Lakewood Schools Cleaning, Planning Amid Coronavirus Concerns

LAKEWOOD, NJ — The Lakewood School District will be doing a deep cleaning of its schools over the weekend as officials continue to closely monitor developments with the coronavirus.

The deep cleaning will include all high surface areas, touch points such as door knobs and handles, all desktops and chairs, and all glass areas and vacuuming, a news release from the district said.

That deep cleaning is on top of daily cleaning of all touch points throughout the district, "consistently as we have been, until there are no longer any concerns with this virus," the statement said.

In addition, the district is making plans for home intruction in case there is an order from state or local health officials to close the schools.

There have been no cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) identified in Ocean County as of Monday evening, but health officials are closely monitoring the spread of the virus in the state. Two cases have been identified in neighboring Monmouth County, and 15 identified across the state as of Tuesday, including one fatality.

On Monday evening, Gov. Phil Murphy declared a state of emergency, allowing state agencies and departments to utilize state resources to assist affected communities responding to and recovering from COVID-19 cases. Read more: NJ Coronavirus Updates: Here's What You Need To Know

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

District officials continue to reiterate advice from the Centers for Disease Control, urging parents and children to practice everyday preventative behaviors, including:

• Covering the nose and mouth with a tissue or sleeve when they sneeze or cough, or coughing/sneezing into the elbow, instead of their hands;
• Washing hands with soap and water for 20 seconds, frequently and especially after going to the bathroom, after sneezing or coughing, and before eating;
• Avoiding people who are sick;
• Staying home or keep children home if they are sick and until they have been fever-free without medication for at least 24 hours.

Because students in the Lakewood schools do not all have ready access to the internet at home, the district will provide students at all grade levels with instructional packets in all subject areas: English Language Arts (reading, writing, grammar, foundational skills); Mathematics; Science; Social Studies; Spanish, and Health. The packets will contain enough material for 20 classroom days.

In addition, elementary school teachers will be expected to create video lessons in English/Language Arts, math, special subjects and media/library and upload it to an internet-accessible drive to allow students who have internet access the opportunity to enhance their home instruction program.

Middle school and high school teachers will add lessons to Google Classroom and Google Meet.

Teachers also will be required to call students and their parents two to three times a week to check on students' progress and see if they need assistance.

Students who receive physical and occupational therapies and speech therapy will have maintenance programs sent home and speech therapy provided through Google Meet.

And because all the district's students receive free lunch and breakfast, they are being provided as brown-bag meals that will be delivered to parents at the students' bus stops each morning, officials said.

Have a news tip? Email karen.wall@patch.com Follow Lakewood Patch on Facebook.