West Orange Parents Plan Rally, Demand More In-Person Learning

WEST ORANGE, NJ — A group of West Orange families are planning a protest on Friday to demand “more in-person learning” as the district gradually reopens from the coronavirus pandemic.

According to a news release from organizers, the rally is being planned for 2 to 3 p.m. at the West Orange Board of Education Building, 179 Eagle Rock Avenue.

The involved parents are demanding that the West Orange school district expand in-person learning to five half-days a week for K-12 students no later than May 17. Read More: West Orange Schools Adapt As COVID Changes Take Place In NJ

Organizers released the following statement on Monday:

“West Orange Public Schools got a late start in opening their buildings this school year. Starting January 25, children gradually were phased back into the buildings by grade and need. Until May 3, elementary students were only permitted inside their school buildings two half-days a week. Middle school and high school students in West Orange were divided into four cohorts, and attend school two half-days every other week, or four half-days a month. The building principals and teachers collaborated to select students they felt appropriate for more in-person time, but this does not cast a wide enough net; every student needs more in-person time, either for academic reasons, their social-emotional well-being, or both.

“The West Orange Schools hybrid model has been too limited despite a receding pandemic. The week of April 26, 43 West Orange residents tested positive for COVID-19, or 0.009 percent of the town’s population. Despite this, and while hundreds of other districts across the state have embarked on robust in-person and full-time models, the schools in West Orange remain in a lurch. This is detrimental to our children and our community at large.

“On May 3, elementary students will begin to attend school four half-days a week. Although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance was revised on March 19 to allow for three feet of physical distancing between elementary students at all levels of community spread, it will have taken West Orange schools six and a half weeks to collapse elementary cohorts.

“On May 17, Superintendent Dr. Scott Cascone plans for middle and high school students to attend school for two half-days a week. The CDC and New Jersey Department of Health guidance states that at our current level of community spread, children in grades K–12 can attend school at three feet physical distance; a measurement which, if taken from nose to nose, is an arm’s length.

“Children in grades K – 12 in West Orange should be able to attend school in-person five half-days a week, starting no later than May 17 of this year. We do not believe the West Orange school district is acting in the best interest of children or making real efforts to allow children to attend school as often as possible, and we respectfully demand that the school leadership do more, and fast.”

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