Chalkbeat

Newark Public Schools drop mask requirement starting Sept. 12

2022-09-11T16:27:08+00:00

Newark Public Schools will go mask optional starting Monday, the district announced after the conclusion of the first week of school and following opposition from some families who became impatient with the ongoing mandate.

“Given our review of multiple indicators and with the advice of the Newark Health Department and our healthcare partners this evening, the mask mandate is lifted beginning Monday,” the district announced in a post on Friday evening on its Facebook page. “Masks are now optional in our schools and facilities.”

The district of 38,000 students was likely one of the last in New Jersey to start the new academic year with the mandate in place after most districts went optional in the spring, when Gov. Phil Murphy ended the school and daycare mask requirement.

Superintendent Roger León and school board members previously said the district’s mandate had stayed in place due to advice from the city’s health department that took into account COVID-19 trends and immunizations in the city.

On Saturday, Newark had 119 new COVID-19 cases, the Essex County dashboard showed. That was more than two times the number of cases the city reported on Sept. 1, before the school year began.

Meanwhile, the rate for at least one dose of the vaccine among 5- to 11-year-olds in the city went up in the last week from 37% to 38%, according to the state’s COVID dashboard. The rate stayed the same at 38% for 12- to 17-year-olds, the state’s dashboard shows.

“The NTU is cautiously optimistic about the lifting of the mask mandate,” said John Abeigon, president of the Newark Teachers Union, in a statement on Sunday. “As long as the health officials believe it is safe to do so, we welcome the decision.”

District staff and teachers, as well as students, can still opt to wear face masks.

“We are reminding our members that optional means common sense decision-making,” Abeigon said. “We are not all the same and we’re advising them to make the decision to wear a mask or not upon their personal health and comfort level.”

Communication about the change to mask rules seemed to be scant as of Sunday morning.

The district had posted the announcement on its Instagram page, but not on Twitter. On the district’s main website, as of Sunday morning, there were no clear announcements or banners about the change in face mask rules. In a search through district school websites, no communication to families via letters seemed to be available.

Families received a robo-call with the announcement from the district Friday evening, a few parents said.

For some families, the news of the switch to an optional approach was too little, too late.

Anna Da Silva removed her six-year-old daughter from Ironbound Academy Elementary School, a new K-4 school in the East Ward, after learning she wouldn’t be exempted from the mask mandate even though masks trigger a skin infection on her face. On the second day of school last week, Da Silva filed official forms to disenroll her child, saying she wouldn’t put up with another school year of her daughter being uncomfortable.

“My daughter already lost four days of school,” Da Silva said on Sunday. “On Friday, all of a sudden, nobody has to wear a mask? What changed in four days? This is reactive from the superintendent and an injustice.”

The district kept face mask rules in place through summer programming and into the first week of school, which started Sept. 6. The ongoing mask rules made Newark an outlier in the state and nationwide, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had eased most of its recommended school protocols to prevent the spread of the virus, including masking in low-risk communities.

On Sunday, Essex County was still considered a low-risk area for COVID-19 transmission, according to the federal county tracker.

Catherine Carrera is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Newark, covering the city’s K-12 schools with a focus on English language learners. Contact Catherine at ccarrera@chalkbeat.org.

NJ Gov. Murphy ends COVID test mandate for unvaccinated teachers

2022-08-15T16:03:33+00:00

Unvaccinated teachers and child care workers are among those no longer required to undergo regular COVID testing, according to an executive order signed by New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy on Monday.

The new mandate, effective immediately, applies to school districts, child care centers, and state contractors that have requirements for employees to be vaccinated or face routine testing. The news – regarding one of the few remaining pandemic restrictions intended to limit the spread of the virus – comes three weeks before Newark Public School students are set to begin classes.

Currently, masks are required at all Newark Public Schools facilities. Students are expected to wear masks this school year.

The district did not immediately respond to whether or not it would apply the new mandate.

As of June 17, children 6 months or older are eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine. According to the state, more than 18.4 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in New Jersey, with more than 1.9 million doses administered to children under the age of 18.

“Today’s executive order follows guidance from public health officials at the CDC regarding responsible steps states can take as we continue to adjust to the endemic reality of COVID-19,” Murphy said. “With children as young as 6 months old now eligible for vaccines and millions of New Jerseyans vaccinated and boosted, more of our residents are safe from severe illness due to COVID-19.”

Some charter schools in Newark won’t be affected by the new mandate as they require teachers and staff to be vaccinated upon employment.

Barbara Martinez, the spokesperson for North Star Academy, said the school’s teachers must be vaccinated to work at the academy but was unsure if COVID protocols would change in the future.

KIPP New Jersey also has a vaccine mandate in place for all staff members, unless they qualify for a medical or religious exemption.

“As a result, we have very few unvaccinated staff members,” said Jessica Shearer, KIPP New Jersey spokesperson.

Per the new policy outlined by the state, they will not be requiring staff to participate in COVID testing this school year as well.

Last year, the Newark Teachers Union said 90% of its approximately 4,000 members are vaccinated. But only 2,556 teachers, or 64%, had uploaded vaccination proof into the employee portal as of Oct. 2021, the district said at the time.

Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new guidelines for schools that end quarantines and regular screening tests for the virus but recommended students and staff should keep masks on in areas with high levels of COVID spread. Schools aren’t required to follow these recommendations and states and cities can still set their own rule.

The change also applies to state contractors as of Sept. 1. The New Jersey state employee testing program will also come to an end on Sept. 1.

Jessie Gomez is a reporter for Chalkbeat Newark, covering public education in the city. Contact Jessie at jgomez@chalkbeat.org

Newark schools may go mask-optional in May if COVID case numbers remain low

2022-04-22T19:53:32+00:00

Newark Public Schools students and staff might be allowed to drop their face masks starting May 2, if the COVID infection rate in the district remains low, the teachers union president said.

The decision to ease the district’s face mask mandate and other COVID-related rules will depend on results from at-home rapid tests students and staff must take on Sunday, the day before they return to school from this week’s spring break. The district distributed the test kits to families and staff members before spring break began April 18.

“If the numbers continue to hold, we’ll be mask optional by the first week of May,” John Abeigon, the Newark Teachers Union president, said on Thursday. Citywide and districtwide positive test numbers were relatively low the week before spring break, according to the latest data available.

Staff members will need to upload their rapid-test results to the employee portal, Abeigon said. Parents and caregivers will need to reach their child’s school nurse to report a positive result. Another round of rapid tests will be administered in schools during the week, Abeigon added.

Abeigon said Superintendent Roger León briefed union leaders earlier this week on plans to roll back some COVID mitigation policies if results from the at-home tests show a “low number” of positive cases. A district spokesperson did not respond to emails asking for more details on these plans.

The district would also end temperature checks and the symptom screening questionnaire on May 2, he said. León shared those plans at a school board meeting last month.

The statewide mask mandate for schools and childcare centers dropped March 7, but district leaders were able to keep requiring masks in their schools. Newark, the state’s largest district, with 37,000 students, kept its mask rules in place, as did Paterson, New Brunswick, and Trenton.

León started easing other mitigation rules by removing desk shields and footwear sanitizing stations. State and federal guidance did not include either of those measures at the start of this school year.

And at the board meeting last month, León said water fountains would be turned back on for the first time this school year. León has said the fountains were shut off as a COVID mitigation effort, even though that step was not recommended in any state or federal guidelines either.

Chalkbeat found the district did not complete lead testing before buildings reopened in September.

The district’s COVID-19 dashboard shows positive tests were low across schools in the weeks leading up to spring break.

The week before break, the district reported 18 positive cases among students and 15 among staff. Those numbers were slightly up from the previous week, but still significantly lower than the hundreds of positive cases the district saw before winter break.

Citywide, too, confirmed cases of COVID-19 have remained low for a few weeks, according to figures city officials shared on Facebook this week. The city’s seven-day rolling average showed a 3.25% rate of positive tests on April 15, slightly up from 2.72% on April 11, but well below the 38% rate in late December, before students were to return from winter break. At that time, the district decided to switch to remote learning for two weeks after the break ended.

Catherine Carrera is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Newark, covering the city’s K-12 schools with a focus on English language learners. Contact Catherine at ccarrera@chalkbeat.org.

Newark to use roughly half of $182 million in COVID aid on buildings, 5% on tutoring

2022-04-14T19:48:27+00:00

How are Newark schools spending the $182 million windfall they’re receiving in the final round of federal COVID aid?

Abington Avenue School purchased laptops for each of its nearly 100 kindergarteners, who previously shared a set of 32 devices. Park Elementary School replaced worksheets with hardware, including model dinosaur bones for inspecting and ice cream scoops for measuring, so students can learn by doing. And First Avenue School expanded and revamped its after-school program, where students receive tutoring, food, and enrichment activities like yoga.

“As you can see, the children of Newark are benefiting from these dollars,” said Janice Litterio, an academic interventionist at First Avenue, during an event last month where Newark educators shared how the federal money has helped their schools.

Mengxing Perez, a teacher at Park Elementary School, showed her Newark colleagues a baggie with classroom supplies newly purchased with pandemic relief funds.

But the district’s plan also raises questions about priorities, with the majority of the aid going to building repairs and technology and only a third earmarked for teaching and learning. Despite data showing the pandemic severely disrupted students’ learning, the spending plan sets aside more money for office computers than tutoring.

A district chart showing how it plans to spend the three rounds of federal COVID-relief money.

In total, Newark Public Schools is set to receive more than $287 million from the three relief packages that Congress has approved since 2020 to help schools respond to the pandemic, reopen classrooms, and support students’ emotional and academic recovery.

That colossal sum is equivalent to nearly a third of the district’s annual budget, and is eight times the amount of federal aid the district received in the school year before the pandemic. The money equals about $7,560 extra for each of the district’s roughly 38,000 students; right now, the district budget includes nearly $20,000 per student.

In February, the state approved Newark’s spending plan for the $182.4 million, which includes a $177 million grant from the federal government as well as subgrants from the state to support teacher training, summer and after-school programs, and student mental health. The district has until October 2024 to obligate the money.

District officials previously shared a rough breakdown of their plan for the third aid package: 51% for facility upgrades, 34% for teaching and learning, and 15% for technology. Their strategy is to invest in building projects, devices, and staff training that will hopefully continue to pay dividends long after the money runs out.

“Our strategy is not to spend those dollars on a short-term reality, like the hiring of somebody,” Superintendent Roger León said during a recent school board meeting. “While the funds are allocated for a certain time period, we want to make sure the efforts last longer.”

Newark’s 128-page spending plan for the final installment of federal COVID money shows how the district intends to stretch those dollars. Chalkbeat analyzed the plan — here’s what we found.

Buildings will get a major makeover

Nearly $86 million, or almost half the total, will fund improvements to the district’s aging school buildings.

“The district schools are in poor to fair condition and many buildings have aged out of useful life,” the plan says. But because replacing the schools is too costly, the only option is “continued usage.”

The plan doesn’t list all the expected upgrades, but says some older buildings must be renovated to meet current safety standards, most schools need repainting, and “roofs, windows, gymnasiums, outdoor fields, and other areas” that have suffered water damage must be repaired or replaced.

Another $3.1 million will pay for new furniture for classrooms and science labs.

Just 5% of the funds are earmarked for tutoring

The pandemic dealt a crushing blow to student learning. In Newark, recent mid-year tests showed that the vast majority of students are far behind in math and reading.

The American Rescue Plan, the federal law that provides the third and most recent round of pandemic aid for schools, says districts must spend at least 20% of their allotment on “evidence-based interventions” to address learning loss. The U.S. Department of Education has suggested possible interventions, including summer programs and longer school days, but left the decision-making to districts.

The main way Newark says it will jumpstart student learning is by purchasing nearly $21 million worth of classroom supplies, including $9.4 million for textbooks and about $300,000 for materials for students with disabilities and English learners. The district also paid teachers to help with curriculum writing.

“The experience has inspired me,” said Karen Unger, a math teacher at Ann Street School who worked on new high school math materials. “I think I’ve become a better teacher as a result of it.”

Roughly $16 million will go towards enrichment activities, including field trips, and at least $9.8 million will fund staff training on special education, reading instruction, counseling, and other activities.

One intervention many experts recommend is intensive tutoring. U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona recently urged schools to give every struggling student 90 minutes of tutoring per week, and Newark’s superintendent says every school offers tutoring.

However, the spending plan only earmarks $9.3 million, or about 5% of the total American Rescue Plan aid, specifically for tutoring. That is slightly less than the $10 million the district set aside for new computers for office employees.

The plan also includes two state grants, worth about $586,000 total, for summer learning and afterschool programs.

Thomas Kane, an economist at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, said the recent test scores are a clear sign the district should invest heavily in direct support for struggling students.

“They ought to be planning to spend almost all of those federal dollars on academic recovery,” he said.

Tech, career education, and mental health round out the list

Newark will spend more than $27 million, or about 15% of the aid, on technology.

The tech includes tablets for younger students, classroom smart boards, and upgraded internet infrastructure for schools.

At least $3 million will go towards the recently revamped vocational programs in the district’s high schools, where students are introduced to careers in business, medicine, fashion, the culinary arts, and more. The money will help pay for supplies, field trips, and other expenses.

Just under $2 million will help pay for mental health support for students, including stipends for counselors and social workers, as well as staff training.

After the pandemic turned their lives upside down, separating students from friends and teachers and piling hardships on many families, the return to school has been tough on many students, the plan says.

Some are struggling with “relationship skills, self-management, and personal decision-making,” leading to an increase in behavior issues, the plan adds. Discipline data for this school year are not available, but León has said that “students are exhibiting behaviors unlike ever before.”

Students are showing more “symptoms of isolation, depression, lack of attentiveness,” the plan added, “and an overall decline in mental health.”

