Moorestown Approves 5-Day In-Person School Day For Lower Grades

MOORESTOWN, NJ — Students in Moorestown's lower grade levels will soon return to the classroom five days a week amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The Board of Education at its meeting Thursday night unanimously approved a plan to bring students in kindergarten through third grade back to school for in-person learning five days a week, effective March 22.

That date is pending the district’s ability to install plexiglass barriers. The school day would run from 8:40 a.m. to 1:10 p.m.

An amendment to the plan proposed by Board Member Mark Villanueva calls on the administration to present a plan for a return to five-day instruction for grades 4-12 by the March 16 board meeting.

The vote was 9-0, and came after a five-hour meeting in which the district reached its Zoom limit of 500 attendees.

Before the amendment was proposed, the district said in its presentation that students in grades 4-6 will remain hybrid, and the district will implement a synchronous learning plan that puts them in alignment with grades 7-12.

No changes were to be made for the middle school and high school at this time, although the district is looking at ways to bring seniors back for in-person learning.

Parents of students in kindergarten through third grade will be asked to respond through the online Genesis portal as to if they want their students to return to in-person learning five days a week or go full-remote by the end of the day on Monday.

The district said it needs all parents to respond. In a recent survey that went out after the last Board of Education meeting, 17 percent of parents didn't respond. The plan will then go before the New Jersey Department of Education for approval.

Parents of students in the rest of the grades will begin receiving surveys of how to move forward at those levels beginning next week.

The decision comes after the COVID-19 threat level for Burlington County moved from high to moderate in recent weeks as the number of new cases drops and the number of immunizations increases.

The threat level is one of the tools school districts use to assess whether it is safe to return to school, and in what capacity.

The current hybrid format calls for two days of in-person instruction and three days of remote learning. There is also a full-remote learning option. It isn't clear how the plan would be impacted if the threat level increases again.

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Under the plan, existing student cohorts would be combined to move to the five-day in-person plan. Social distancing was a point of contention for some parents when the survey was sent out.

In kindergarten through third grade, social distancing would be reduced from 6 feet to 5 feet, and classroom size would be determined by square foot and the results of the survey.

In classes where maintaining that 5 feet of social distancing isn’t possible, satellite rooms would be set up, staffed by certified teachers and a para-professional.

The district described this as having a substitute teacher for the day. It would be a mix of teachers already in the building and hiring one or two long-term substitutes who would be familiar with the subject they are assigned, to keep a flow of learning in place.

Students would rotate between the regular classroom and the satellite room, with students being in the satellite room once every six days.

Students in the same grade from different classes would be in the same satellite room, but the priority is to keep students with the same teacher they've had since the beginning of the school year, as opposed to balancing class sizes.

Superintendent of Schools Scott McCartney said social distancing guidelines may change from day-to-day based on attendance, but would not go below 5 feet.

To go below the 6 feet of social distancing that has been stipulated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the district must use plexiglass barriers.

The cost of these barriers has dropped recently, and the availability has increased. The barriers now cost between $50,000 and $60,000, to be paid for, at least in part, by using federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding.

Students and staff are still required to wear face coverings and follow all the CDC's sanitary guidelines.

All students would go outside together for recess and snack time.

The district must explore desk sizes to determine the number of students that would be in each classroom.

The changes were considered for students in the lower grades because they are struggling more with remote learning than their counterparts in the higher grades, district officials said.

While five days of in-person learning weren’t considered at the Upper Elementary School, some changes were considered.

In fourth and fifth grades, students will engage in synchronous learning for math and language arts, and combine synchronous and asynchronous learning in the other subjects.

In sixth grade, students would engage in synchronous learning in language arts, math, science and social studies, and a combination of synchronous and asynchronous learning in the other areas.

To move forward, the school would need more than 620 barriers, staff for satellite rooms, transportation capacity, and a plan to implement combined cohorts. As it stands, every space in the Upper Elementary School is being used.

Moorestown Education Association (MEA) President Lisa Trampani said the union supports the plan, and that everyone wants to see students back in school.

Parent Jeff Seiden, a physician for Virtua Health, said he sees the mental health impacts of the coronavirus on children of all ages and in all grade levels every day.

"It's not going away any time soon," Seidel said. "We need to push forward, but we need to do it in a safe, mindful way."

They were among a number of teachers, staff and members of the public who spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting, which took place before the amendment.

"Parents are bitterly disappointed with the plan for upper grade levels," parent Anthony Dragun said, adding that students need to be in school to meet with teachers in subjects in which they are struggling in person at the end of the day. "There's a silent majority that wants to see results."

Parent Andrea Lawson pointed out that some parents have had to hire tutors to supplement the district's hybrid learning, that the hybrid system makes it more difficult for Moorestown students to prepare for AP exams, and that there are social, emotional, and mental strains on the students.

"We can't wait to bring your kids back into the classroom," middle school teacher Ryan Kent said. "We want to do it in a safe, careful, methodical way. We all have the same goal, we just want everyone to be safe."

"The administration is failing at all the schools," parent Steve Rosenman said. "There's still no plan. There has been no progress."