% of the district’s parents favored the hybrid model and 30% of the district’s parents chose all-remote instruction.
Enrollment in the school district stands at around 5,000 students according to the district’s website. Children in pre-kindergarten through second grade have the option to attend school four partial days a week utilizing an “in school” cohort to maintain the required social distancing.
Third through 8th grade students will use the cohort model with two days in school each week and three days of remote instruction every week.
School Superintendent Joseph Isola said during the most recent Board of Education meeting that the district will open and be responsive to the needs and concerns of parents, students and staff.
He noted that “it would look different rather quickly, it may be stable for some time. We don’t know, but we ask the community to be patient and remain flexible.”
Isola repeated a phrase from prior meetings of the Board and its Interaction Committee saying the district will be prepared to “pivot to an all-remote model of instruction if conditions require that change to be made.”
He commended teachers and staff saying they “have truly been partnering with us to get this work done in a way that makes us proud and I know the board joins me in that sense of pride.”
“I know not every school district is able to say that and I certainly feel pride in that statement,” Isola said during the virtual meeting. He responded to questions during the session. Board members were present at the meeting held at the Howell Municipal complex.
Isola maintained that the plan that was developed and approved by the Board was in response to the needs of Howell parents and students and would be conducted in a safe manner.
One area of concern that was addressed during the meeting regarded the pickup and drop off of children at school instead of allowing them to ride on a bus. The superintendent said the administrators at each school had developed a plan to accommodate drop-offs and pick-ups.
Isola confirmed that there was a higher than normal number of staff members requesting time off at the beginning of the typical academic year but that “we believe we will have enough staff.”
Staffing issues have led to some districts such as Howell’s high school sending district Freehold Regional High School District beginning their school district all remotely. Such districts must submit a plan on how to correct the situation to allow for some percentage of live education, to the State Department of Education per orders of Governor Phil Murphy.
Any issues of students adjusting to remote learning would also be addressed and Isola assured parents that all the regular resources of the district would be made available for educators as well as for students to have.
Assistant Superintendent for Business Administration/Board Secretary Ronald Sanasac noted that around 30% of students had indicated they were electing to stay with remote learning.
He added, that this decision by parents would therefore reduce the number of potential students who would need to use buses. “We have the cohorts which in essence splits the remaining number of students in half. We are looking at about 25% to 30% of the students possibly riding a bus on any given cohort day.”
“That should put us in the range resembling social distancing on most buses,” Sanasac added.