Category	Amount	% of Total	Description
Building upgrades	$50,000,000	27.4%	Upgrades to school buildings in need
Building upgrades	$21,396,494	11.7%	Contracts needed for upgrading school buildings
Technology	$11,400,000	6.2%	Internet access via hotspots, Replacement of aging switches in all schools to provide faster network connectivity to staff and teachers
Classroom supplies	$10,341,238	5.7%	Instructional supplies to support all content areas of district curricula
Technology	$10,000,000	5.5%	PCs to replace aging desktops used by the administrative staff in schools and Central Office
Classroom supplies	$9,421,000	5.2%	Student textbooks
Enrichment activities	$8,441,402	4.6%	Field trip transportation for extended learning experiences
Tutoring	$6,828,848	3.7%	Stipends for teachers to ensure tutoring to address learning loss; writing curriculum; and teaching in extended learning programs
Building upgrades	$5,000,000	2.7%	Technical services for building upgrades
Building upgrades	$5,000,000	2.7%	Vehicles to ensure safety and facilities management
Enrichment activities	$4,613,100	2.5%	Consultants providing enrichment activities to students K-12
Staff training	$4,414,500	2.4%	Consultants to provide professional development to staff K-12
Building upgrades	$3,847,874	2.1%	Materials needed for upgrade of school facilities
Technology	$3,470,000	1.9%	Professional services to support technology needs across the district
Enrichment activities	$2,850,000	1.6%	Extended Classroom Learning Experiences
Classroom upgrades	$2,500,000	1.4%	Upgrade in classroom furniture
Tutoring	$2,500,000	1.4%	Tutoring costs for tutoring SAGA Education for training the tutors
Security	$2,086,768	1.1%	Cameras and security tablets used in schools
Mental health	$1,646,881	0.9%	Stipends for counselors and social workers to provide additional mental health supports to students; Administrative stipends for the Principal Pipeline; Stipends to support IT, Facility and health needs across the district
Technology	$1,600,000	0.9%	Upgrade of the remaining legacy smart boards
Staff training	$1,500,000	0.8%	Consultants to develop efficacy and pedagogy for special education teachers
Staff training	$1,500,000	0.8%	Consultants to develop collective teacher efficacy and pedagogy among content teachers, bilingual and ESL teachers
Vocational education	$1,364,578	0.7%	Supplies and materials for CTE programs
COVID safety	$1,000,000	0.5%	Hydroxyl generators and equipment for school safety
Technology	$772,592	0.4%	Touch tablet devices for elementary students; microphone and classroom accessories to enhance sound in classrooms
Staff training	$750,000	0.4%	Consultants to provide professional development to build staff capacity
Vocational education	$750,000	0.4%	Consultants working with students in the CTE programs
Vocational education	$700,000	0.4%	Equipment to support curricular needs of CTE program
Early education	$662,745	0.4%	Instructional supplies and materials for district early childhood centers
Classroom upgrades	$600,000	0.3%	Demonstration tables for middle schools for schools without adequate lab facilities
Building upgrades	$558,525	0.3%	Bucket truck for facilities and patrol cars
Staff training	$500,000	0.3%	Educational consultants to develop district and school leaders through adaptive leadership coaching
Staff training	$500,000	0.3%	Consultants to develop efficacy and pedagogy of school counselors, school social workers & CST teams
Early education	$464,000	0.3%	2 Transition Specialists to assist families transitioning children to Pre-K
Classroom supplies	$315,000	0.2%	Physical education equipment
Classroom supplies	$297,693	0.2%	Provide educators with meaningful texts, classroom supplies to support the learning of special education, bilingual and ELL students
Staff training	$260,000	0.1%	Classes to assist teachers with getting certifications
COVID safety	$250,000	0.1%	Consultants for training on pandemic response and crisis situations
Staff training	$250,000	0.1%	Supplies to support district-wide staff development
Classroom supplies	$243,010	0.1%	Decodable texts, grade level reading texts for K-3 classrooms
Food service	$230,000	0.1%	Food Equipment
Health supplies	$170,000	0.1%	Health Equipment
Summer programs	$139,945	0.1%	Stipends for middle school STEM Program
COVID safety	$125,000	0.1%	PPE supplies to support students and staff district-wide in ECC centers
Family engagement	$105,000	0.1%	Supplies and materials to support district-wide parent engagement initiatives
Staff training	$100,600	0.1%	Supplies and materials to support professional development
Health supplies	$100,072	0.1%	Health supplies for nurses across the district
Technology	$100,000	0.1%	Monitoring system
Vocational education	$85,975	0.0%	Admission for students in CTE program for field trips
Vocational education	$83,150	0.0%	Professional services for CTE program
Food service	$78,285	0.0%	Supplies for students to manage food distribution
Mental health	$75,501	0.0%	Professional development for Student Support Team Members for Tier II and III strategies for students
Summer programs	$56,600	0.0%	Supplies for robotics, digital creativity, and STEM activities
Family engagement	$50,000	0.0%	Parent Engagement speakers for workshops
Staff training	$50,000	0.0%	Professional Development focused on addressing reading deficiencies for teachers in grades K-3
Summer programs	$40,270	0.0%	Students supplies and materials for the i2learning courses being offered
Mental health	$30,000	0.0%	Mental Health & Crisis professional services for students
Vocational education	$29,500	0.0%	Buses for field trips for CTE students
Family engagement	$25,000	0.0%	Online platform for Parent University
Mental health	$25,000	0.0%	Mental Health & Crisis professional development for staff
Family engagement	$20,000	0.0%	Parent engagement incentives to increase parent engagement
Mental health	$18,726	0.0%	Supplies and Materials to support mental health for students
Security	$17,000	0.0%	Training management for security purposes
Summer programs	$13,995	0.0%	Nurse for Ed Tech summer program; Principal, Clerk, Social Worker, and Nurse for visual and performing arts summer program
Summer programs	$10,000	0.0%	Teacher training provided by i2learning for each course
Summer programs	$9,000	0.0%	Art supplies for drawing, painting, ceramics and printmaking; sheet music; recorded music; sets, props, costumes, makeup for musicals
Mental health	$8,650	0.0%	Resource books to help support staff with strategies for Tier !! and Tier III students
Summer programs	$8,000	0.0%	Residencies and teaching artists working with students
Summer programs	$7,800	0.0%	Buses for student extended learning experiences
Summer programs	$5,000	0.0%	Admissions to museums, plays, and other performances
Mental health	$4,350	0.0%	Stipend for a Social Worker to foster relationships with outside organizations, analyze data and support school counselors/social workers addressing the Social-emotional learning and mental health of students during summer school
Summer programs	$2,400	0.0%	Educational technology professional development

Search Newark’s plan to spend $182 million in COVID aid

Amounts and descriptions from Newark Public Schools’ spending plan. Categories and percentages from Chalkbeat analysis.

Patrick Wall is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat Newark, covering public education in the city and across New Jersey. Contact Patrick at pwall@chalkbeat.org.

Sobering test scores show Newark students struggling to recover from learning loss

2022-03-30T15:33:16+00:00

Newark students have made scant academic progress so far this school year, according to sobering new test scores that underscore the severity of the pandemic’s toll on student learning and the extraordinary measures that will be required for students to recover.

Based on mid-year assessments, no more than 6% of students in any grade from 3-7 are expected to reach the “proficient” level on the state math tests slated to begin next month, according to data that Newark Public Schools officials shared last week. By contrast, 27% of students in grades 3-8 met the state’s benchmarks on the annual math tests in 2019, before the pandemic shut down schools and drastically curtailed learning.

Based on the results of a mid-year assessment, very few Newark students are on track to meet or exceed state expectations on New Jersey’s math test this spring. (Click on the image to expand.)

Reading scores on the mid-year tests, which students in grades 1-7 took in February, were only slightly higher. In each of the tested grades, about 10% of students or fewer are expected to meet state English standards this year, the data show.

Buoyed by an influx of federal aid and students’ long-awaited return to classrooms, Newark officials had hoped this school year would mark the beginning of a sustained comeback. But the latest data suggest that, at least in terms of test scores, students have made up little of the ground they lost during the pandemic.

“It sure doesn’t look like kids are catching up,” said Thomas Kane, an economist at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, who at Chalkbeat’s request reviewed some of the data officials presented at last week’s Newark school board meeting.

The estimates of student proficiency in math and English are based on assessments created by nonprofit testmaker NWEA.

The data come from assessments — created by nonprofit testmaker NWEA — that Newark and districts across the country administer throughout the school year to track students’ progress. Newark students will take the NWEA’s MAP Growth tests again in June, which gives schools time to work on raising student achievement.

Stark learning gaps also emerged when Newark students took the same tests in spring 2021, which aligned with national data showing that the pandemic’s disruptions had slowed most students’ academic progress, with students who are Black, Hispanic, or from low-income families falling furthest behind. Kane added that in districts such as Newark, where families have faced incredible hardships during the pandemic and most students spent all of last school year learning remotely, the emerging data suggest the road to recovery will be even steeper than many anticipated.

“I think this is something that most school districts in the country have yet to grapple with: the magnitude of the losses and the scale of the effort that’s going to be required to eliminate those losses,” said Kane, who is working with NWEA to analyze how well schools’ academic interventions work.

Newark Superintendent Roger León has acknowledged the pandemic’s heavy toll on student learning. Before an official presented the mid-year test scores at the March 22 board meeting, León said the district is “taking the numbers very seriously because their implications are quite profound.”

“The road is long,” he said, referring to students’ academic recovery.

Newark’s results on the most recent NWEA tests were in line with national trends in the fall: Students struggled most in math, and students in the upper grades outperformed younger students.

This graph shows the percentage of Newark students whose test scores increased from October to February as much as expected, based on pre-pandemic norms.

The tests, which Newark students took in October and February, also showed that few students improved their scores as much during that period as would be expected in a typical school year.

In math, just 6.4% of second graders and about 20% of seventh graders made the expected amount of progress from fall to winter. In reading, the percentage of students who met growth projections ranged from 10% of first graders to about 22% of seventh graders.

This graph shows the change over time in Newark students’ average ranking, based on pre-pandemic national norms.

The projections are based on the amount of progress that similar students typically made prior to the pandemic. The estimates do not take into account the severe disruptions that have slowed learning over the past two years.

The Newark school district, which is set to receive more than $282 million in COVID relief money from the federal government, has taken several steps to jump-start students’ recovery. The district expanded summer school and tutoring programs, ramped up teacher training, and hired additional specialists to work individually with students, officials have said. Schools also added more mental health services and lessons on managing emotions, which educators say students need in order to learn at full capacity.

At an event Tuesday celebrating Newark’s recovery efforts, educator Janice Litterio said the federal funds helped the district enroll more students in its afterschool programs and revamp the curriculum so it connects to what students learn in class.

“We have seen much success with that,” said Litterio, an academic interventionist at First Avenue School who manages the afterschool programs at several schools.

Yet Newark, which is New Jersey’s largest district with about 38,000 students, has encountered many of the same obstacles that are frustrating schools nationwide and dampening hopes for a return to normalcy this school year, much less the above-average pace of progress that experts say will be needed to counter pandemic learning loss.

After in-person learning resumed in September, a surge in COVID cases late last year kept hundreds of students and employees out of school and forced the district to temporarily revert to remote learning in January. Even after classrooms reopened, more than 35% of students were chronically absent in February, according to district data.

At the same time, Newark has struggled to hire enough teachers and other educators, as districts nationwide contend with staffing shortages. León said Tuesday that the district has 115 instructional openings, nearly as many unfilled positions as it started the year with, forcing teachers to take on extra classes and administrators to become stand-in teachers.

Meanwhile, as many students process distressing or traumatic experiences during the pandemic such as housing insecurity or the loss of loved ones, some are having trouble readjusting to school. During a recent interview, León said “students are exhibiting behaviors unlike ever before,” which he called a matter “of great concern.”

Like other large districts, Newark is relying on voluntary programs such as after-school tutoring and summer school to catch students up. That approach avoids some of the challenges of universal programs, such a longer school day or year, which cost more and would likely require labor negotiations. But it also excludes students who don’t opt in.

In October, the district’s afterschool programs only served some 3,800 elementary school students per day, or about 16% of that population, according to district documents. León has said some schools also offer tutoring during the day, but it is unclear whether it is the “high-dosage” tutoring, with multiple small-group sessions per week, that federal officials have called for and research shows is most effective.

Wilhelmina Holder, the grandparent of several district students who heads the Secondary Parents Council, an advocacy group for the parents of high schoolers, said the district should share more information about its recovery efforts.

“How many kids are actually participating?” she asked. “We know what they say they’re doing, but what does that look like for students?”

Whatever form the academic support takes, she added, the latest data shows that it’s urgently needed.

“There’s a whole lot at stake here,” she said.

$160 million in COVID aid is going to Newark charter schools. Here’s how they plan to spend it.

2022-02-14T15:24:12+00:00

With around 100 students, Discovery is Newark’s smallest charter school. This school year, its state and local funding add up to about $1.6 million — just enough to make ends meet.

“You’re always, always trying to save every dollar you can to make it,” said Denis Cretinon, head of the grade 4-8 school.

But after Congress passed three massive aid packages to help schools respond to the pandemic, Discovery found itself with nearly $1 million extra to spend over a few years.

“Suddenly,” Cretinon said, “you receive money that is like the equivalent of half a year’s budget.”

School districts across the country are similarly flush with federal aid. The COVID relief money amounts to more than $190 billion for public and private schools nationwide, with over $4 billion going to New Jersey.

The money can be put towards a wide range of uses, including cleaning supplies and building upgrades to reduce COVID spread, technology for remote learning, and efforts to address academic and mental health challenges caused by the pandemic. Each aid package comes with its own rules and deadlines, but the last of the money must be spent by fall 2024.

The Newark school district, which educates some 37,000 students, has attracted attention for the whopping $282 million in COVID aid it’s set to receive. But the city’s publicly funded, independently operated charter schools, which enroll more than 20,000 students, also are collecting a heap of COVID relief money. Together, the 17 separate organizations that operate Newark charter schools have been allocated more than $160 million in pandemic aid, according to a Chalkbeat analysis.

So what are they doing with the money? Chalkbeat reviewed the schools’ spending plans to find out.

Use the tool at the bottom of this story to find each school’s aid amount and spending plan.

The plans, which districts were required to post publicly, only cover the most recent (and largest) relief package. The Newark charter schools’ plans vary in specificity — a couple included dollar amounts, while most simply listed expected purchases — and could change as schools spend the money over the next few years. Yet they still offer a window into what the schools see as the most urgent needs created by the pandemic and how they plan to address them.

“What are really the needs of our kids?” said Cretinon. “For me, that’s what I follow.”

Making schools safer

After more than a year of remote learning, it took a lot of work — and money — to reopen school buildings last fall.

Newark charter schools spent a portion of their third aid package on face masks, sanitizing supplies, desk partitions, thermometers, and other items to reduce COVID transmission, according to the plans. They also replaced air filters, bought classroom air purifiers, and upgraded schoolwide ventilation systems.

Roseville Community Charter School, which rents an old Catholic school building in Newark’s North Ward, needed to buy a totally new HVAC system. In its spending plan, it explained why: “We have a building that is more than 100 years old.”

Other schools planned to hire more nurses and custodians, and to pay for routine COVID testing for staff and students. Many also invested in laptops, wireless hotspots, and cameras for remote learning — purchases that proved essential when schools briefly reverted to remote learning last month due to a surge in COVID cases.

Helping students catch up

During remote learning, many students watched their academic progress slow to a crawl. Black, Hispanic, and economically disadvantaged students, on average, fell furthest behind.

Districts must use at least 20% of their third aid package to help students make up that lost learning. Newark charter schools generally plan to do that in three ways: assisting teachers, directly supporting students, and monitoring student progress.

For teachers, that means extra training on how to “accelerate” student learning, new or revised curricula and teaching materials, and instructional coaches to boost their effectiveness. For students, the plans call for online programs designed to target skill gaps, more classroom aides and specialists to work individually with students, assessments to identify their academic needs and track their growth, and extra learning time after school, on weekends, and in the summer.

A word that pops up in many plans is tutoring. Many experts have promoted tutoring as an effective way to address learning loss, and U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona recently challenged schools to offer every struggling student at least 90 minutes of tutoring a week.

But the charter school plans provide few details about the format of the tutoring, which is key. Researchers say the most effective tutoring requires well-trained tutors, very small groups, and multiple sessions per week.

At Discovery, the federal aid allowed the school to bring in teachers-in-training from Rutgers University-Newark to tutor students several days a week, and to offer after-school tutoring to students who need extra help. The school also hired additional instructors who work with small groups of students during class and at lunch.

“For some kids, it’s absolutely crucial,” Cretinon said.

Promoting student wellness

The pandemic saddled many young people with anxiety, stress, loneliness, and grief. Now schools are trying to help ease the psychic load.

Many of the charter school plans describe school-wide efforts, including lessons on identifying and managing emotions, mental health training for teachers and workshops for families, and a shift away from punitive discipline practices. Several schools also said they’ll offer students counseling, mentoring, art therapy, or workshops on topics such as grief management and mindfulness. The schools expect to hire additional staffers or pay private clinics or universities to provide those services.

Marion P. Thomas Charter School, which enrolled about 1,400 students last school year, used its COVID money to add two extra social worker positions and an attendance counselor, said Chris Abbaleo, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction. The school also paid for teacher training on social-emotional learning and plans to bring in mental health clinicians to work with students.

“Those are things you typically can’t budget for,” Abbaleo said. But now, thanks to the federal aid, they can. “You’re doing things that you usually wouldn’t be able to do.”

The tool below shows how much COVID relief money each Newark charter school was allocated, including grants for specific uses. It also features summaries of each school’s spending plan for the third round of federal aid. (The aid is officially called ESSER, or the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund.)

N.J.’s school mask mandate will be lifted in March. What will happen in Newark?

2022-02-07T22:55:54+00:00

Face masks in New Jersey schools will no longer be a statewide mandate starting next month, but as of now, Newark Public Schools’ masking rules will remain in place and families will be notified if there are any changes, the district said Monday.

As new COVID cases and hospitalizations decline from the omicron surge in early January, Gov. Phil Murphy announced Monday the state would be lifting its mask mandate for schools and day care centers beginning March 7. Districts and private child care providers will still have the ability to implement face mask rules in their buildings, the governor said.

“We’re announcing this with plenty of advance notice for our schools and child care settings, for our students and their families, our educators, and support staff, to determine how this will impact them and to finalize any steps they may need to make in preparation,” Murphy said at a news conference in Trenton.

The state Department of Health has not issued any guidance for school districts, but that’s expected to be released in the coming weeks, Murphy said.

State health commissioner Judith Persichilli said school districts should work with local health departments to determine whether to keep mask mandates in their buildings.

“I must thank the overwhelming majority of students, parents, administrators, educators, and support staffers who stood tall as role models ever since our schools returned to in-person instruction by wearing your masks day in and day out without problem or protest,” Murphy said.

Newark’s safe return plan requires face masks in all school buildings and vehicles with limited exemptions.

“The mask is a part of the district’s protocols and we will notify families of any changes,” a district spokesperson said in a statement.

Murphy is not alone in this decision. Delaware also announced its school mask mandate will be lifted by the end of March and Pennsylvania’s mandate for K-12 schools ended last month.

