Haddonfield School District will continue its push to provide students a greater number of days and hours of in-classroom instruction for all grade levels across its five schools.
That’s according to the latest presentation by Superintendent Chuck Klaus, given at the board of education’s Oct. 29 virtual public session.
District administrators discussed possibilities and arrived at a decision to introduce two models to push toward greater in-person education for the remainder of the year: an extended day program and a combined cohort program. Klaus said he’d recommend the combined cohort model, which would increase the amount of in-person instruction by 12.75 hours each week.
Elementary education (kindergarten through fifth grade) students would have in-person schooling from 8:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. each day, then virtual instruction from 2 to 3 p.m. Any students identified as having special education considerations would stay in school for the remainder of the day.
At the middle school, classroom lessons would last from 8 a.m. to 12:25 p.m., ahead of virtual instruction from 12:55 to 3:01 p.m. on a six-day cycle. Students in need of specialized instruction would work on an eight-day cycle and stay in school for the full day.
At the high school, the current structure of four days with classroom instruction and Wednesday all virtual is expected to remain. Time frames for in-person and online classes would be the same as in the middle school.
Metrics for determining when Phase 2 can receive the go ahead, according to Klaus’ presentation, are the CALI (COVID-19 Activity Level Index) scale, a case rate of 10 per 100,000 persons or less, an overall positivity rate of 5 percent or less and overall new case numbers that remain stable or decrease over a period of days or weeks.
Those conditions are contingent upon reports issued for the southwest region of the state, which includes Burlington, Camden, Gloucester and Salem counties.
“If the numbers are safe, this may happen more quickly than it did before,” Klaus noted in response to a question about a time frame for the district’s shift to the updated model. But he acknowledged the difficulties in aligning the goals with the small percentage of all-virtual students, as the district is intent on giving all learners equal opportunity and time.
“Our goal is five days, all day,” Klaus admitted. “But our goal for this stage is five days, with the understanding that if it’s not possible, we still have to do the best we can to serve all our students.”
Based on his estimates during a presentation in front of the board at an Oct. 22 work session, Klaus added that he didn’t see the possible shift occurring any time in November. But he admitted he’d like to see it come to fruition as early as the first full week of December.
“Students have to build school stamina,” he continued. “It’s not easy being in school for that long if they haven’t been there since March 16, for that extended period of time.”
The full presentation, which includes a detailed breakdown of the reasoning behind each revised educational model, can be found on the district’s website: https://haddonfieldschools.org/announcements-and-news-releases/.
In other news:
- The board also gave its consent to a resolution between Rowan University, the Partnership for Education, Equity & Research (PEER) and Haddonfield School District to provide support and consultation for a culturally sustaining, trauma-informed, restorative, student-centered and equitable educational environment at a rate of $125 per hour, not to exceed $11,000 for the 2020-’21 academic year.
- Sixteen students from Haddonfield Memorial High School were recognized for their performance in the National Merit Scholarship Program, including semifinalists Alex Roseman and Chloe Santana.
- The nine-member body also unanimously approved a Memorandum of Understanding between the Haddonfield Board of Education and the township police department for access to livestreaming of district security cameras.
