Many New Jersey districts are planning hybrid programs, with some in-person instruction and some remote instruction. For the in-person cohorts, split day or alternating week schedules are also common in preliminary plans, in order to ensure that a fraction of students are in school buildings at one time. Many preliminary plans are subject to change. And of those that have been made public, remember that they are now required to offer parents the option of full-time virtual learning, even if it’s not stated in the preliminary plans below.
At publication time, Willingboro and Bayonne school districts’ Boards have voted to submit plans to remain “all-remote” at the beginning of the school year.
Here’s a sampling of district preliminary plans we’ve seen so far:
West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District
Preliminary plan: Alternating weeks
- Alternating week schedule, so only 50 percent of students are in the classroom each day.
- In a classroom with 24 students, 12 will attend school during an “A” week, while the other half stay home for remote instruction. Then, the groups will flip during “B” weeks, according to the plan.
- Students will only go to school for half days. No lunch will be served. Students will be required to wear masks, unless they have a health problem.
- All-remote learning option will be offered.
Parsippany-Troy Hills Township Schools
Preliminary plan: Alternating weeks
- Expected to stagger student attendance in alternating weeks, with half of the students attending one week while the other half participate in online instruction from home.
- Special Friday schedule to accommodate special instruction, if needed; others would have a completely virtual learning day.
- Siblings in different grades would be put on the same weekly schedule to accommodate families.
- All-remote learning option will be offered.
Bayonne Public Schools
Preliminary plan: All remote
Bernards Township School District
Preliminary plan: Two days of class a week for older students
- Middle school and high school students in school two days, other days learning at home.
- Half of each class would attend school Mondays and Thursdays. Half would go Tuesdays and Fridays. All students home Wednesdays for remote learning.
- Decision pending on elementary school students following same split schedule.
- Considering another split schedule option in which half of elementary school students would go to school in the morning for three hours while the other half of the class attended a three-hour afternoon session.
Summit Public Schools
Preliminary plan: Five days a week, possibly with a shortened school day
- Option for all students in school five days a week.
- Decision pending on shortened school day and whether lunch will be served.
- Students required to wear masks if they don’t have medical problems; mask breaks, time for snacks and hand washing will be built into the daily schedule.
- All-remote learning option will be offered.
Jersey City Public Schools
Preliminary plan: Alternating weeks
- Alternating week schedule with students attending school full-day five days with half their class, then switching to remote learning the following week on an alternating schedule.
- Limited movement in building, social distancing and health precautions.
- All-remote learning option will be offered.
Metuchen School District
Preliminary plan: Alternating weeks, possibly without busing
- Alternating week schedule, called “Roomers” and “Zoomers,” with students attending school five days with half their class, then switching to remote learning the following week on an alternating schedule.
- Considering dropping busing contracts due to small district geographic size (2.7 square miles and low school bus route utilization). Districts are not required to offer busing to students who live less than two miles from an elementary or middle school or 2 1/2 miles from a high school, and increased costs due to COVID-19 mitigations.
- Students with disabilities would still receive busing.
- All students will be required to wear masks at school.
- Access to lockers will be limited due to social distancing rules.
Gloucester Township
Preliminary plan: Either a full week or two days a week
- One of two plan options, depending on parent survey responses.
- Option 1 – All-in-one: students would go to school four or five days a week. Social distancing is not possible; students kept three feet apart in classrooms; students required to wear masks all day, except for recess and lunch; schools may close one day a week for deep cleaning with students staying home for remote learning one day.
- Option 2 – Space first plan: half of students go to school two days a week with their teachers, while the other half of the class learn at home with limited teacher support. Then swap for the next two days. On the fifth day, everyone would stay home for remote learning. With social distancing possible, masks would not be required while students sit at their classroom desks.
- All-remote learning option will be offered.
Willingboro Township Public Schools
Preliminary plan: All remote
Princeton Public Schools
Preliminary plan: Hybrid learning, multiple cohorts
- Pre-K, Kindergarten, Grade 1 – All students attend school five days per week with a 3:00 dismissal. Physical distancing will be possible based on current enrollment.
- Grades 2-5 – Cohort A attends school in person on Monday and Tuesday and learns remotely Wednesday and Friday. Cohort B learns remotely Monday and Wednesday and attends school in person Thursday and Friday. All in-person days are 1:00 p.m. dismissals. Teachers interact with remote learners daily, after 1:00 p.m. Special education pupils in self-contained classes (no Cohort A or B) attend school five days per week until 3:00 p.m. Learning for most pupils is remote Wednesday to allow for building sanitization between cohorts.
- Grades 6-12 – In an A Week, Cohort A attends school Monday-Thursday, while Cohort B learns remotely. In a B Week, Cohort A learns remotely, while Cohort B attends school Monday-Thursday. School days are full day. Exploring options for outdoor eating and/or safety protocols that will enable social distancing while students’ masks
are removed for eating. Instruction for special education students in full-time self-contained classes will be in person. All Friday learning remote for sanitization of buildings between cohorts. - Special education students in full-time self-contained classes, PreK-12, attend in-person school daily. All students who require related services will receive instruction during their in-school time.
- All-remote learning option will be offered.
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