“This is a huge step back to normalcy for our kids,” Murphy said.

Though new COVID cases have taken a plunge, the vaccination rate among children remains low in the state. Only 1 in 3 New Jersey children ages 5 to 11 have received at least one shot of the vaccine, NorthJersey.com reported this week. Nationally, the vaccination rate among children also remains low.

In Newark Public Schools, roughly 18% of students have reported receiving the vaccine, according to the district. However, that number could be an undercount as it only includes students who have reported their vaccination status to the district.

Mayor Ras Baraka said Monday that 27% of 5- to 11-year-olds in Newark have gotten at least one vaccine dose along with 76% of 12- to 17-year-olds.

The district has a weekly COVID testing program for students and staff, though only 13,454 students — or 35% of the student population — have opted into the program.

Patrick Wall contributed to this story.

Newark outlines promises to English learners who struggled during the pandemic

2022-01-31T10:45:00+00:00

The Newark Board of Education approved a resolution that outlined the district’s obligations to meet the needs of students who are learning English, including a commitment to give those students priority for in-person instruction when the district switches to remote or hybrid learning.

The district also promised to implement “steps to find and engage” English learners “who lost contact with district schools during the pandemic,” especially its youngest students, those who lacked internet access, and older students who are at risk of dropping out, the resolution states.

The 15-point resolution, approved at a board meeting last week, restates responsibilities the district is required to meet by state and federal law, such as screening students to identify English learners and providing teachers of English learners with relevant professional development opportunities. The responsibilities of the district to that group of students, who make up one-fifth of the student population, have also been outlined in a settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice, which the board approved in the fall.

“This resolution is really intended as a reaffirmation of the value of the great diversity that we have in our schools and the importance of equity, specifically here with respect to our English language learners,” said board co-vice president Vereliz Santana before the vote on the resolution.

Santana added that the resolution models a recommendation from the Education Law Center, the N.J. Consortium for Immigrant Children, and the N.J. Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages/N.J. Bilingual Educators.

Those three groups jointly published a report in November that highlighted the ways districts throughout New Jersey, including Newark, routinely failed to meet state regulations for educating students with limited English proficiency, especially during the pandemic and remote learning.

Affirming the rights of English learners in the district “is a great first step,” but it’s crucial for the school board to also enact policies that will ensure the district follows through on the commitments made in the resolution, said Lady Jimenez Torres, policy director for New Jersey Consortium for Immigrant Children, in a statement emailed Sunday.

Newark Public Schools was recently the subject of a four-year investigation by the U.S. Justice Department, which uncovered wide-ranging failures to properly serve English learners, a violation of the Equal Educational Opportunities Act of 1974. That federal law states that schools must remove any language barriers that limit students’ access to instruction.

The investigation found, among other violations, that the district under-identified students who required language support, placed English learners in schools without adequate services, and failed to hire and retain enough qualified teachers. The justice department will be monitoring the district at least through 2024 to ensure it complies with the obligations summarized in the agreement.

At the board meeting, Santana spoke about her experience when she was a young English learner struggling to learn the language and almost held back as a first grader.

“My mom did everything possible to make sure that I made it to the finish line that year,” Santana said. “I can’t imagine how difficult it would have been if we were in a pandemic at that time. I doubt I would even be here if that were the case.”

Here are a few more obligations outlined in the resolution:

To continue recruiting bilingual and/or Black, Indigenous, and people of color throughout the school workforce to ensure a reflection of Newark’s diverse student population.
To ensure that parents and caregivers whose primary language is not English receive communication in a language they understand.
To foster the involvement of parents of English learners in the development and review of school programs, and to share information to their communities, including through a parent advisory committee.
To avoid any practices that could stop undocumented students from enrolling, and to refrain from requesting immigration-related documents in order for a child to enroll or stay in school.
To follow principles that minimize the risk of families coming into contact with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. These principles include prohibiting ICE agents from entering school grounds or accessing school records unless absolutely required by law.

Newark schools will get influx of COVID tests in White House bid to expand testing

2022-01-26T17:43:25+00:00

The White House will send “hundreds of thousands” of COVID test kits to Newark and four other New Jersey school districts as the Biden administration races to ramp up testing in schools, Newark officials said Tuesday.

The kits are part of President Biden’s new plan to ship 10 million coronavirus tests to schools each month in a bid to keep classrooms open in the face of the highly contagious omicron variant. The shipments are expected to begin this month and include rapid tests that provide results on site and PCR tests, which must be analyzed in labs, the White House said, adding that states had to request the free tests.

New Jersey chose five districts, including Newark, to receive the free tests, Newark Public Schools Superintendent Roger León said at a school board meeting Tuesday.

“We’re extremely excited and honored and proud,” he said, adding that the tests are “going to be arriving in a couple of days, so they’re moving very, very quickly.”

A district spokesperson did not respond to emailed questions Wednesday morning, including the exact number of incoming tests.

Separately, León said the district hopes to provide every student and staff member with a home test kit before spring break so they can get tested before returning to school.

Omicron caused a surge in COVID cases this winter, prompting the Newark school district and most charter schools to switch to remote learning after winter break. District schools reopened last week, and since then new cases have sharply declined.

The coronavirus tests the White House is sending schools can be used to regularly screen staff members and students to catch asymptomatic cases, according to the Biden administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance. They can also be put towards a “test-to-stay” approach, which allows unvaccinated students who have been in close contact with an infected person to remain in school rather than quarantine if the students repeatedly test negative.

Staffing and test shortages have made districts slow to adopt the test-to-stay approach, which New Jersey allows but does not require. Newark has yet to institute that strategy, but León said Tuesday that the additional test kits could make it possible.

“We’re obviously looking at that, making some final decisions,” he told the board. “We’re still in the process of waiting for details on the shipment as well as on clearer guidance.”

Dr. Perry Halkitis, dean of the Rutgers School of Public Health, said the forthcoming shipment of COVID tests is “good news for Newark.” He added that testing can help curb the spread of COVID in schools, which is important since some students remain unvaccinated.

“The best possible mitigation strategies are testing regularly, requiring masks, and making sure people are getting vaccinated,” he said.

Last fall, New Jersey offered federal funding to cover the cost of routine COVID testing in any district that wanted it. After a months-long delay, Newark began offering weekly testing in schools late last year, district officials said.

However, the district has struggled to obtain parental consent for testing, which has limited its reach. At the Dec. 21 board meeting, León said just under 12,000 students, or about a third of the student population, had submitted consent forms. (The district spokesperson did not respond to a request Wednesday for the latest count.)

At Tuesday’s meeting, board member Vereliz Santana urged families to complete the forms so the district can expand its testing program.

“It’s so important in terms of containment and preventing the spread of the virus,” she said.

Every household in the U.S. can now order four free at-home COVID tests through a new federal website. New Jersey residents can also order a free saliva-based test, where a sample is taken at home and shipped for free to a lab.

León said Tuesday that the district will provide all employees and students with at-home tests before spring break begins April 18. The tests will help prevent people who become infected over break from carrying the virus to schools, he said.

“We’re going to make sure that you have a kit,” he said, “so that you test on the days before your return back to school so that we make sure that every school environment continues to remain safe.”

Catherine Carrera contributed reporting.

Amid soaring mental health needs, Newark schools ramp up services with help from partners

2022-01-25T15:14:14+00:00

Now that the latest COVID surge is ebbing and schools have reopened, many Newark students are feeling better. But better isn’t the same as normal.

At East Side High School, students were eager to return to their classrooms last week, said Ava McLeod, a school social worker. But they still have plenty to worry about, from navigating social interactions and COVID restrictions in school to coping with ongoing pandemic hardships at home.

“We’ve seen a lot of students just struggling with everyday life,” McLeod said, including loved ones getting sick, parents losing jobs, and families struggling to pay rent and heating bills. “Some students are suffering.”

Already on the rise before COVID, mental health problems among young people have spiked during the pandemic. In October, a group of children’s health experts declared a national emergency in youth mental health.

“We are caring for young people with soaring rates of depression, anxiety, trauma, loneliness, and suicidality that will have lasting impacts on them, their families, and their communities,” they wrote.

Newark educators are reporting similar mental health challenges among students. In an interview on the show “All Politics R Local,” Superintendent Roger León said “students are exhibiting behaviors unlike ever before,” which he called a matter “of great concern.”

New Jersey’s largest school district, Newark is marshaling resources to respond to the crisis. Last month, León said, he created a districtwide mental health task force. Each school will come up with a mental health action plan, and appoint a staffer to coordinate the work, he added.

The district also plans to hire more mental health professionals, León said. “There’s a need that will require us to really reallocate some funds, open up some new positions, and definitely have school counselors and social workers hired to assist us.”

At East Side, staffers are using whatever resources they have to promote mental wellness.

Each school day begins with two minutes of guided meditation and deep breathing led by a staff member over the school intercom, McLeon said. The school offers yoga workshops and individual counseling, and staffers meet weekly to discuss interventions for students who need extra support.

“Mentally, I think everyone’s tired,” McLeod said, referring to staff and students. But, “at the end of the day, we’re still smiling.”

While the district looks to ramp up its mental health staffing, it has turned to external partners to fill in gaps. Partner organizations have long provided services in Newark schools, but they have become a critical lifeline as COVID creates severe staff shortages.

Universities, nonprofits, and private companies provide various mental health-related services ranging from staff training to online programs to student counseling. Much of the work is funded by federal or private grants.

A Newark Public Schools spokesperson did not respond to a request for information, so Chalkbeat examined service agreements and contacted providers to get a fuller picture of the mental health support offered by outside groups.

Below are some of the programs.

A pipeline of school psychologists

Graduate students are helping fill the need for more school psychologists in Newark.

Each week, trainees in the school psychology program at Fairleigh Dickinson University provide counseling to students at four Newark schools. The partnership, called Supportive Schools Newark, is funded by a five-year, $1.9 million grant that the U.S. Education Department awarded Newark Public Schools and FDU in 2019.

The program’s purpose is twofold: Expand the district’s capacity to support students who have experienced trauma, and create a pipeline of incoming school psychologists trained to work in high-needs schools.

Newark school staffers refer students to the program who might need mental health support, said Dr. Linda Raffaele Mendez, an associate professor at FDU who helps oversee the program. After obtaining parental consent, the graduate students create treatment plans for the participating students, then provide 30-45 minutes per week of individual counseling.

As of December, 35 students had been selected to receive counseling at the participating elementary schools: Oliver Street, Elliott Street, Lincoln, and Park.

Support for grieving students

Nationwide, an estimated 1 in every 450 young people lost a parent or caregiver to COVID. The rate could be even higher in Newark, where COVID caused a disproportionate number of deaths.

The district is helping students deal with their grief through a partnership with Rainbows for All Children, a nonprofit that trains adults to lead support groups for children coping with the absence of a family member due to death, incarceration, deportation, and, now, the pandemic.

“Newark is one of a handful of school districts in the U.S. that trained a number of school personnel” on leading grief-support groups, said Laura Lindroth, Rainbows’ director of programming and community engagement.

The group has trained 110 employees at nearly 60 Newark schools to date.

Breaking the ‘cycle of violence’

When classrooms reopened this fall, educators nationwide reported an uptick in disruptive behaviors. In Newark, some schools grappled with violence that predated the pandemic.

Newark Public Schools has partnered with Rutgers University to address the root causes of behavior problems and violence. Funded by a five-year, $4.6 million federal grant, “Project Prevent Newark” aims to help students “deal with trauma and break the cycle of violence prevalent” in some communities.

Rutgers’ mental health clinicians offer individual and group counseling to high-risk students, said Sonia Rodrigues-Marto, director of school-based programs at Rutgers University Behavioral Health Care. They also provide family therapy, offer evening workshops for parents and school staffers, and help teachers respond to classroom behavior challenges.

“Our goal is to provide support to students who would not normally receive therapeutic services outside of school,” Rodrigues-Marto said in an email.

Her team currently is working in six district schools.

Skills for success

Students need more than English and math smarts to succeed in school.

They also must be able to control their impulses, manage their emotions, work collaboratively, and resolve conflicts peacefully. Schools nationwide have become increasingly interested in teaching students those skills, in what is typically called social-emotional learning, or SEL.

The Newark Trust for Education, a nonprofit that provides technical support and distributes philanthropic money to schools, is funding SEL work at Belmont Runyon, Franklin, John F. Kennedy, and several other district schools. The work includes teaching students social-emotional skills, training staff, and tracking student behaviors.

The trust is also funding other mental health-related projects. Science Park High School students will receive emotional support from coaches via text message, and students at Dr. William H. Horton School will participate in group counseling provided by the Youth Development Clinic.

Building relationships

Young people benefit from having a caring adult who checks in regularly, listens to their concerns, and offers encouragement — in other words, a mentor.

Newark Public Schools has brought in MENTOR Newark to help launch mentoring programs in every high school. The group will train at least one staff member in each school to serve as program coordinator, said Executive Director Thomas Owens. His organization will also help recruit and train the mentors, who could be school employees, community members, or corporate volunteers.

Because COVID restrictions have limited access to schools, Owens’ group launched an app that lets mentors and students connect digitally.

“Sometimes it doesn’t take much more than a text,” Owens said. “‘Are you good? Do you need anything?’”

Newark COVID cases decline as students settle back into in-person learning

2022-01-25T00:22:29+00:00

Newark Public Schools saw a decline in coronavirus cases last week as the district reopened its doors for in-person instruction after two weeks of remote learning, according to the district’s dashboard.

Superintendent Roger León, speaking at a virtual school board retreat on Saturday, said the two-week remote learning period was “extremely successful” in helping to slow the spread of the virus in schools.

The district had pivoted to remote instruction on Jan. 3 as cases surged across the district, city, and state. Last week, Newark families felt a mix of emotions as students went back to in-person learning.

There were 88 staff cases reported the week of Jan. 17, according to the district’s COVID-19 dashboard, which was updated on Monday. Staff cases took a significant plunge from the 566 cases reported the week of Dec. 27.

Last week, there were 48 student cases, the dashboard shows. Ann Street Elementary School reported 13 student cases, the highest number across the district for one school. Other schools were reporting between one to six cases last week.

León said that fewer than 15 classroom teachers tested positive last week, a stark difference from the hundreds that were testing positive just a few weeks ago.

León added that all staff were required to get tested in the days after the holidays. The week of Jan. 3, 338 staff cases were reported, which dropped to 186 the following week.

“That strategy enabled us to identify, isolate, and begin to quarantine before anyone was back,” León said of the decision to switch to remote learning after the break.

On Friday, 10 district employees tested positive, of which three were classroom teachers, he said. That same day, eight students tested positive, he added. Those numbers were a dramatic decrease from the numbers the district saw mid-December.

It’s unclear how many students are participating in the district’s weekly COVID testing program. As of Dec. 21, there were around 12,000 students, or just over a third of the district student population, who opted in.

At the virtual retreat meeting on Saturday, district officials did not give an update on the testing program. Several emails to the district requesting an update on the number of students who have submitted consent forms have gone unanswered.

Gov. Phil Murphy, at a coronavirus briefing in Trenton on Monday, said the state was seeing a downward trend of cases. State officials said cases and hospitalizations likely peaked two weeks ago.

In Newark, a mix of nerves and excitement as schools reopen

2022-01-18T19:24:46+00:00

Lashundra Shamburger juggled opposing emotions as she walked her two children to school Tuesday morning. On the one hand, she felt it was time for them to leave their computers and return to the classroom. On the other hand, COVID.

“They need to go back,” she said as the family strode briskly on the sidewalk toward Camden Street Elementary School in Newark. But, she added, “I’m worried about them going back to school.”

Her daughter, Danielle, who is in the sixth grade, felt just as conflicted.

“I think it’s going to be great,” she said, her hood pulled up against the cold and a mask covering half her face. “But I don’t think it’s safe because a lot of people have tested positive.”

The Newark school district temporarily closed classrooms after winter break due to a surge in COVID cases, including hundreds of students and staffers who tested positive. After two weeks of virtual learning, city and district officials determined that the pace of new infections had slowed enough to allow school buildings to safely reopen on Tuesday.

“Newark Public Schools is, in fact, back in person,” Superintendent Roger León said on the All Politics R Local show.

Now the big question facing Newark schools is whether everyone will return. The district is not offering a remote option, but some families who remain worried about COVID could potentially decide to keep their children home.

Some school staffers might also stay home due to illness or fear of infection. Hundreds of district employees have tested positive for COVID just in the past few weeks. (The district has not updated its online COVID tracker since Jan. 9, so it’s unclear how many people tested positive last week.)

