Warren's Youngest Students To Return To School 5 Days A Week

WARREN, NJ — Beginning on Oct. 19, some of the youngest students in Warren Township will be returning to school for in-person learning, five days a week.

The Warren Township School Board of Education approved the Hybrid 1.1 plan this past Monday to send students in Kindergarten, 1st grade and 2nd grade back to school beginning on Monday, Oct. 19.

The school district was currently working on a Hybrid 1.0 plan, which offered a mix of virtual learning and in-person learning. Before moving on to Hybrid 2.0 which would entail full school days with lunched, Superintendent Dr. Matthew Mingle said the district came up with a "middle ground" with Hybrid 1.1.

"Conditions and health and safety practices allow us to make a change to bring some students back sooner in the single session calendar. So rather than wait until we can do more our thought was let's get as many of our younger students back now as we can," Mingle said during his presentation on Monday.

The reasoning the youngest were chosen first to return was due to several factors including that accessing distance learning is most challenging for the youngest students and parents and most difficult to replicate with technology. The CDC also advises that younger children are less likely to have serious cases of COVID-19 and play a relatively limited role of transmission to older students or adults, according to Mingle's presentation.

An email was sent out to parents on Tuesday, with a deadline of Wednesday, to confirm if they are choosing hybrid or distance learning.

Depending on the response from parents, the district is planning on have one single assigned homeroom teacher with class sizes limited to 11 for kindergarten, 12 in grade 1 and 13 in grade 2.

Mingle said these class size numbers are "significantly" lower than the district guidelines that call for 15 to 18 students with caps at 20 students for kindergarten and 22 for grades 1 and 2.

"This is a great first step," said Board Member Marc Franco. "I hope to this is the first step of many small steps to get all the kids back."

"I am really excited that especially the youngest ones are coming back. The ones that have the biggest challenges of being overseen for independent work," Board President Christian Bellman said.

See below to see Mingle's full presentation on the Hybrid 1.1 plan:

• Read more: NJ Coronavirus Updates: Here's What You Need To Know
• See more stories about New Jersey's coronavirus recovery.

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