4 Manalapan Schools Will Go Fully Remote In September

MANALAPAN, NJ –Five schools in the Manalapan-Englishtown Regional School District will be altering its reopening plans for second through sixth grade levels, according to an Aug. 5 letter to district parents. The changes will only affect students in buildings that are not fully equipped with air conditioning units.

The revised plan includes migrating all second- through fifth graders currently in the A/B hybrid schedule into a remote Virtual Academy schedule for the month of September. The modification will impact students at Clark Mills School, Lafayette Mills School, Taylor Mills School and Milford Brook School.

All sixth grade students at Pine Brook School will also follow the Virtual Academy schedule for the month of September.

Students at Wemrock Brook School, Manalapan-Englishtown Middle School and the Early Childhood Learning Center will stick to the hybrid model as their facilities have air conditioning.

In the letter, Manalapan-Englishtown Superintendent of Schools Dr. John J. Marciante, Jr. stated the "unreasonable" ask of having young children wear masks in hot classrooms for hours at a time. Marciante also addressed the recent mandate from Gov. Phil Murphy regarding the uninterrupted use of face masks in schools:

“While additional guidance was promised, one thing is clear, Governor Murphy has not sat in a classroom in a non-air conditioned school during September for an extended period of time,” the superintendent wrote. “As I stated in my presentation last week, it is unreasonable to expect that any child would be able to wear a mask in an 85 degree classroom for a four hour period. I will not include that in the plan for reopening of the Manalapan-Englishtown Regional Schools as a requirement.”

On Monday – the day that many school districts throughout the state submitted their reopening plans for approval – Murphy announced new guidelines that would prohibit mask breaks during the school day. The new mandate states that masks cannot be taken off indoors, including for lunch or snacking reasons. Read more: Mask Breaks? Not Happening In NJ Schools, Governor Murphy Says

“From all the emails I have received, it is clear to me that many parents do not want to have their children wearing a mask for four straight hours,” the superintendent wrote.

“I recognize that this will impact some decisions previously made regarding choosing the A/B Hybrid Model or 100% Virtual Academy. Due to this significant change by the governor, if you want to change your decision and switch to the 100% Virtual Academy, you will need to email your principal and make that request. We will take care of making the change for you.”

According to the release, a decision will be made on Oct. 1 regarding the use of non-air conditioned school buildings.

“It is my expectation that those students will return to in-person instruction in the A/B Hybrid format with masks mandated by Oct. 15,” Marciante wrote.

Click here to read the entire letter.

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