South Jersey Magazine - Moorestown / Mt. Laurel

zoom_in

SJM_Feature_Learning_to_Adapt_0720_FINAL_Pages 7 / 14 / 20 2 : 58 PM Page 7 LEARNING TO LEARNING THE HARD WAY appropriate distancing . There’s just no The typical school day will look very different this fall as the good way to make it happen , unless you pandemic forces changes to our educational system , but are pack the classrooms and make the kids educators and parents ready for what lies ahead ? wear masks all day , which nobody is going BY MATT COSENTINO to do and parents aren’t going to want . ” The option of physical barriers looks like a long shot ; Back says the plexiglass WHEN THE COVID - 19 PANDEMIC FIRST REACHED NEW JERSEY IN MARCH , PERHAPS NO FACET desk covers his board researched range As schools OF DAILY LIFE ASIDE FROM HEALTH CARE WAS MORE IMPACTED THAN EDUCATION . in price from $ 150,000 to $ 300,000 and closed across the state , teachers , whether they were well - versed in technology or not , might not be able to be installed by were suddenly tasked with providing remote lessons and giving instruction through September anyway . For that reason , many email or Zoom conferences . Parents who were now working from home found themselves districts seem to be favoring a hybrid committing a significant portion of their day to helping children access and understand schedule in which half the students come their assignments . Students who were used to connecting with their teachers in the to school on certain days and the other classroom and spending time with their friends were instead completing their schoolwork half stay home for remote learning . Bring - alone , unable to fully comprehend the crisis around them . ing in students in alternating weeks is another possibility for some districts . “ In the end , it’s a logistical nightmare , ” Back says . “ Being able to get the kids on Mary Costa , a Washington Township have barriers between them ; social dis - the buses , get them in the building , get resident and the mother of two boys , han - tancing at lunch , recess and on buses ; them screened dled her new reality the only way she and mandatory face coverings for staff to make sure they don’t knew how — with humor . She documented and visitors , which is also encouraged for have a fever and get them safely into the her family’s transition to remote learning students when social distancing is not classroom where they’re not on top of with hilarious Facebook posts , bringing possible . each other , it’s essentially impossible to levity to a situation that desperately needed “ There’s no way it’s going to look nor - do it having every kid there every day . ” it . From asking her “ students ” for signed mal , ” says Tim Back , the father of a fifth - Haddonfield resident Megan York permission slips for a field trip to the grader and a member of the East Green - Parker has two sons , one in elementary laundry room , to instituting nap time for her sixth - grader and bringing in “ Daddy ” as a special guest speaker , her daily announcements helped her friends deal with the same stress she was enduring through laughter . “ I think everybody was amused by my posts and they were looking forward to them , ” she says . “ I just did them in the moment ; I didn’t plan anything . But I have to come up with new material for the fall . ” Although Gov . Phil Murphy announced in late June that at least some form of in - person education is expected to come back in September , nobody is exactly sure yet what school is going to look like and it is almost a guarantee that remote learning will remain part of the plan . Administrators and school boards throughout South Jersey are dedicating their summer to imple - menting new protocols to keep students and staff safe , while teachers , parents and students brace for what they hope will be a successful return . wich Board of Education in Gloucester school and one in nursery school . She Putting a plan together County . “ I can’t see any district sending runs the borough’s parent Facebook forum , There are a number of requirements and all of the kids back every day , just because so she has been in contact with many recommendations outlined in the state’s there are so many rules around how to other moms and dads and given much 104 - page report on reopening schools , space things out and nobody has the facil - thought to the issue . including the ability to combine in - person ities to do that . Our district measured it “ I’m fairly confident Haddonfield will and remote learning through a hybrid out and about half the class can fit in any be forced to offer a hybrid schedule — our schedule or split sessions ; the need for classroom at any given point with the district is housed in older buildings where desks to be spaced out at least 6 feet or SOUTH JERSEY MAGAZINE volume 17 issue 4 SouthJerseyMagazine.com | 49

