Black Horse Pike Schools Explore More In-Person Learning Options

GLOUCESTER TOWNSHIP, NJ — The Black Horse Pike Regional School District is exploring the possibility of adding days to its hybrid instruction schedule, and it is seeking input from the community.

One of the options on a survey that went out to parents this week calls for students to return to the classroom five full days a week.

Other options include four half days, five half days and four full days. In the four-day options, Wednesday would remain a full-remote learning day.

All four options combine the two cohorts that are currently engaged in hybrid learning. Currently, students enrolled in the hybrid model attend school two days a week and engage in remote learning the other three days.

The full-remote option remains available for all families. The current hybrid schedule would be replaced with whatever option the district ultimately chooses, based on the feedback of Camden County's Department of Health and local health COVID-19 activity level reports.

New Jersey Coronavirus Updates: Don't miss local and statewide announcements about novel coronavirus precautions. Sign up for Patch alerts and daily newsletters.

In the survey, the district warns that while social distancing guidelines set forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) would be in effect as much as possible, there is no guarantee that they would be able to be observed at all times.

The district would continue to implement temperature scans, air purification systems, mask-wearing, and desk barriers.

Class sizes would be between eight and 20 students, but that number would vary. The survey can be found here.

Highland, Timber Creek and Triton regional high schools closed with the rest of the state last March when the coronavirus pandemic led to a state shutdown. The closure of the schools, and the shutdown overall, wasn't expected to last through the end of the 2019-20 school year.

However, schools never reopened last year, and the majority of school districts - 446, according to nj.com - are engaged in hybrid learning. Another 86 are opened for full in-person instruction.

The survey comes as the number of coronavirus cases is on the decline. On Wednesday, there were 78 new coronavirus cases reported throughout Camden County, 10 of which were reported in Gloucester Township.

“Every day that we are able to get vaccinations into the community is a day closer to some sort of return to normalcy,” Camden County Commissioner Director Louis Cappelli Jr. said. “The most important thing for Camden County residents to do right now is to keep social distancing, keep wearing a mask, and keep treating this like the crisis that is. If we keep our foot on the gas and attack this disease with the tools that we know work, we can prevent additional deaths and put this pandemic behind us.”

Camden County Commissioner Jeff Nash will be joined by Dr. Mark Condoluci of Jefferson Health NJ to update the public on the county’s coronavirus pandemic response and vaccine rollout at 11:30 a.m. Thursday. The address will be streamed live on Camden County’s Facebook page and at camdencounty.com/live.