The district has taken a number of steps to reduce COVID spread, including mandating masks in schools, installing air purifiers throughout schools, and offering weekly COVID testing. However, one limitation is that many families have not submitted consent forms allowing their children to be tested. Before winter break, only about a third of the district’s 38,000 students had turned in the forms.

During the interview with All Politics R Local host Jonathan Alston, León said the district will monitor school infection rates and shut down sites when new cases spike.

“We will close it down,” he said. “We will close a classroom, an office, a whole entire school building.”

A security guard wearing a plastic face shield takes students’ temperatures before they entered Camden Street Elementary School.

At Camden Street Elementary School, which serves about 600 students in Newark’s Central Ward, Principal Samuel Garrison said Tuesday that protocols are in place to keep students safe. He added that students benefit socially and academically when they learn face to face.

“Hands down, the best instruction our kids are going to receive is in-person instruction,” he said. “At every level, kids learn better when they’re in person.”

Several parents said they agree.

Shawn Porter noticed that his two daughters, in kindergarten and fifth grade, seemed a little lethargic during remote learning. But on Tuesday, they were eager to get up and head to school.

“It’s not like waking them up for virtual,” he said. “They’re actually excited.”

Not everyone was as enthusiastic about returning.

After dropping off her children Tuesday, a parent who gave only her last name, Hayes, said she thought it was too soon for schools to reopen. Before break, she recalled hearing about several students and staff members getting COVID. (The district reported that two students and eight employees at Camden Street tested positive in the week before winter break.)

“How are you going to stop COVID from spreading?” she asked.

Another parent, JJ Rome, said he would have kept his third and fourth graders at home if that was an option.

“Until COVID is over,” he said, “I’d prefer it to be the same way it’s been: remote learning.”

After Keisha, who gave only her last initial, B, waved good-bye to her grandson Tuesday, she watched the second grader sprint to the school entrance, where guards were taking students’ temperatures before they stepped inside. Like most parents and guardians, Keisha said she was confident that the school’s employees would do everything in their power to keep her child safe.

“I’m a little apprehensive,” she said, “but I’m trusting that they’re going to treat our children just like they would treat their own.”

Newark families, educators prepare for schools to reopen Jan. 18

2022-01-15T03:10:07+00:00

Updated: Newark families and educators are cautiously preparing for students to return to classrooms Tuesday, some two weeks after the district reverted to remote learning due to a surge in COVID cases.

The district announced Friday evening that in-person learning would resume on Jan. 18, as planned. Schools had signaled in recent days that classrooms would soon reopen, and the Newark Teachers Union president told members to “assume that we are going back.”

Some new data appear to support reopening, including a slight decline in the city’s rate of positive COVID tests, according to Mayor Ras Baraka, who said Friday that “our numbers are continuously tiptoeing down.” However, the positivity rate remains high, at about 28%, and hundreds of school employees continue to test positive each week.

While they awaited word from the district, some Newark parents and teachers expressed ambivalence about the return. They recognize that remote learning is difficult for many students and working parents who must rearrange their schedules to supervise their temporary homeschoolers. Yet they also recall the spike in school COVID cases last month due to the highly transmissible omicron variant, and worry about a repeat if classrooms reopen.

“The best place for them to be educated is in school,” said Ruby McGaskill, an eighth grade English teacher at Chancellor Avenue School. “But we also want to be safe.”

Statewide, schools that sent students home this month due to the COVID surge are starting to reopen. About 20% of New Jersey schools were operating remotely this week, down from about 35% the previous week, according to state officials. Jersey City is among the districts planning to welcome students back to classrooms next week, citing a decline in employee infections.

By contrast, the Paterson school district decided to extend remote learning at least through Jan. 24. Other districts, including Bloomfield and Montclair, are allowing families to choose between in-person or virtual learning.

The Newark Public Schools website was updated Friday to say that in-person learning would restart on Jan. 18, adding: “Newark Public Schools are back!”

This week individual schools held virtual family meetings and posted on social media telling students to prepare for next week’s return. In a Facebook video posted Friday, the principal of Bard High School Early College Newark told the school community to expect a safe reopening next week.

“I have heard that there are many of you facing this reopening with some trepidation or anxiety,” said Dr. Carla Stephens, “and I wanted to reassure you that we are ready.”

Newark Teachers Union President John Abeigon said in a letter to members this week that the expectation “for now” is that students and staffers will be back in schools on Jan. 18. But he added: “As we have seen, things can change rapidly,” and told members they would be notified of any changes.

In an interview, Abeigon said he is encouraged by reports that new infections appear to be slowing in several cities, including Newark, where new cases soared last month. He added that he believes the district’s safety measures, including mandatory masking and staff vaccinations, have worked, and that individual classrooms or even schools could be shut down in the event of an outbreak without moving the entire district back to remote learning.

“Like everyone else, I’m feeling a little bit of confidence and anxiety at the same time,” he said.

One potential obstacle for reopening is keeping schools staffed. Out of some 3,000 teachers and school employees who were tested for COVID over winter break, as required by the district, about 11% tested positive, Abeigon said. Infections continued during remote learning, with the district reporting 338 new employee cases from Jan. 3-9.

Before winter break, some schools faced severe staff shortages. One elementary school teacher said substitutes are in such short supply that art and gym teachers occasionally had to fill in for missing teachers or classroom aides. Many custodial and cafeteria workers also were out, which at one point forced an administrator to do kitchen duty, the teacher said.

“We have seen crazy stuff,” she told Chalkbeat this week. “You never imagine you’d see your vice principal cooking lunch.”

Working in the district’s favor, nearly 90% of teachers are vaccinated, which greatly lowers their risk of becoming seriously ill from COVID. Also, under new state guidelines, school employees and students who test positive for COVID now need only quarantine for five days instead of 10, which should help limit disruptions.

The district will resume weekly in-school COVID testing when buildings reopen, Abeigon said. However, as of last month, just under a third of the district’s roughly 38,000 students had submitted consent forms from their parents or guardians allowing them to be tested.

A teacher at one elementary school said only about five of her 14 students turned in consent forms. With the limited student testing and high case count in New Jersey, the teacher said she would prefer to see remote learning extended for a while longer.

“Even though I’d rather have my kids there” in school, she said, “I still don’t think it’s safe.”

Some Newark parents also feel conflicted about the prospect of schools reopening on Tuesday.

Lisa Gordon said she doesn’t feel good about sending her two daughters back to Harriet Tubman School next week because she has seen so many people around them get sick. But she also believes they learn best in person.

“You don’t want your kids to be behind,” she said.

Her husband, Kerone Jackson, said he was “50/50” about schools reopening. While remote learning is tough for students and parents alike, he said, he wouldn’t mind seeing it last a little longer until the infection rate falls further.

On Thursday, he was preparing mentally to send his daughters back to school — but with a big caveat.

“If I hear of one case in my child’s classroom, I will pull them out,” he said. “I can’t risk mine.”

Newark students share mixed feelings about being in-person amid COVID surge

2022-01-14T14:52:46+00:00

When Maryam Agboola, a student at Washington Park High School in Newark, returned to in-person learning in the fall after 15 months of remote instruction, she felt a sense of relief and a bit of concern.

With COVID still spreading in her community, she worried about contracting the virus at school. But the junior has four advanced placement classes plus an internship and a class on coding this year — a demanding course load. She felt more confident and motivated to take on that load with the resources her school offers in-person, not remotely.

During winter break, when Newark Public Schools and other large charter school networks began announcing they would pivot to virtual learning in January as the city faced a surge in positive cases, she again had mixed feelings about her school continuing in-person instruction.

“I mean, there’s something so stressful about being in-person because of COVID,” Agboola said. “But at the same time, I like being able to see my friends and teachers.”

She’s more likely to finish her work on time, she says, when she’s surrounded by friends and has dedicated study hall time with the watchful eye of a teacher.

Agboola’s high school is part of North Star Academy, run by Uncommon Schools, and one of the city’s largest charter school networks. While most city schools delayed the return to in-person instruction by a week or two, the charter system comprising 14 schools took just one extra day off to allow for testing of staff and students.

North Star students were back in the buildings on Jan. 4, as the rest of the city schools went remote.

“We are committed to in-person learning because we believe it’s what is best for students, and keeping our community safe and healthy while we learn in school is our first priority,” said Barbara Martinez, spokesperson for North Star Academy.

Newark’s seven-day rolling average of positive COVID tests reached 39.15% on Jan. 4, up from 38% a few days earlier, according to Newark Mayor Ras Baraka’s COVID briefing that week.

That week, the city was averaging nearly 1,000 positive tests daily.

This week, the seven-day average was 32.03%, beginning to show signs of trending down, the mayor said Wednesday. Those estimates don’t always include positive at-home COVID tests.

Martinez said the charter school has preventative measures in place to mitigate the risk of spread, including mandatory daily health surveys and pooled PCR testing of staff and students. The school also encourages students and families to get vaccinated through school-based vaccine clinics, she added.

While Agboola and some students say they were both concerned and relieved about returning to in-person instruction immediately following the break, other students say they didn’t feel comfortable.

“When all the other schools are pretty much closed and you’re one of the only schools open, it feels unsafe and worrisome,” said Dashawn Sheffield, a junior at Washington Park High School. “I just wish the school would’ve closed for a week or two to allow things to calm down.”

Sheffield said he noticed some of his classes had roughly half the students in attendance last week. A class that typically had around 24 students had about 12 to 15, he said.

Not all students had the same experience, even at the same school. Agboola said she noticed around four to five students at most absent from some classes last week.

Another student, who asked not to be identified, said she was too worried about going in-person, so she provided false information on her daily health screening so that she could stay at home. Other students said they prefer being in-person and have difficulty learning at home with connectivity issues often leading to distractions.

North Star Academy’s COVID dashboard shows there were 18 positive cases among students and staff the week of Jan. 3, including one at Washington Park High School. The week of Dec. 6, there were 31 cases listed on the dashboard.

“Attendance has been strong, and getting stronger every day, and numerous families have expressed their relief and gratitude for keeping our students in school with all of these additional safety measures,” Martinez said.

Nationwide, the debate over keeping students in-person or at home escalated the first two weeks of January as cities across the country faced record-breaking positive cases.

Detroit schools extended remote learning until late January, and families were given until Jan. 31 to submit students’ testing consent forms. Chicago students headed back to their classrooms on Wednesday after a contentious standoff between the city and its teachers union over COVID safety concerns. New York City schools returned to in-person instruction after break, which led some students to organize a walkout in demand of a remote option.

Some Newark parents and students also feel there should be a remote option.

Lauren Yeboah, a senior at Lincoln Park High School, says she likes some benefits of being in-person, such as the resources her school offers. But she feels she’s not in the right headspace to be going to school in-person. “I’m just too stressed,” she said.

Rachel Lopez, a resident of nine years, has two children in two different charter schools. Her 14-year-old son attends Link Community Charter School, which has been remote since mid-December. Her son, whose name she asked not to publish, excels with remote learning, she said.

Her 8-year-old daughter attends a North Star Academy elementary school. Lopez decided to keep her home the first week of January, despite the school being in-person. Her daughter’s teacher provided the family with a take-home learning packet. A remote instruction option is not offered in New Jersey, but some districts have temporarily given families the option.

Her daughter returned to school this week so that she wouldn’t miss out on exams. But Lopez says the third grader spends the day telling her classmates to wear their masks properly, and sometimes “panics” when too many people aren’t following masking rules.

“How can a child learn like that?” Lopez said.

‘You can’t keep my kids safe’: How violence shook a Newark high school, despite pleas for help

2022-01-11T15:39:00+00:00

The calls for help started the first week of classes at Malcolm X Shabazz High School.

Week one: The police were called about a fight at the Newark school, police records from this September show. Week two: an assault in progress. Week three: “criminal mischief.” Week four: an alleged sexual assault.

In October, a melee in the cafeteria sent the school into lockdown, according to students and videos. In a separate incident, two students punched and kicked a young woman as she cowered in a hallway, another video shows. In November, a gunman fired at students just after dismissal. Around the same time, a fight outside the school ended with a group of students stomping on a young man, a different video shows.

The vast majority of Shabazz students aren’t involved in the violence or disorder; they just want a safe, stable place to learn. But the chaos still has disrupted their classes, tarnished their school’s reputation, and exacted a psychic toll.

“I didn’t really feel safe,” said Alana Syphus, a ninth grader who transferred out of Shabazz this fall.

Across the country, educators reported a surge in behavior challenges this fall and unprecedented mental health needs as students readjusted to school while still coping with pandemic stress and uncertainty. Nearly 60% of parents in a recent poll called increased bullying and violence in school a major issue, and nearly 80% said they’re concerned about how schools are handling discipline issues.

But while the pandemic fueled such problems, it didn’t create them. During the 2019-20 school year at Shabazz High School, students were attacked in classrooms and the main office, according to interviews and incident reports. They were stabbed with pencils and hit by chairs. Both students and staffers had to seek medical treatment after altercations.

In private messages and at public meetings, parents and employees pleaded with officials to address the chaos at Shabazz. Yet it persisted.

“Innocent kids were getting harmed — inside the building, outside the building,” said Sharma Eagan, whose daughter is a Shabazz senior. “A lot of things were happening.”

The safety challenges are only one component of the crisis at Shabazz. In addition to violence, the school has struggled with instability, low academic achievement, and declining enrollment for many years and under multiple district leaders, according to a review of school data, incident reports, and police records, as well as interviews with more than 40 current and former officials, school employees, parents, and students.

Allowed to fester, the problems have intensified. Today, Shabazz’s enrollment has dwindled to 277 students — a third of what it was a decade ago. Its graduation rate fell to 62% last year, almost 20 percentage points below the district rate, and just 1 in 3 graduates headed to college in fall 2020.

During the 2019-20 school year, Shabazz’s suspension and serious-incident rates were many times higher than the district average, even exceeding rates at similar high schools.

This November, nearly 60% of Shabazz students were chronically absent — more than any other Newark high school.

District policies and a lack of urgent attention have entrenched the school’s troubles. Most notably, Newark’s two-tiered high school system steers the top-performing students into selective schools and young people with the greatest academic and social-emotional needs to comprehensive high schools such as Shabazz. Shabazz enrolls far more students with disabilities and behavior disorders and mid-year arrivals than any selective school serves.

The district superintendent, Roger León, promised to revitalize the city’s troubled high schools. Yet by opening even more selective schools, he may have deepened the hole that schools like Shabazz are struggling to climb out of. And while he was directly warned about the turmoil at Shabazz, even receiving videos of the violence, it continued under his watch.

A district spokesperson said all reported incidents at Shabazz were investigated and addressed, and the new principal who started this school year has taken steps to improve learning and safety at the school.

Across the country, no school has escaped COVID’s grip. Yet schools that struggled prior to the pandemic, often because they serve the neediest students with limited resources, were especially vulnerable to its disruptions.

In Newark, the failure to forcefully intervene at Shabazz and similarly troubled schools meant they were on shaky ground when the pandemic erupted. Because state and district officials allowed Shabazz to sink so low over so many years, it faces a far steeper path to recovery. And now, as the latest surge forces students back to remote learning, any fragile progress has been put on hold.

The pandemic might be the most dire emergency to beset the school — but it’s far from the first.

Brit Harley, who helped a nonprofit run an enrichment program in Shabazz for several years, said that long before COVID, successive superintendents allowed Shabazz to spiral out of control.

“I was always appalled at what seemed like the lack of oversight and care from the district,” she said recently. “Why was there not an SOS? How can this continue?”

In 1914, South Side High School opened in Newark’s South Ward. In 1972, the school was renamed in honor of Malcolm X Shabazz.

The making of Shabazz

Before it became Shabazz, the sprawling South Ward campus was home to South Side High School.

South Side opened in 1914 when Newark was a growing, majority-white industrial city. Within a few decades, the population transformed as waves of Black southerners moved North and racist housing policies drew white families to the suburbs but confined Black families to the inner city.

Between 1920 and 1970, Newark’s population shifted from 96% to 44% white, and from 4% to 54% Black. In 1972, South Side students led a push to rename the school in honor of the slain civil rights leader Malcolm X Shabazz.

South Side and Shabazz produced many accomplished alumni, including former Newark Mayor Sharpe James, former New York City Mayor Ed Koch, Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus, and Grammy Award-winning singer Cissy Houston. The campus also has long boasted an acclaimed marching band and powerhouse football and basketball teams.

Shabazz boasts an acclaimed marching band.