view text

zoom_in

SJM_Feature_Learning_to_Adapt_0720_FINAL_Pages 7 / 15 / 20 9 : 28 AM Page 8 how safe it’s going to be . ” that some of the elementary kids would space was already hard to find , ” she says . She not only meets regularly with stu - go into the high schools , and let the high “ I don’t see how social distancing of 6 feet dents and parents in her role as school students continue to go to school a guidance could be possible without reducing the remotely . But nobody knows for sure . ” counselor , but also teaches lessons in the number of students in the classroom at Whether all students in a certain district classroom for kindergarten through fifth any given time . are returning to school , learning remotely grade and is preparing for both in - person “ While I’m glad that my elementary - or doing a combination of both , one thing and online instruction . “ If and when we aged child will have the opportunity to can be counted on — plans are going to go back , it’s not going to be the same for a return to some normalcy with reintro - have to be fluid to deal with the uncertainty long time , ” she says . “ I have a feeling staff duction of in - person instruction , parents of the coronavirus . will have to be in the building five days a remain unsure what exactly that will look week , but I don’t know about students . I like , pending a district announcement Within five minutes , this could all “ don’t know how one person can deliver next month . Socially and developmentally , change , ” Back says . “ There could be a in - person instruction and be on call for I’m happy for my son , but I recognize massive outbreak in the school , numbers the other kids who are at home that day that no matter what direction the district could spike somewhere else in the state , to answer their questions directly . It’s crazy takes for hybrid instruction , some parents and before you know it the entire school but the whole world is crazy right now . ” will be inconvenienced . ” gets shut down and everybody is remote Both Duffy and Wilson are worried Daycare will certainly be factored into again . So we’re trying to take it one day at about how masks are going to affect teach - the equation since parents are starting to a time , one month at a time . You saw ers as well as students . It’s asking a lot for return to on - site work and many families what happened with the restaurants ; they young children or special needs students don’t have grandparents or neighbors to tried to open and days before they shut rely on for babysitting if the children are them down . We expect the guidance from o wear a mask for a lengthy period of t going to the state to change almost daily . Little time , while teachers may be hindered be home several days a week . things are going to change as the numbers from getting their points across in addition Mount Laurel resident Erin Duffy , a mother go up or down . ” to the discomfort . of two who works as a guidance counselor “ There’s no facial expressions , there’s at an elementary school in Mercer County , no ability to read facial cues , ” Wilson says . has heard one possible solution thrown A new way of teaching “ In fact , I have a bigger concern — I have around . Pam Wilson ( an alias since she wished to a deaf student coming up from seventh “ Some people are saying it’s important remain anonymous ) has been teaching to eighth grade who reads lips . I know his for the elementary kids to be in school , at a middle school in South Jersey for interpreter will obviously be there for him , more than the high school students , ” she more than 20 years . Adapting to the pan - but with speaking through the mask and says . “ So one of the rumors I’ve heard is demic this past spring was difficult enough trying to hear , there will be a lot lost in from her perspective , but she was even translation . I think it will be difficult . more concerned with her students . “ [ Plastic face shields ] are a possibility ; “ I teach special ed , so my kids strug - maybe not for the kids , but for us I would gled , ” she says . “ I did have a few kids who think that would be a better way . It will really did well remotely . Because they look goofy , but what doesn’t right now ? ” were home they were able to do it on their own terms , in their own time frame As an educator , I and ask questions when needed . However , What’s right for the children ? think it’s necessary . that was definitely the minority . The major - With so much information out there and I don’t care what ity of students really struggled with time no clear - cut path , it is understandable management and just trying to get a and common for parents to have con - anybody says , the handle on the situation with no structure flicting emotions about sending their kids kids need to be in and no real schedule . We also had some back to school . Mount Laurel resident school , especially who didn’t do anything at all . ” Jamie Canataro counts herself in that Wilson believes children will fare better group when it comes to her daughter , at the elementary in returning to the classroom , but the like - who is going into fourth grade . level for a lot of lihood of a hybrid schedule does come “ It’s so funny because I don’t know with its challenges . “ When we what I want , ” she says . “ I’m scared and I left in the different reasons . ” want to keep her home , but also she loves spring , at least there was a rapport with ERIN DUFFY , school ; she loves the socialization and my kids , ” she says . “ Trying to establish MOTHER , seeing her friends . Of course , I want to some kind of a relationship with kids when GUIDANCE follow the trends and the numbers of you’re only seeing them part - time is going COUNSELOR AND MOUNT New Jersey and our town . I just know that to be difficult . Those kids need to feel LAUREL preparing for all the different scenarios some kind of connection , especially some RESIDENT with two full - time working parents is of my special ed students , and being there going to be hard — that’s where a lot of on a hybrid schedule will be difficult . ” my anxiety comes in . ” Duffy has her concerns as well . “ As an York Parker has similar thoughts . “ My educator , I think it’s necessary , ” she says . priority “ I don’t care what anybody says , the kids for my 9 - year - old son is his emo - need to be in school , especially at the tional well - being ; I feel that in - person elementary level for a lot of different rea - interaction with his teacher and classmates sons . I’m not surprised at the governor’s will greatly benefit his learning growth announcement , but I also don’t know and his overall happiness , ” she says . “ Of SOUTH JERSEY MAGAZINE volume 17 issue 4 SouthJerseyMagazine.com 50 |

view text

input

view_module

keyboard_arrow_left

keyboard_arrow_right