Author: haddonfieldtoday

Three New Jersey lawmakers plan to introduce a bill that would require school districts to keep their buildings closed and provide virtual learning only for the first few months of the school year. The potential reopening of schools would be evaluated on a monthly basis after October 31.

One of the sponsors of the bill is Assemblywoman Pamela Lampitt, one of two representatives for District 6, which includes Haddonfield. She is the deputy speaker of the Legislative Assembly and chair of the Education Committee.

For details, go HERE.

By the deadline for filing to run in the 2020 Haddonfield Board of Education election — Monday, July 27 at 4pm — only three candidates had submitted petitions: Lynn Howard Hoag, Heather Paoli, and Thomas Vecchio. All three are incumbent members of the board.

The election will be held on Tuesday, November 3, the same day as the general election.

During a Board of Education meeting on July 28, 2020, the Haddonfield School District released its plan for a return to school in the fall, within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The public schools are scheduled to open on Tuesday, September 8.

The plan — “On the Road Back” — presents three models:

• Model A – A Hybrid learning plan that includes some in-person learning and some virtual learning.
• Model B – A Virtual learning plan for students whose parents or guardians choose to not send their children to school.
• Model C – A Contingency plan for 100% virtual learning, in the event that state or county agencies mandate school closures.

A PDF of the plan is available HERE.

A message from Superintendent Chuck Klaus, addressed to parents, guardians, staff, and students, introduces the plan:

When our students and staff left school on March 16, 2020, most of us could not imagine they would continue in a virtual learning model through the end of the year. This abrupt shift required schools to quickly re-imagine how to best deliver virtual instruction and serve our students.

Today we are approaching the start of the 2020-21 school year. Once again, we are facing a challenge we could not have foreseen one year ago, to start a new school year that will look different than any we have experienced before. To this end, over the past months, the Leadership Team of Haddonfield School District has been focused on developing a plan to safely reopen schools in September in a way that will meet the needs of all of our students and our dedicated staff.

We appreciate the difficulties and the stresses placed on staff and families over the last five months. We also realize that each of us has unique circumstances, perspectives, and feelings about how best to return to school. During this process, many different models were explored and reviewed with feedback from families, students, staff, community members and frequent consultation with our district physician and nursing staff. Ultimately any reopening plan must balance safety, instruction, and operations in a way to provide the best solution for all 1,500 families and 350 staff members in our district.

It comes as no surprise that developing a re-entry plan has been complicated by the complexities of guidelines and information that seem to change daily. In June, the New Jersey Department of Education released a recovery document (“The Road Back: Restart and Recovery Plan for Education”) outlining priorities to guide this process. Paramount among them is addressing factors that will meet the needs of our families, students, and staff while ensuring a safe and healthy environment in which to learn. Just last week, the NJDOE released updated guidance, as did the CDC; each new update and change has the potential to require us to rethink and rework our plans.

The work to balance all factors and forge an effective plan required collaboration and effort from many individuals. In addition, a Steering Committee and several Action Teams, were created with members representing administration, the Board of Education, staff, parents and community members. The July 16th Board of Education meeting was held to share options and to obtain comments and questions so that all stakeholders would be heard. As a district we approached this with an open mind and a sincere desire to elicit feedback from anyone and everyone who will be impacted by the reopening plan. The result of this work is spelled out in this document, “Haddonfield School District: On the Road Back.”

Within this document, families and staff will find information about our guiding principles, the process followed, instructional models, FAQs, and contingency plans for distance learning in the event schools may need to be closed during the upcoming year. Haddonfield School District takes our responsibilities to our families, staff, and community seriously. We understand our obligation to meet the safety and educational needs of our students and staff. We have a proud history of providing our students with a high quality education, and we are committed to maintaining those standards. As a result, the return-to-school plan outlined in this document provides a balance of ensuring a safe and healthy environment while also providing access to a quality education.