Yet as deindustrialization, white flight, and government disinvestment wreaked havoc on Newark over many decades, Shabazz suffered too. Violence and poverty in the community seeped onto the campus. “It’s getting more and more difficult,” a Shabazz teacher told a reporter in 1993 as the school grappled with gangs and absenteeism.

The state seized control of Newark’s schools two years later, but little changed at Shabazz. In the 2000s, it spent seven consecutive years on the state’s struggling schools list due to poor performance.

In 2010, state observers found students roaming the halls during class and pulling fire alarms. The “adults in the building have lost control,” the observers wrote, calling it “a school in crisis.” Faulting the state-operated district for providing inadequate support, the reviewers recommended shutting down Shabazz and replacing it with small academies.

The state did not close Shabazz. “It would be like tearing down City Hall,” a former district official told Chalkbeat, citing its devoted alumni network. Instead, in 2011, Shabazz got its fourth new principal in as many years: a 27-year-old named Gemar Mills.

“The school was in disarray,” said Mills, who was promoted from vice principal. “Students were running the building however they wanted to.”

Mills and his team made aggressive changes. They cracked down on gang activity and fights. They replaced graffiti with murals. They held weekly pep rallies and posted online videos promoting “the new Shabazz,” symbolized by its feisty bulldog mascot.

“When we first got there, Shabazz was one of the worst schools in the country,” said Altarik White, an alum who joined Mills’ administrative team. “Through our efforts, we were able to bring back that bulldog bite.”

But when Mills left after just four years at the helm to help lead a national nonprofit, Shabazz began to backslide. The school had relied on a charismatic leader to overcome structural challenges that never went away.

The deep-rooted obstacles include pervasive poverty and crime surrounding Shabazz. In 2019, the poverty rate in the school’s ZIP code was five times the statewide average. Last year through Dec. 5, the local police precinct encountered more than 40% of the city’s shooting victims.

In addition, Shabazz and its feeder schools compete for students and funding with Newark’s many charter schools, which are concentrated in the South Ward. But arguably the greatest hindrance is the district’s own enrollment system, which ushers high-achieving students to selective high schools and the neediest students to Shabazz and the other comprehensive high schools.

This school year, about 31% of Shabazz students have disabilities — nearly twice the districtwide rate. Some parents of students with disabilities say district employees steered their children to the school. (The district spokesperson did not respond to that claim.)

“They said we had to go to Shabazz because he has special needs,” said Theresa Pringle, whose son enrolled at the school in 2018. “They guide you where they want to put you.”

In 2018, the most recent year when such data was available, Shabazz enrolled more students with emotional difficulties that affect learning and behavior than did any other district high school. And compared with selective high schools, a disproportionate share of students transfer to Shabazz during the school year, often because they were forced out of other schools due to discipline problems.

“Instead of having an alternative school, it’s been determined that Shabazz will be the school where all the behavior disorder kids will go,” said Donald Massey, a former Shabazz security guard and football coach.

A Shabazz 9th grader, whose name Chalkbeat is withholding, said the concentration of students with behavior challenges can impede on everyone’s learning.

“It creates a whole distraction for the school,” she said, “because now they bang on the doors, they run in the hallways.”

A 2011 study of Chicago schools found that schools serving more students with academic challenges were more likely to struggle with safety and order. In fact, students’ prior academic achievement had a bigger impact on school safety than crime and poverty in the surrounding area, the researchers found.

“We’re making some of these issues more challenging in the way we sort students” into schools, said David Johnson, a senior research analyst at the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research, who co-authored the report.

By sending so many students with academic and behavior challenges to Shabazz, the district created a combustible situation. By 2019, the situation had come to a head.

Chaos before the storm

Newark officials received repeated warnings that Shabazz was in trouble.

Theresa Pringle, whose son attended Shabazz, raised concerns about violence at the school during an August 2019 school board meeting.

In August 2019, Pringle stood up at a school board meeting to call attention to the chaos. The previous school year, Shabazz had reported 62 serious incidents, the majority involving violence. Its rate of incidents was six times the district average. East Side High School, with four times as many students as Shabazz, reported only 38 offenses.

“These incidents are taking place on school grounds during the school day and escalating into the community,” she said, “putting my son’s safety in imminent danger.”

As predicted, the violence resumed as soon as the 2019-20 school year started. On Sept. 12, a brawl broke out between periods, records show. The next morning, three students attacked a young man at a nearby bus stop. The student was rushed to a hospital.

In the following weeks, students fought or were attacked in stairwells, hallways, and locker rooms, according to incident reports and videos. One student flung a laptop at a classmate’s face, sending him to the hospital. On at least two occasions, security guards had to seek medical care, the reports show.

“It was constant fights breaking out,” said Naheim Dixson, who was a senior that school year.

Video screenshots show some of the violent incidents that Shabazz students recorded during the 2019-20 school year.

Students recorded the mayhem. In one video, the principal, wearing a black suit, rushes into a crowd of dozens to break up a fight. In another, a young woman pummels a student on the floor of the main office. In yet another, four young men assault a fifth student in a stairwell. “The incident could be described as extremely violent and predatory in nature,” the incident report reads.

León was aware of the violence. An alarmed Shabazz employee had been texting the Newark superintendent videos of the brutality, which León referenced at a staff meeting, according to an attendee.

On Feb. 5, 2020, the employee sent León a video of a young man entering a classroom, punching a seated student in the face, and chasing him into the hallway.

“I know in the past I’ve sent you multiple videos of the mayhem that’s going on in Shabazz,” the staffer wrote to León, according to a screenshot of the message shared with Chalkbeat. The employee wrote that León previously referred him to an assistant superintendent, whom the employee contacted, yet the violence continued.

“Mr. Leon if something isn’t done soon,” he wrote, “Shabazz will inevitably end up on the 5 o’clock news.”

The warning was eerily prescient. The next day, footage of several Shabazz basketball players attacking their coach appeared on the evening news. The story soon was picked up by the Washington Post, CNN, and Fox News. Newark’s mayor issued a statement and the assistant superintendent met with Shabazz families, but parents and staffers said they didn’t hear from León.

“When the big stuff goes down, he ain’t there,” said Eagan, the Shabazz parent.

León did not respond to questions about the specific steps he took to address the violence at Shabazz.

“Any and all reported incidents regarding Malcolm X Shabazz High School have been investigated, and appropriate action has been taken in response,” district spokesperson Nancy Deering said in a statement.

The disorder weighed on students. Erica Mends, who was in 12th grade that year, recalled students wandering the halls during class and teachers locking classroom doors to prevent intrusions.

“Every single day we go to school, we don’t know what to expect,” she said. “What is going to happen in the hallway? Who is going to say what to who?”

The chaos compounded other issues. Former students remember sitting in half-empty classrooms while their peers skipped school, and long-term substitutes replacing teachers who quit mid-year.

“It was a miserable, unhappy place to work,” said a teacher who left after the 2019-20 school year.

The violent videos were widely viewed, overshadowing students’ many accomplishments.

“Shabazz is filled with smart kids,” said Dixson, who graduated in 2020 and plans to join the military. But they were “outshined because everyone shined a light on the bad things.”

Pringle felt she had to remain vigilant while her son was at Shabazz. She documented 38 visits to the school to raise concerns about safety and other issues.

“Safety has to be addressed,” she said in an interview. “Parents should feel confident that when their children go to school, they won’t get a dreaded call that something has happened to your child.”

The violence at Shabazz continued through March 13, 2020, when a “male student decided to start hitting [a] female student” in the cafeteria, according to the incident report. That evening, the district announced it was shutting down school buildings due to the fast-spreading coronavirus.

The following year and a half of remote learning offered students a reprieve from the violence at Shabazz, even as the pandemic created new hardships.

In spring 2021, more than a year after dozens of documented fights and assaults at Shabazz, León replaced Principal Naseed Gifted, whom he had installed at the school three years earlier.

Superintendent Roger León spoke at a back-to-school event at Shabazz in 2018. In the background is Naseed Gifted, whom León appointed as principal.

That June, the Shabazz employee who had sent León videos of the violence followed up with the superintendent in an email, which Chalkbeat obtained. (The employee, who no longer works for the district, requested anonymity to avoid retaliation.)

In the June 24, 2021 email, he said he had warned León, another official, and school board members about the “mayhem” at Shabazz, but “my concerns [fell] on deaf ears.” Now, he said, he worried what would happen when Shabazz students, who already “had major social and emotional issues prior to the pandemic,” came back to a school with new administrators and staffers.

“Mr. Leon, I’m praying the district has a plan for the students who will be returning to a school that doesn’t remotely reflect the school they left,” he wrote. “I’m praying for these kids.”

A steep climb ahead

Schools nationwide reported a wave of fights and disruptions when in-person learning resumed this fall. The strain was heightened at Shabazz, where students returned to a new principal and a campus known for violence.

“At the beginning of the school year, it was a fight like every day,” said 10th grader Amiyah McClinton.

A current Shabazz employee, who asked to remain anonymous, described witnessing many of the same problems that plagued the school before the pandemic: terrible attendance, frequent fights, and students wandering the halls during class. Remote learning had also exacerbated academic and mental health challenges.

“You come in and want to teach content,” she said, “but you can’t without first putting out a zillion fires.”

Shanaya Thomas, whose two children attend Shabazz, was already worried about the violence when she learned that a man fired a gun outside the school on Nov. 30, narrowly missing two students. The next day, Thomas emailed Superintendent León to ask that he allow her son and daughter to learn from home.

“You can’t keep my kids safe, so why would I send them to school?” she said in an interview. Last month, she notified the district that she’d be homeschooling her children.

Shabazz students say fights were frequent at the beginning of the school year, but things have since calmed down.

Yet despite those persistent challenges, the school has made some progress. Students say they’ve been impressed with the new principal, Atiba Buckman, who previously led a district elementary school. Buckman meets regularly with the newly established student government, rewards students for good grades and attendance, and recently brought some calm to the school, they said.

“There used to be fights every day; now it’s like every other day,” said Imani, a ninth-grader who declined to give her last name. “It’s not perfect, but they’re doing their best.”

Even when the school has seemed in disarray, it still offered opportunities. Members of Shabazz’s Biogeochemistry Team compiled data that was included in a published study; in 2017, one of the student-researchers won a full ride to Harvard. Parents and students praise the school’s cosmetology and engineering programs, its partnerships with local universities, and its vaunted athletic teams and marching band, which recently performed at an event featuring former President Barack Obama.

“A lot of people were telling me, ‘You put him in there, he’s going to fail,’” said Yvonne Davis, whose son, Tariq, is a sophomore who’s in the marching band and on the honor roll. “Tariq proved them wrong; he’s doing really good.”

Yet the school remains in distress. Its enrollment is at an all-time low and its graduation rate, which trails far behind the district average, is lower than it was a decade ago. Only 31% of Shabazz graduates in 2020 entered college that fall. This November, 6 in 10 Shabazz students were chronically absent, an alarming trend that suggests students are falling further behind instead of making up ground lost during the pandemic.

The dire situation at Shabazz and other struggling high schools bears little resemblance to the vision laid out by León, a former selective school principal who became superintendent in 2018. Early in his tenure, he promised to make high school improvement a centerpiece of his agenda.

“We are changing the entire landscape of not only this school system, but of every single high school,” he proclaimed in 2019.

His marquee reform was reinvesting in vocational programs at the comprehensive high schools and recruiting businesses and universities to support their career training.

But he has been less clear about his plan to improve academics at those schools, which continue to lag far behind the selective high schools in every key measure. For example, when New Jersey last gave its annual exams in 2019, 63% of students at the selective Science Park High School were proficient in math, compared with just 3% of students at Shabazz.

At the same time, León has made changes that could hamstring the comprehensive schools. He eliminated a small school for struggling students, and sent them back to the traditional high schools. He opened several new selective high schools, and instituted a new entrance exam that the selective schools can use to admit top-performing students. Meanwhile, Shabazz and the other comprehensive schools must admit all who apply.

“If they don’t get accepted by any other school on their high school application, they get funneled to Shabazz,” said the current Shabazz employee. “Honestly, I think the district is setting up the school to fail.”

Deering, the district spokesperson, said León plans to eventually restore alternative education programs, which previous superintendents phased out. She added that all comprehensive high schools offer honors and Advanced Placement classes. (Only 9% of Shabazz students took AP classes last year, according to district data.)

“Many South Side and Shabazz graduates have gone on to successful careers, major leadership roles, and a rich history with a committed, dedicated, and supportive alumni association,” she said in a statement. “The new leadership at the school has instituted steps to address academics, culture, climate, and students’ social and emotional learning needs.”

Deering declined to provide details about the improvements. Principal Buckman and Newark school board President Dawn Haynes did not respond to multiple emails.

The district’s response to the acute challenges at Shabazz and similar schools remains a work in progress.

At the December school board meeting, members pressed León about concerningly high rates of absenteeism, serious incidents, and suspensions. León cited an ongoing review of the district’s discipline policies and a plan to train students to provide peer-to-peer counseling.

“A lot of really important work needs to happen,” León told the board, “to actually see these numbers on a downward spiral.”

While successive officials promise change, generations of young people encounter similar problems at Shabazz.

Malachi Muhammad graduated from Shabazz in 2016. Today, he’s part of a group that monitors students as they travel to and from school.

Malachi Muhammad, who graduated in 2016, remembers fights at the school and certain classes that offered little more than “babysitting.” It was known “for being a school that you get dumped into,” he said.

Today, Muhammad is a member of the Newark Community Street Team, whose staffers watch over students outside several designated schools, including Shabazz. Each day, the 24-year-old greets Shabazz students as they arrive and leave. He was talking to the two students the day the gunman exited a white car at dismissal and shot at them; Muhammad helped them escape.

Last month, he stood in the shadow of one of the school’s towering brick walls. It once featured a mural of Malcolm X Shabazz holding a page that read, “By any dreams necessary.” The mural was removed during repairs and never replaced.

Muhammad thought about the brilliance contained within those walls. Like young people everywhere, the students at Shabazz are capable of such greatness, he knew, if given the chance.

“A lot of these minds are revolutionary and they want something different,” he said. “But no one’s enabling it.”

Newark’s return to remote learning comes with some challenges for teachers, students

2022-01-05T11:00:00+00:00

Classes starting late due to technical issues.

Confusion among teachers about whether to work from home or at school.

Spotty attendance in classes, in some cases due to a lack of devices or internet connection.

As Newark Public Schools returned to remote learning for the first time this school year following a recent surge in positive COVID cases across the community, recurrent issues from the previous time the district went virtual cropped up once again.

Overall, however, teachers and students say the first two days back on a remote learning schedule have been better than they expected because they were able to plan ahead.

Teachers were given three days before the winter break to prepare their students for the possible pivot to remote, giving them the chance to review virtual classroom links and codes and provide learning packets. The district is expected to return to in-person learning on Jan. 18.

“It’s actually going better than I anticipated,” said Alyson Hairston Beresford, who teaches fifth grade students on the autism spectrum at Camden Street Elementary School. “My students who have been able to log on are logging on and I’m getting a lot of positive support from my administrators.”

Beresford said she remembers last school year when a majority of her students initially struggled to log on. But after Superintendent Roger León’s letter went out Dec. 20, she had enough time to add key links to their computer “favorites,” making it easier for students who struggle with reading to find the right link.

“A few days to prepare makes a huge difference when it comes to my students who have reading difficulties, trouble holding a mouse, and other challenges,” Beresford said. “I was able to show them to ensure that they were able to log on to the programs, and it’s working so far.”

On Tuesday, the second day of the remote learning plan, some classes were delayed due to technical issues. Abington Avenue School posted on its Instagram account that there were some “internet interruptions due to technical issues.”

Science Park High School student Ashley Lourenco said some classmates weren’t able to enter their virtual classes for 10 to 20 minutes. She added that students have also been having issues with their Chromebooks.

Despite those hiccups, Lourenco said, “remote has definitely been a more smooth transition since it was expected” after the notice to families on Dec. 20 and a follow-up on Dec. 30.

León sent a notice to families Thursday informing them that the district planned to go remote starting Monday due to the surge of COVID cases among students and staff before winter break, which began Dec. 23.

There has also been a huge citywide increase in positive cases. Mayor Ras Baraka said Monday there were 3,895 new cases reported in the city since Thursday. The city’s seven-day rolling average of positive COVID tests soared above 44%, compared with just 2% in mid-October.

Some teachers said attendance was low in some classes, mostly due to students who didn’t pick up their devices before winter break.

