TOMS RIVER – Bad kids skip school. So it must be good kids who skip spring break.
Since people are going to be home during spring break, most people decided to just stay in school.
A survey went out to parents in the Toms River Regional School District (which includes Beachwood, Pine Beach and South Toms River) asking if they wanted to work through spring break and end the school year early. The response was an overwhelming “yes.”
A whopping 5,160 parent and 1,185 staff responded, Superintendent David Healy said. Of them, more than 85 percent said they wanted to skip spring break and have a longer summer break.
Since travel is essentially banned, there was no place to go for spring break anyway, Healy noted. And since students are working remotely, they could still check in from wherever they are if they still decided to travel.
New Schedule
As of right now, school will be in session April 14-17. This means that the school year will end on Friday, June 12 instead of Thursday, June 18.
One part that didn’t change on the calendar – students will still have off April 10 and 13 for Good Friday and the Monday after Easter.
“Additionally, this office has received significant and valued feedback from our high school seniors regarding the status of momentous events such as prom and graduation. Please rest assured that if these once in a lifetime occasions cannot take place on the dates originally scheduled, this office will be working with our Board of Education, school leaders and others to reasonably ensure that they are rescheduled at a later date,” Healy said. “I’m so proud of all of you always, but especially during these uniquely challenging times, and I ask you to take care of one another, keep the faith and stay the course.”
Gov. Phil Murphy has said that school closures won’t be revisited until at least April 17.
The district has provided resources to parents dealing with the new normal of learning from home here: trschools.com/parents/virtual-school-day-plan
Toms River Schools TV studio put together a compilation of the Pledge of Allegiance followed by the National Anthem so that teachers using Google Meet or other platforms for digital learning have the option to start their “meetings” in the typical school fashion.
“Just an idea to make meetups a bit more like a classroom setting,” said TRSTV Coordinator Chip Phillips. It can be found here: youtube.com/channel/UCFtGdKvGRjbJPqmMXwu9UIg