“The attendance wasn’t great,” said a Newark high school teacher who asked to remain anonymous to avoid retaliation. “I was missing a few students because a lot of them either still don’t have a Chromebook or they have one but there was something wrong with it, or the internet was lagging.”

Students stopped attending school in the days before winter break, she said, because they were testing positive for the coronavirus or they were identified as close contacts. Because of that, they were absent on the days devices were being distributed, she added.

A high school teacher of English as a second language said her students had some issues navigating the device applications at first but once they were logged on, they were engaged in the lesson.

“I feel it was pretty successful,” said the ESL teacher who asked to remain anonymous. “I was able to get my lesson across and the students asked questions.”

But not all teachers have been having a positive experience.

Some were asked to show up to work in person, even though the rest of the district is working remotely. The Newark Teachers Union issued a statement on its social media accounts that teachers can work remotely, despite what their principals have told them.

Still, those teachers were warned by their school administrators that they would lose personal time if they don’t show in person.

Teachers at one elementary school have had to work from their school building instead of remotely so far this week, said one teacher who asked to remain anonymous to avoid retaliation.

“Pretty much every teacher in my building has expressed extreme frustration with the situation,” that teacher said. “I thought morale couldn’t be lower heading into our winter break, but I can now say that it is indeed lower.”

Most charter school students throughout the city also are doing remote learning for the first two weeks of the year. However, North Star Academy, a charter school system with 14 schools, returned to in-person instruction Tuesday.

In a letter to families, the charter school said families were “encouraged” to get their children tested before returning to school and that free rapid tests would be provided to families who need them.

KIPP, which operates 14 schools including two high schools, sent a letter to families Dec. 31 informing them that students would switch to virtual learning only for the first week of the month with an expected return to in-person learning Jan. 10.

Great Oaks Legacy Charter School and Marion P. Thomas Charter School students are all on remote learning schedules until Jan. 18. In a letter to families, Marion P. Thomas Charter School Superintendent Angela Mincy said the school will test students prior to their return to in-person learning.

Patrick Wall contributed reporting.

Newark schools will start 2022 remote as COVID cases rise

2021-12-30T23:46:03+00:00

Updated 12/31/21: Newark schools will switch to fully remote learning after the holiday recess ends Jan. 3 and keep students home for at least two weeks as COVID cases continue to climb in the city, officials said Thursday evening.

Superintendent Roger León said the district made the decision after consulting with the city health department about the recent surge in infections. Students were told to prepare for the possibility of remote learning before leaving for winter break and are expected to return to classrooms on Jan. 18.

“This is not the news I want to be sharing with students and their families at this time because we need to continue in-person instruction,” León said in a statement, “but the health and safety of students and staff remains the top priority.”

In the week before winter break, Newark Public Schools reported that more than 200 students and 230 employees tested positive for COVID, according to the district’s online database.

Newark became the largest school district in New Jersey to announce the shift to a fully remote plan for students, a consequential decision likely to affect attendance, learning loss, and student mental health. It joins several other districts that recently decided to revert to at-home learning, including Paterson, East Orange, and Jersey City.

Districts across the country are considering a return to remote instruction as the omicron variant of the coronavirus fuels the latest surge in cases, causing more students and staff to quarantine as schools struggle with teacher shortages.

New Jersey reported nearly 28,000 new COVID cases on Thursday, the highest single-day number of positive tests since the pandemic began nearly two years ago. The mounting case count is partly due to an increase in testing, as well as the highly contagious omicron variant.

Newark reported 1,162 new cases and one death from Monday to Wednesday, according to Mayor Ras Baraka, who himself recently tested positive for COVID. The city’s seven-day rolling average of positive COVID tests has soared above 38%, compared to just 2% in mid-October.

“Our test positivity rate is extremely high,” Baraka said Wednesday. “This thing is very, very contagious.”

The city recently reinstated an indoor mask mandate, and Baraka signed an executive order on Monday requiring anyone age 5 and up to show proof of vaccination before entering businesses or public facilities beginning Jan. 10.

While Newark classrooms are closed, students can pick up a week’s supply of meals at select schools on Mondays from 8 to 11 a.m. District officials said they expect the city will reopen sites where working parents can drop off their children, who will do online learning under adult supervision.

“We will do everything to protect our children in this fight against this horrible virus and we will get back to in-person instruction as soon as possible,” said Newark school board president Dawn Haynes in a statement.

Newark’s winter recess was originally scheduled to begin Christmas Eve, with early dismissal the day before, but was moved up to start a day earlier in light of a sharp uptick of positive cases among staff and students districtwide.

Just before the break started, at least 90 classrooms were following a fully remote schedule due to quarantines and positive cases. Similar trends were also occurring at charter schools throughout the city. There were at least two full school closures and increases of positive cases recorded on some school COVID dashboards.

In a letter to the school community on Dec. 20, León said families should be prepared for a “potential pivot to remote instruction” after the winter break. He asked staff and teachers to confirm families had internet access, devices, school materials, and links or codes for virtual classrooms.

During a Facebook live event on Dec. 22, Dr. Mark Wade, Newark’s health department director, urged city schools to go remote as COVID vaccination rates among children remained relatively low and transmission was sharply rising. He noted at the time that 50% of all positive COVID cases in Newark in recent weeks were coming from school-aged children.

In Newark, about 56% of children ages 12-17 are fully vaccinated, according to the state’s dashboard. The dashboard doesn’t provide data for fully vaccinated children between 5 and 11 years old in the city, but it does show that about 2.3% of children in that age group statewide have had at least one dose of the COVID vaccine.

“I cannot stress it enough — vaccinate, get the booster if it’s your time to do so, wear a mask, wash your hands, and practice social distancing,” León said during a school board meeting on Dec. 21.

The Newark public school district recently launched an online COVID dashboard for community members to keep track of positive cases in the district. From Dec. 20 to 26, 202 students and 233 district employees tested positive, according to the district data. Though classes were in session only three days that week, some schools reported a cluster of cases, including 25 students at Central High School, 16 students at Malcolm X Shabazz High School, and 13 employees at University High School.

District officials previously said that when staff and students return to in-person instruction, weekly COVID testing would resume. However, only about 30% of the 37,000-plus students in the district have submitted consent forms to get tested, leaving out the vast majority of students from receiving in-school testing.

León also previously said he was considering a “test-to-stay” program that would keep students in school if they are close contacts and have a negative test result, instead of having them quarantined at home for seven days, as New Jersey’s Department of Health recommends.

Correction: This story has been updated to note that Newark Public Schools launched an online database of COVID cases in the district.

What happens if Newark pivots to remote learning in January? Here’s what we know.

2021-12-23T00:00:20+00:00

Over the last month, positive COVID cases among Newark public school students more than tripled — with the highest spike of 321 cases seen in the days before winter break, according to figures the district shared this week.

The state’s largest school district went from having only four classes doing remote instruction as of Dec. 15 to 90 classes on a fully remote plan less than a week later. The shift came ahead of the winter break that was rescheduled to start a day earlier due to the increase in COVID positive cases in the district.

“Had it not been for the winter break, there would be entire schools shutting down,” said John Abeigon, the teachers union president, on Dec. 22.

Some districts in New Jersey, including Irvington and Paterson, have already announced they would not return to in-person classes after the holiday recess. Irvington, which neighbors Newark, plans to do remote instruction through Jan. 10. Paterson said it would keep students remote for the first two weeks of January.

But Superintendent Roger León said at a school board meeting on Dec. 21 that he hopes not to move in that direction after break. Gov. Phil Murphy also said this week that state officials would try to keep students in person.

“We’re hoping not to go into remote instruction in January,” León said at the meeting.

Still, students, families, and staff were told in a letter from the district on Dec. 20 to prepare for the possibility of going remote should high COVID positive cases warrant that shift.

Newark health department director Dr. Mark Wade strongly advised city schools go remote in light of recent data that showed half of new COVID cases in the city were from school-aged children. The recommendation came the Wednesday before break during a coronavirus update on Facebook with Mayor Ras Baraka.

“We do seriously have to look at going back to remote learning and minimizing the interaction that kids have — to protect them and to protect the rest of the family, particularly our elderly and those of us with underlying chronic conditions,” Wade said.

During the winter break, district officials said there would be deep cleaning throughout the 60-plus school buildings and teachers would be asked to present negative tests before returning in January.

Here’s what else we know:

How bad are COVID cases in the district?

Since July 1, there have been 750 positive COVID cases among students, with the overwhelming majority of those recorded after Nov. 23, León said. Prior to Thanksgiving, the district had less than 200 positive cases among students, he said.

Between Dec. 15 and Dec. 21, there were around 321 cases reported among students, according to data shared by the district in emails.

Among staff members, 507 have tested positive this school year and a similar increase was seen after the November holiday break. León noted that 578 positives were recorded among staff during the first 15 months of the pandemic, while the latest figure is just from the last five months.

“We must remain vigilant in all of our efforts,” he said. “I cannot stress it enough — vaccinate, get the booster if it’s your time to do so, wear a mask, wash your hands, and practice social distancing.”

In Newark, 56% of children ages 12-17 are fully vaccinated, according to the state’s dashboard.

Are schools testing students and staff?

Though it took weeks after the first day of school to implement weekly COVID testing, district and union officials said testing is now in full swing at all district schools for staff and for students whose families have completed consent forms.

In October, only about 9,000 students — or 24% of the student body — had opted in to get tested. As of Dec. 21, more than 12,000 students had opted in, León said at the school board meeting. That number is still fairly low considering there are more than 37,000 students in the district.

Board co-vice president Vereliz Santana asked the district to find ways to incentivize families to fill out the consent forms for testing and to post regular reminders.

“I’m really honing in on the testing piece because we know the omicron [variant] is spreading and COVID testing is a critical piece in terms of containment,” she said at the board meeting Dec. 21.

Some parents say, however, that despite submitting consent forms, there has not been consistent testing of their children. District officials said parents should reach out to their child’s homeroom teacher or school principal to make sure testing is going on.

Prior to returning to classroom January, teachers will need to get tested.

“We need testing during the holiday,” Abeigon said. “We need to know what’s going on in terms of staff numbers, how many are testing positive and how many are close contacts. That will determine whether we can open up a school or a district.”

District officials said some schools might pivot to remote instruction, while the rest of the district remains in-person and that these decisions would be made on a classroom or school basis.

Recently, state officials said they were considering piloting a “test to stay” program that would allow close contacts to test negative and avoid quarantining. León said he was also considering that for the district.

“The test to stay option is something that we don’t have in play but we will definitely be looking at that very carefully,” León said.

What happens if schools go remote?

Staff and teachers reached out to families to make sure they had internet access and urged students to take home district-provided devices prior to the break. They also made sure links and virtual classroom codes were working, Abeigon said.

Virtual instruction would be synchronous and students will be marked present for a full day “if they participate in all of the synchronous, live learning periods scheduled for that school day,” the district’s amended remote instruction plan states.

León said he confirmed with the city that learning pods would reopen for children whose parents have to go to work while they’re remote learning, similar to the ones that were opened throughout the city last year.

“If the entire district is to go remote, we will open meal distribution sites at the same locations from last school year,” León said. That information would be posted on the district website, he added.

After schools shut down in March of 2020, the district opened food distribution sites throughout the city for families of students to pick up grab-and-go meals.

Any decisions about pivoting to remote instruction would be communicated to parents and posted on the district or school’s website, León said.

COVID uptick prompts Newark schools to prep for potential shift to remote after break

2021-12-20T23:22:53+00:00

As COVID cases continue to rise, Newark schools are preparing to potentially switch to remote learning after winter break, which will start a day early for students, Superintendent Roger León announced Monday.

“With the number of positive cases on the upswing, we cannot let our guard down,” León said in a letter to the school community. “We are redoubling our efforts to be prepared for any necessary changes and a potential pivot to remote instruction.”

Schools throughout the city and state have seen a rise in the number of positive cases among staff and students in the weeks after the Thanksgiving break. Cases among staff and students throughout New Jersey schools sharply rose the week of Dec. 12 to 6,947, an increase of 79% from two weeks prior, NJ.com reported.

Entire classrooms and grades in Newark have already switched to remote learning ahead of the winter break, which for most schools is scheduled to start on Friday with a return on Jan. 3.

Newark Public Schools had an early dismissal scheduled for Thursday, but now students will have that day off, León said. A staff development day originally scheduled for January will be moved to Thursday, he added.

Before the break starts, school leaders and staff will help students and families with a remote instruction plan, including confirming the availability of technology, internet connectivity, materials, and all necessary links and codes to access virtual learning, Leon said in his letter.

“All students should be reminded to take their Chromebooks home this week,” he said.

When it comes to a potential shift to remote instruction, León said, “some may move to that point sooner than others, but we all will be prepared if and when necessary.”

There are plans to deep clean the school buildings during the break, he said.

In-person instruction and tutoring will resume after the break “unless circumstances warrant remote instruction for specific classes, groups, or schools,” León said, adding that weekly rapid testing would also resume in schools.

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka urged school staff and students to get tested before returning to school after winter break.

“The state, the superintendent, should make sure that every kid, every adult is tested before they’re allowed to come back to school in January after the holidays,” Baraka said during a coronavirus briefing on Monday.

Baraka reinstated a mask mandate for residents and visitors in all indoor public spaces, such as supermarkets and gyms, and said more restrictions would return if the city’s positivity rate continued to rise. There were 1,682 new positive cases in the city since Friday, averaging about 561 cases per day, he said.

“These numbers are jumping badly, not just here but all over the state,” Baraka said.

Gov. Phil Murphy and New Jersey Health Commissioner Judith Persichelli said at a news conference Monday that they were considering a “test to stay” program for after the holiday break that would allow students who are close contacts to stay in school during their quarantine period by testing negative.

Some Newark students switch to remote learning as COVID cases rise

2021-12-17T21:25:00+00:00

With winter break just days away, Newark schools are seeing a sharp spike in positive COVID-19 cases as the omicron and delta variants continue to fuel the latest surge, causing hundreds of students to switch to remote learning.

Throughout the city, entire classrooms have switched to remote learning in recent days, though an exact number is unknown, due to an increase in positive cases among staff and students. Even more schools are bracing for a possible return to remote learning if the latest COVID wave continues into next year.

COVID cases are on a drastic upswing across schools statewide, with staff rates trending higher than student rates, the state COVID-19 dashboard shows.

“Our numbers are growing exponentially and we have to keep an eye on that,” Mayor Ras Baraka said Wednesday, referring to cases citywide.

Traditional public schools and charter schools citywide are reporting more positive cases in the two to three weeks after Thanksgiving than they had in the first few months of school.

Nearly half of the 723 total positive cases among students and staff in Newark Public Schools were reported in the first two weeks of December. About 40% of the 66 total positive cases at Great Oaks Legacy Charter School also surfaced during that time frame. And more than half of the total positive cases at Marion P. Thomas Charter School emerged in a single week of December.

The city’s seven-day rolling average of positive COVID tests reached 9.01%, Baraka said during a coronavirus update on Facebook this week. That rate is more than four times higher than in mid-October, when only about 2% of tests were positive.

“This is growing and it’s growing fast,” Baraka said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said this week that the omicron variant — which spreads more easily than the original strain of the coronavirus — accounts for 13% of new positive cases in New York and in New Jersey. The first case of the omicron variant in New Jersey surfaced on Nov. 28.

The New Jersey Department of Health released updated guidelines on Wednesday for schools that say students and staff who are considered close contacts only need to quarantine for seven days if they have a negative test result or 10 days without a test, instead of the previous 14-day recommendation.

“While a 14-day quarantine period is optimal, the CDC and [state] Department of Health recognizes the value of shortening quarantine in certain circumstances,” Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said.

Among the Newark students who switched to virtual learning this week were those from People’s Prep, a charter high school, as well as two KIPP high schools — Newark Collegiate Academy and Newark Lab High School — and multiple classes from across Newark Public Schools, Marion P. Thomas Charter School’s three campuses, and other charter schools.

Newark Public Schools and Newark KIPP schools, which together teach the overwhelming majority of Newark students, still don’t provide a dashboard to show current positive cases, making them outliers in the city and state among other large school systems.

KIPP spokesperson Jessica Shearer declined in an email to provide COVID data for its Newark schools.

There were 35 positive cases among Newark public school staff the week of Dec. 6 — that number more than tripled this week to 108, said district spokesperson Nancy Deering, who provided the data in an email.

In the same time period, cases among students grew from 72 to 117, Deering said

Four classrooms across Newark Public Schools had switched to remote learning ahead of winter break, Deering said, though she did not specify from which schools.

Parents and staff members from Malcolm X Shabazz High School expressed concern this week over rising positive cases and a lack of communication from the district.

Parent Yvonne Davis told Chalkbeat that the school did not notify her when someone in her child’s classroom tested positive for COVID; she only learned about the exposure by word of mouth. Davis immediately took her child to get tested, and the results were positive.

“Shabazz high school should be ashamed of themselves,” she wrote on Facebook this week. “I’m very pissed right now.”

On Thursday, Shabazz students told Chalkbeat that the school had notified them of a single COVID case. However, a school employee, who requested anonymity to avoid retaliation, said staffers have heard the actual case count is much higher and includes both adults and students.

“This is being covered up,” the employee said. “There’s no transparency.”

The school held an emergency staff meeting Thursday afternoon where teachers were told to prepare for a possible return to remote learning, the employee said.

The employee added that the school has become more lax about COVID precautions, with many students and even some teachers declining to wear masks inside classrooms.

“I would say about 50% of the school population is not wearing masks,” the employee said. “These kids intermix, everyone is in each other’s face, nothing is social distanced.”

When asked about parent and staff concerns at Shabazz, Deering said concerns should be brought to the principal, the school’s pandemic response team, or the district. She said that masking and social distancing guidelines have not changed.

‘Bracing ourselves’

“We’ve seen an uptick as all the schools in the state have been seeing immediately after Thanksgiving,” said Pramod Shankar, managing director of operations and performance at Marion P. Thomas Charter School, which has a population of about 1,400 students across its three Newark campuses.

Twenty-nine cases, more than half of the K-12 charter school system’s 56 total positive cases this year, were reported the week of Dec. 13. Most of those cases came from Marion P. Thomas Charter High School and PAC Academy, a pre-K-8 school, according to the system’s dashboard. Prior to that week, the highest number of cases reported in a single week this school year was six.

Overall, 10% of students are currently doing synchronous virtual instruction across the charter school’s three campuses, while the rest are in person, Shankar said.

Principals of all three Marion P. Thomas campuses will hold emergency virtual town hall meetings on Monday to address families’ concerns prior to winter break that begins Dec. 24. There will be mandatory testing of vaccinated and unvaccinated Marion P. Thomas Charter School staff during and after the break.

“We’re expecting a spike,” Shankar said, referring to the return of students and staff on Jan. 3. “We’re bracing ourselves and instituting layered preventative methods, and doing everything in our power to lower how much of a hit we’re going to take immediately after winter break.”

At Great Oaks Legacy Charter Schools, there were 26 cases among students and staff in the first two weeks of December. In total, there are 66 total positive cases, the charter school’s dashboard shows. During the week of Nov. 29, there was an outbreak in one classroom of an elementary school, which caused seven students to quarantine.

About 31 cases were reported across North Star Academy schools during the week of Dec. 6, according to the charter school’s dashboard.

Extend winter break?

Districts across the country have decided to extend winter break by a few days, citing various ongoing issues seen so far this school year, including positive cases, low attendance, and staffing shortages.

Schools throughout Newark have had to tap administrative leaders to teach classes because of substitute shortages.

“It’s rough,” Shankar said, but there have not been any closures or switches to remote learning due to the shortage. “We are getting creative with our scheduling to accommodate any shortages while also having our administrators and other certified personnel in classrooms on days when many teachers are out due to illness.”

In New Jersey, schools would need to get the OK from the New Jersey Department of Education or Gov. Phil Murphy if they wanted to extend break with remote learning days.

Patrick Wall contributed reporting.

Newark school officials face tough questions from community about pandemic challenges

2021-11-29T18:40:39+00:00

It was a tale of two Newark school systems.

At a monthly school board meeting last week, Newark’s schools chief played up the positives about the state’s largest school district, where he said “dreams are coming true,” and highlighted good news such as an uptick in enrollment. In stark contrast, community members sounded the alarm about dire problems posed by the pandemic: students with disabilities going without mandatory services, frustrated teachers resigning, and students struggling with trauma and severe learning loss.

The elected school board, which regained full control of the district last year after decades of state management, mostly went along with the superintendent’s upbeat assessment, asking few questions even after district officials shared new test scores showing that the vast majority of students need intensive support in reading and math after a chaotic year of remote learning. The board also did not discuss recent reports about the lack of drinking water in some Newark schools and questionable uses of the district’s COVID-recovery money, or follow up on previous calls for the district to post COVID case counts online, which it still has not done.

“I just feel humbled hearing all these wins,” said board member A’Dorian Murray-Thomas during the Nov. 23 virtual meeting, adding that students are thriving despite having “big hills to climb.”

Some members of the public said the discussion minimized the huge challenges hanging over the district.

Denise Cole, a Newark Public Schools graduate and former school board candidate, said it’s important to celebrate Newark students’ many accomplishments. But, she told the board, officials need to spend less time “giving each other accolades” and more time publicly discussing the many difficulties students face as they try to rebound from the pandemic.

“The very people who are employed in the schools are telling you what is going on,” she said at the meeting, and it “is contradictory to all of the information that you all give out in public.”

Some of the information that district officials shared was undeniably encouraging. The district, with some 37,000 students, has managed to prevent serious COVID outbreaks this fall and keep all schools open, officials said. Several new schools are up and running and the district’s student population grew slightly this year, the officials added, defying a national trend of shrinking enrollments.

“We have 700 more students than even last year,” Superintendent Roger León said during the meeting. “Why? Because people understand that it’s about getting a really good education and voting with their feet.”

But other data painted a less rosy picture.

As required by the state, officials shared the results of a mandatory new test called “Start Strong,” meant to gauge students’ academic needs after the pandemic profoundly disrupted their education. Echoing previous test results, and in line with national data showing that low-income students of color suffered the biggest setbacks during remote learning, the new test showed that many Newark students are struggling. For instance, 81% of fourth graders and 65% of eighth graders landed in the lowest score range on the math test, indicating that they need “strong support.”

Newark Public Schools officials shared results from a statewide test administered this fall that found the majority of district students need “strong support” in math and reading.

After the scores were shared, León acknowledged, “We have a lot of work to do.” But he didn’t explain how the district would help students recover from the learning loss; he referenced tutoring, but did not say what it will entail, which students will participate, and how or if the district will measure its impact. Instead, he made winding remarks about various education efforts.

“I also want you to know that whatever work the students were doing at home and the importance of getting them back into school and the work that teachers were doing throughout the whole entire time and with tutoring opportunities, that we are slowly and surely and aggressively moving the academic programming with changes,” he said during the virtual meeting, where several of the nine board members kept their cameras turned off most of the meeting.

Board President Dawn Haynes agreed that the district must do “incredible” work to catch students up, but did not give or ask for details about that work. Vereliz Santana was the only board member to explicitly ask the superintendent how he plans to support students’ academic recovery, including his planned use of millions of dollars in federal aid meant to help schools address learning loss. León simply said the district does not plan to “remediate,” but to offer demanding courses such as algebra and calculus.

“We are poised to be doing what we’re doing at the point of time that we’re in right now,” León said at the end of his presentation.

Such vague assurances did not satisfy the district employees and community leaders who signed up to speak at the meeting. One after another, they described acute challenges in the schools that were not included on the meeting’s official agenda — and demanded meaningful answers.

Christopher Canik, a high school teacher and union leader, said some students with disabilities are being shortchanged services, and teachers “are treated like we are not professionals.”

Vanness Roper, a Newark pastor and education advocate, said many schools are “out of compliance” with special education laws.

R. Jamaal Gourdine, who identified himself as a district employee, said students are “crying out” for better school meals, classrooms are overcrowded, and “staff are overworked, some even resigning.”

Kathleen Witcher, a district alumni group leader, noted that the district spent some of its pandemic recovery money on security cameras and floor polishers, which are not “remedies that work directly on learning loss.”

Yvette Jordan, a high school teacher and member of the teachers union executive board, said she was “extremely concerned” by the district’s failure to test school water for lead, which Chalkbeat revealed in a story published shortly before the meeting. Because the district only started testing for lead this month, according to board documents, many school water fountains remain turned off, leaving some teachers and students to supply their own water.

And Wilhelmina Holder, a Newark Public Schools graduate and longtime parent advocate, said district officials need to provide details about academic support for struggling students and data on the programs’ impact.

“We can’t just applaud each other,” she said, “and we have nothing to back that up.”

After the public comments, board member Hasani Council asked the superintendent to assign someone to record the public’s questions and track down answers. When he’s out in the community, Council added, people ask why their school concerns aren’t being addressed.

“The community’s holding us accountable,” he said. “It’s our job to hold the superintendent accountable.”

Haynes welcomed the suggestion, saying the district will start posting responses to the public’s questions.

“We try to focus on transparency and honesty within our district,” she said.

‘It’s inhumane’: Water fountains remain off in some Newark schools as district tests for lead

2021-11-23T21:51:37+00:00

Newark students who soldiered through a year of remote learning have returned to school to find a drinking water shortage.

The district, which did not complete lead testing before buildings reopened in September, has turned off most water fountains and does not expect to restore them until the spring. At some schools, the lack of safe drinking water has left teachers to buy cases of water for their classrooms and students to bring their own water or purchase bottles from school vending machines, according to teachers, parents, and students. At one high school, thirsty students have used bathroom sinks to fill their water bottles.

“It’s inhumane,” said an educator at the school who, like other district employees interviewed for this article, requested anonymity to avoid retaliation.

The district, which is receiving some $281 million in federal pandemic aid, has only sporadically purchased bottled water for schools to distribute, students and staffers said. This summer, the district accepted a donation of 1,200 cases of water from a trucking company.

“The water donation from Jones & Jones Trucking has been beneficial since drinking water sources within the schools have been closed off due to Covid-19 for the safety of students and staff,” read school board meeting notes from September.

State rules require school districts to ensure students have access to safe drinking water. Newark officials have cited “COVID restrictions” as a reason for the water fountain shutoff. However, state and federal guidance for reopening schools this fall did not recommend turning off water fountains.

“There’s really no COVID-related reason not to have functioning water fountains at this time,” said Dr. Susan Hassig, an epidemiology professor at Tulane University.

It appears that at least part of the reason many water outlets remain off in Newark schools is the district’s concern that lead might have accumulated in school plumbing during the many months when buildings were closed. Exposure to lead can cause serious damage to children’s brains and nervous systems.

Officials had planned to have all water sources tested for lead and water filters replaced before school started in September — but the district failed to meet its own deadline, according to school board documents. Now, the drinking water is expected to remain off well into next year.

In the meantime, many Newark students must bring their own water or do without.

“I can’t get any water, so I just sit there and do my work,” said Darren Johnson, a third grader at Louise A. Spencer School, who said the school occasionally provides mini bottles of water at lunch. His father, Ian Quinones, said no one informed him that the water fountains were shut off.

“If I had known about it, he would have been bringing water,” Quinones said. “No one ever told me about that situation.”

The school’s principal did not respond to a phone message. Dawn Haynes, president of the Newark school board, and a district spokesperson did not respond to emails asking why water fountains remain off and how safe drinking water is being provided.

Earlier in the pandemic, some experts cautioned against using public water fountains. However, as research showed the coronavirus is mainly transmitted through the air, water fountain restrictions became less common.

“It was initially a concern, but it has dropped off the radar,” said Hassig, noting that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did not include water fountain restrictions in its guidance for reopening schools this fall.

Despite plans to restore school drinking water by September, many Newark Public Schools water fountains remained off when students returned to classrooms this fall. Schools have sporadically given out bottled water or allowed students to use water coolers, but they have also shifted some of the responsibility onto families.

“Water fountains will be turned off,” said Oliver Street School’s fall 2021 reopening plan, “staff and students are encouraged to bring their own water.”

Students who bring reusable water bottles can’t always refill them, as only certain schools are equipped with bottle-filling stations. Some schools sell water in vending machines for about $1.50 per bottle, but that is unaffordable for some families. And schools only sometimes give out free bottled water, students said.

“We used to get small waters” at lunch, said Duquan Paige, a junior at Arts High School, “but not anymore.”

Teachers at some schools have taken it upon themselves to keep students hydrated. One high school teacher said she and colleagues regularly buy gallons of water and paper cups for their classrooms. At the high school where some students resorted to drinking sink water, one educator now brings in cases of bottled water.

“When I found out the kids were filling the water bottles from the sink, we decided to buy water,” she said, adding that the district does not reimburse teachers for out-of-pocket spending on food or drinks. “I feel it’s unethical to have kids without water.”

Initially, district officials had hoped to turn water fountains back on by the start of this school year.

“While drinking water sources have been shut off during COVID, it is the District’s intention to re-open those sources for school opening in September,” according to minutes from a June 16 school board committee meeting.

However, lead can build up in stagnant water inside plumbing that has not been used for an extended period — a special concern in Newark, where elevated lead levels have repeatedly been detected in school water. So, Newark officials determined, turning school water fountains back on would first “require testing and monitoring of all drinking sources as well as the installation of new filters prior to opening,” the board minutes show.

At the same time the district was planning to test water sources and install new filters, it canceled its contract with a company called EcoWater Systems, which had provided filtered drinking fountains and sinks for Newark schools since 2016. The board’s June 22 resolution canceling the contract meant the district now was in charge of managing its own water filters.

“The District now owns the filter equipment and is securing a new vendor for ongoing monitoring and filter replacement,” the board minutes say.

It’s unclear whether the district found a new vendor. But it is clear that lead testing was delayed: Instead of testing all water sources by September, as originally planned, testing did not actually begin until November, board documents show.

Amy Goldsmith, New Jersey state director of Clean Water Action, a national advocacy group, said short-staffed school districts occasionally turn off some water fountains that they don’t have the capacity to maintain. Whether Newark’s water shutoff is due to lead concerns, worker shortages, or some other issue, it is the district’s responsibility to distribute drinking water, she said.

“The schools should provide an adequate water supply for their staff and students,” she said. “It shouldn’t be the burden of teachers and parents to do that.”

Jennifer Santiago agrees. She has been buying bottled water for her son to take to Avon Avenue School.

“The school has no water,” she said. “Schools need to have water.”

Newark will spend some school COVID aid on security cameras, cars, floor polishers

2021-11-11T21:09:52+00:00

To unlock nearly $84 million in COVID-relief money, the Newark school district submitted a budget with dozens of expenses tied to its recovery efforts. But tucked away in the spending plan are a number of purchases, amounting to nearly 12% of the federal aid, that have no clear connection to the pandemic.

The expenditures include $6 million for new athletic fields and gym floors, $2.4 million for security cameras, about $536,000 for floor-polishing machines, and $25,000 to produce “inspiring” school recruitment videos, according to the district’s federal aid application.

Those and other expenses with tenuous ties to recovery account for only a fraction of Newark Public Schools’ relief money, much of which the district has allocated to address student learning loss and mental health challenges. The district defended the purchases, which the state education department approved in July, saying they fall within the broad set of uses authorized by federal law.

Newark’s schools chief has called the federal windfall a chance to make much-needed district improvements and urged community members to “not stay stuck on COVID-19” as they dreamed up ways to use the money. But experts say that spending the aid on projects that aren’t directly related to the pandemic flouts the intention of the law, which was to help schools safely reopen and students bounce back from the pandemic’s adverse effects.

“The primary purpose of these dollars is to meet students’ academic, social, and emotional needs,” said Allison Rose Socol, an assistant director at the Education Trust, an advocacy group that promotes educational equity. If districts are putting the unprecedented federal aid to other uses, she added, then “that points to the need for more transparency and accountability.”

A few other districts also proposed expenditures not clearly linked to COVID. And Chalkbeat identified an additional red flag in Newark’s aid application: Its proposed budget does not account for roughly $1 million of the funding the district is set to receive. Neither the district nor the state responded to questions about the omission.

Newark, New Jersey’s largest school district, is set to receive more than $281 million through three federal aid packages meant to help schools respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and its fallout. Newark has budgeted much of that huge sum for instructional, safety, and staffing needs directly tied to the pandemic.

For instance, the district spent its first pot of about $21 million last year on necessities such as Chromebooks, school sanitizing supplies, and pay for educators to work with students on the weekends, according to its funding application. Its plan for the second federal infusion, some $84 million, includes money for textbooks, classroom technology, building improvements, and pay for teachers, nurses, and custodians, according to Chalkbeat’s analysis of the nearly 75 budget items in the district’s application.

But the district intends to spend a portion of the money on expenses with no obvious tie to the pandemic, including:

new gym floors to replace ones which, prior to the pandemic, officials found were emitting mercury vapors;
some 5,000 new security cameras and a $145,000 truck with a lift to install them;
six new patrol cars for school safety officers;
equipment at high school entrances to scan students for contraband and weapons;
a professional videographer to produce “authentic, inspiring recruitment videos” for schools;
$185,000 for “district vehicles”;
and 50 machines, priced at about $10,700 each, to polish school floors.

Critics say such items are a misuse of the relief money.

“Students and staff who are looking to recover from COVID couldn’t care a rat’s ass if the floors are shiny or not,” said John Abeigon, president of the Newark Teachers Union, adding that teachers should get bonuses for their hard work during the pandemic.

Newark’s application for the second funding package, called ESSER II, does not explain how those items address COVID’s impact on students and schools. District spokesperson Nancy Deering declined to provide explanations to Chalkbeat, only saying that the application was approved and “you can refer to the allowable uses section of the grant for further assistance.”

Expecting schools to face wide-ranging needs during the pandemic, Congress put few restrictions on the billions of dollars in COVID aid it sent to states and school districts. But as reports emerged that some districts spent part of the money on projects unrelated to the pandemic, such as football fields and weight rooms, some lawmakers said such spending violates the spirit if not the letter of the law.

“I suspect you can make a case for anything,” U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott told the Associated Press, which reported on districts steering COVID money to athletic projects. “But the purpose is clear: It’s to open safely, stay open safely, and deal with learning loss.”

Chalkbeat also analyzed the funding applications submitted by several other large districts, including Elizabeth, Jersey City, Passaic, and Tom’s River. Like Newark, the districts allocated most of their money for pandemic-related expenses, including ventilation upgrades, laptops, and summer or after-school programs to make up for disrupted learning.

However, some spending plans were difficult to assess because they provided few details. For instance, Trenton allocated $3.6 million for “supplies to support students,” and Edison set aside $4.4 million for unspecified renovations. Neither district’s superintendent responded to Chalkbeat’s request for more information.

Paterson Public Schools’ application included a few items with unclear connections to COVID, including $442,000 for additional security officers. A district spokesperson said the extra guards were needed to reopen schools this September, which was one goal of the federal aid.

All the applications were approved by the New Jersey education department, whose website clearly states that the relief money was meant to help schools safely reopen, address student learning loss, and take “other actions to respond to the impact of COVID-19 on educators, students, and families.”

Department spokesperson Michael Yaple declined to comment on any specific application, but told Chalkbeat that states do not have the authority to dictate how school districts spend the pandemic relief money. Instead, districts can put the aid toward any use that meets their local needs and complies with federal law.

He added that the state education department reviews all grant applications, and districts must affirm that they will follow federal regulations. The department audits each district annually, and, on an ongoing basis, closely monitors how a subset of districts spend their federal aid.

“If the department determines that a district spent funds for an unallowable use, the district will be subject to a corrective action plan,” which could include reimbursing improperly spent funds, Yaple said in a statement.

Anne Hyslop, director of policy development at the education advocacy group All4Ed, said states must help ensure the relief money is put to good use.

“They also need to be monitoring how districts are spending funds and flagging things that are questionable,” she said, adding that every purchase should be put to a simple test: “How are these funds benefiting students?”

Newark Public Schools Superintendent Roger León has been open about his desire to use the federal aid for more than just pandemic recovery. In April, he called the money “our opportunity of actually fixing and changing the history of the school system,” adding that “the sky’s the limit.”

“I want to thank everyone who has assisted in thinking about what we should do with these dollars,” he said at a May 25 board meeting, “whether it’s pools that are in our schools, fields that our students demonstrate their genius in sports, as well as the incredible work that we know needs to occur in our schools.”

León later shared highlights of the district’s COVID spending plan, which he said was informed by public input. At last month’s school board meeting, he listed a number of planned uses, including tutoring, high-speed internet in schools, and programs to help students manage their emotions.

However, he left out some of the questionable expenses, such as patrol cars and the videographer, and did not give dollar amounts. By contrast, neighboring Elizabeth Public Schools released a 56-page document with detailed descriptions and cost estimates for each use of its pandemic aid.

Vivian Cox Fraser, president of the Urban League of Essex County, said she is excited about Newark’s plans for tutoring and new equipment for high school vocational programs. But she and other civic leaders said they want the district to release the full plan; the teachers union filed a records request for an itemized list of the district’s pandemic expenditures.

“I don’t know how and what they’re spending their money on,” said Deborah Smith-Gregory, president of the Newark NAACP.

Christine Pitts, a fellow at the Center on Reinventing Public Education, said districts’ spending plans should be easily accessible for the public to analyze and identify any dubious purchases.

“I really am concerned that more people aren’t talking about this and that it’s not being flagged in the spaces where it should be,” she said. “Where does the public hold systems to account?”

Where can children under 12 get a COVID vaccine in Newark? Here are 7 sites.

2021-11-05T16:27:19+00:00

At least seven locations in Newark began offering the pediatric COVID vaccine this week for children as young as 5 and city schools worked to set up vaccination events, steps that state health officials say will help keep classrooms safe.

The New Jersey Department of Health announced Wednesday that about 760,000 5- to 11-year-olds in the state became eligible to receive the lower dose Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, after it was greenlit by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“We want children to remain in their classrooms this year, learning, sharing, and socializing with their friends but doing it safely,” said State Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli earlier this week at a coronavirus news conference. “The best way to ensure that that continues is to have as many individuals as possible vaccinated, including those 5 years of age and older.”

The pediatric vaccine is administered in two doses three weeks apart, and is a lower dosage than the one for ages 12 and up, according to the CDC. Clinical data has shown the vaccine is 90.7% effective in preventing COVID among 5- to 11-year-olds, similar to the effectiveness in adults.

About 203,800 doses of the pediatric vaccine began arriving in New Jersey this week, and were being distributed to more than 230 sites across the state, Persichilli said. Those sites include primary care practices, independent and chain pharmacies, county and local sites, federally qualified health centers, acute care hospitals, urgent care, and university sites.

Ongoing weekly shipments of the children’s vaccine from the federal government are expected, the state health department said in a statement.

Persichilli also said the health department is working with the New Jersey Department of Education to support school vaccination events, adding that at least 28 schools are planning to hold events this month.

Newark public and charter schools, in partnership with community organizations, have been offering the vaccine to eligible students, their families, and school staff, at various pop-up sites on their campuses since the school year began, officials said. Plans are in the works, they said, to set up vaccination clinics targeting the youngest eligible age group at some schools.

Newark Public Schools’ weekly COVID testing program for students and staff finally kicked off this week — two months into the school year.

District spokesperson Nancy Deering said that about 10,000 students, out of roughly 37,000 total students, have submitted consent forms to get tested on a weekly basis by Saint James Health, a community health center, and JL Hudson Holdings, a provider with locations in South Orange and New York City.

In addition to regular testing, Deering said, students are currently offered the vaccine at “any school offering the program,” which varies according to the posted schedule. On Friday, vaccines for ages 12 and up were being offered at East Side High School until 4 p.m., the schedule showed.

Deering added that the vaccine clinics will also offer the pediatric shots but that she didn’t know when that would start.

Great Oaks Legacy Charter School also plans to hold vaccine sites at its schools so that families who are interested can have easier access for their elementary school-aged kids. The charter school system of six schools will hold a virtual town hall next week with health professionals so that students’ families can ask questions they might have about the vaccine for children.

“The purpose of this town hall is to share resources with our families, so that they can make an informed decision regarding the vaccine for their children,” said Dominick DiFalco, chief strategy officer for the charter school system.

KIPP has also offered vaccine clinics at many of its schools throughout the city for staff, students, and their families, said KIPP NJ spokesperson Jessica Shearer. The charter school system hopes to hold more clinics in the future for eligible students, including 5- to 11-year-olds, she added.

North Star Academy, a charter system with 14 schools throughout the city, said it plans to hold weekly vaccine clinics for 5- to 11-year-olds in the coming weeks.

Sites across the state’s 21 counties are already offering the pediatric COVID vaccine for kids ages 5 and up, Persichilli said. Some of those include the following sites in Newark:

City of Newark Department of Health, 394 University Ave., Newark.
University Hospital, 150 Bergen St., Newark.
Guardy’s Pharmacy, 403-409 Bloomfield Ave., Newark.
Komishane’s Pharmacy, 199 Stuyvesant Ave., Newark.
Newark Community Health Center- Ferry Street, 92 Ferry St., Newark.
Saint James Health Adult Clinic, 228 Lafayette St., Newark.
Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, 201 Lyons Ave., Newark.

More vaccination sites can be found using the state’s vaccine appointment finder website.

Newark’s COVID testing program stalls, lacking consent from majority of students

2021-10-26T10:10:00+00:00

Newark Public Schools has yet to launch a COVID testing program for students and teachers nearly a week after the state’s “vaccine or test” mandate went into effect, and nearly two months after the academic year began.

The lack of a testing program and a consent form that asked for insurance information could have possibly discouraged families and students from submitting required consent forms, union officials and a school board trustee say. As of Oct. 21, only 24% of the student population had signed up for COVID testing, the district said in an email last week.

State Health Department Commissioner Judith Persichilli has said testing strategies in schools can help detect new cases to prevent outbreaks, in addition to prevention strategies such as masking, physical distancing, and hand washing. However, results can be skewed if only a small portion of the larger student body is being tested.

There’s a relatively low opt-in rate for student COVID testing in some other major cities, including in New York City, with only 35% of eligible students consenting to get tested and Chicago, with a mere 7% of students signing up for regular testing.

The district said in the email that it was “waiting for approval to start” the testing program for students, but did not respond to a follow-up question requesting further details, such as which entity was providing that approval.

Meanwhile, the Newark Teachers Union says 90% of its approximate 4,000 members are vaccinated. But only 2,556 teachers, or 64%, have uploaded their vaccination proof into the employee portal, the district says. That would mean around 1,400 or so teachers will need to get tested weekly under the state mandate.

As for the COVID testing program for school personnel, the district said it’s “in contact with several vendors” but did not give a date when testing would begin.

“Testing will begin soon,” said district spokesperson Nancy Deering.

Newark isn’t the only district without a testing program in place for teachers.

According to an NJ Spotlight article, the Murphy administration has granted an extension with no deadline to 375 school districts to get their testing programs started. The state Department of Education did not answer several calls and an email requesting more information about the extension and whether Newark was among those districts who were granted one. An email Monday afternoon to the governor’s office was also not answered.

New Jersey said last month it would provide schools about $267 million in federal funds to cover the cost of routine testing. About 625 districts chose the option to use a state-contracted vendor for an end-to-end testing program, including test kits, staff, and diagnostic lab services. Another 125 districts chose to use the funding to contract with a vendor of their own choice, Persichilli said during a COVID news conference last week. It’s unclear which option Newark opted.

Newark Teachers Union President John Abeigon said that despite the lack of testing provided by the district, teachers have been following the governor’s mandate since the first day of school by getting tested at local sites.

Why the low number of student consent forms?

Newark’s youth vaccine rate nearly doubled between mid-July and September, from 30% to 55% of 12- to 17-year-olds who had received at least one dose. As of Monday, 63% of children eligible for the vaccine had at least one dose, an increase of 13 percentage points. About 51% of that age group in Newark are fully vaccinated, the state COVID dashboard shows.

The district has said it would provide testing for all students.

A copy of the student consent form obtained by Chalkbeat shows that a parent, guardian, or student signature is needed to sign off on a statement giving consent to weekly testing until June 30, 2022.

The agreement, which was provided by the district, also states that by signing the form, they are authorizing “JL Hudson Holdings LLC, Saint James Health, Inc. or its assignee” to bill their insurance or health coverage for that service “when available.”

Saint James Health, a community health center with locations in the East and West wards, has been working with the district this academic year to provide vaccines for students and the school community.

School board member Josephine Garcia previously said at a board meeting that several parents were concerned about being required to complete insurance information before submitting the form, which is available on SchoolMint, the district portal.

“It becomes like a hard stop for the parents when they try to finish completing the forms,” Garcia said at the Sept. 30 board meeting.

The form provided by the district shows that student and guardians’ basic contact information is required, as well as the student’s medical allergies and other information, but insurance information isn’t required.

Abeigon said teachers ran a “campaign” in the first few weeks of school urging students and parents to submit the forms. But now teachers and families are upset, he says, because seven weeks into the school year, there’s no testing in sight.

“Teachers worked over time to get those forms signed, but the end result is there’s no testing happening,” Abeigon said. “The next time we explain the urgency of getting something signed by the parents, the parents are going to be like, ‘you were urging about getting the consent forms signed but you never did the testing.’”

The teachers’ efforts seem to have garnered 8,891 students to submit completed forms as of Oct. 21, out of about 37,000 total students.

“They promised us that they would have student and staff testing in the schools upon opening the schools in September and to date, that has not happened,” Abeigon said.

Abeigon says he anticipates more families will submit forms once they see a testing program in place. “A lot of our parents are ‘wait and see,’” he said.

When asked how the district is addressing any hurdles with getting more consent forms signed, Deering said in an email, “The district continues to maximize strategies to increase the number of signed consent forms received.”

Newark has more than 115 schools. Only 3 post COVID data online.

2021-10-15T21:40:54+00:00

More than 57,000 Newark students have been learning in person for several weeks, alongside thousands of teachers and school staffers. So how many COVID cases have cropped up at each school?

The public has no way of knowing. Out of more than 115 traditional and charter public schools in Newark, just three post COVID data online.

The three schools that make the data public are operated by Marion P. Thomas Charter Schools, which publishes the latest number of student and employee COVID cases at each school.

“While transparency is not always easy,” said Angela Mincy, the schools superintendent, “we are committed to doing what is right by our students, families, staff, and extended community.”

The data from Marion P. Thomas is reassuring: Just 17 people have tested positive for COVID out of nearly 1,600 students and employees, according to the dashboard on the school’s website, which officials say is updated nightly. Since the three schools began classes on Aug. 30, they have not had a single COVID outbreak, which the state defines as three or more cases traced to in-school transmission.

In New Jersey and nationwide, daily new coronavirus infections are ebbing as more Americans get vaccinated, and COVID transmission is generally low in schools that follow safety guidelines. Still, some students and teachers continue to get infected, often outside of school, forcing them and their close contacts to quarantine.

For that reason, many people have sought out their schools’ COVID numbers. Yet, in Newark, most schools don’t publish that data.

Marion P. Thomas is the only one of Newark’s 17 charter school operators that posts its COVID case count online, according to Chalkbeat’s review of their websites. Newark Public Schools, the state’s largest traditional school district, also does not publish school-level COVID data, though the superintendent shared the overall case number for the first time last month. (As of Sept. 28, 75 of the district’s 37,000 students had tested positive, he said.)

Schools are legally permitted to publish COVID case counts as long as they don’t identify individual students. Like Marion P. Thomas, many other New Jersey districts post online data trackers that show the number of confirmed cases at each school.

While the Newark school district and all but one charter school operator are not publishing their COVID data, they are tracking it. Schools must report COVID cases to the local health department; beginning Oct. 26, they also will have to report weekly case numbers and vaccination rates to the state health department.

Newark families and school employees have been calling on schools to share that data publicly.

“Some parents have expressed a lot of concerns about not always being able to readily and clearly access information about COVID outbreaks in their schools,” said Newark school board member A’Dorian Murray-Thomas at last month’s board meeting.

Newark Public Schools Superintendent Roger León has verbally shared employee case numbers at the monthly board meetings since the pandemic started, and last month for the first time he gave the district-wide student case count. However, the district has not posted those numbers online or provided school-level data.

At September’s meeting, León said the district is “in the process of really trying to figure that out.” A district spokesperson did not respond to an email Friday asking whether the data will be posted online.

It’s also not clear if or when the city’s charter schools will follow the lead of Marion P. Thomas and publish school-level COVID data.

One of the largest charter school operators, KIPP New Jersey, which manages 14 Newark schools, does “not at this time” plan to post COVID data online, said spokesperson Jessica Shearer. However, each KIPP school sends families a letter each week with the number of people in quarantine, she added.

“The vast majority of students and staff are in classrooms and we have not had any reports of widespread outbreaks or building closures,” she said in an email.

Kyle Rosenkrans, executive director of the New Jersey Children’s Foundation, which supports Newark charter schools, argued that the state bears much of the blame. The New Jersey health department only publishes school COVID outbreaks by county, not by district or school, and does not require districts to share their data locally.

“The lack of adequate state standards on reporting case counts has left it to districts and schools to figure it out on their own,” he said in a statement. “In that kind of vacuum, it’s no surprise that we see a variety of approaches on the ground in Newark.”

Rosenkrans said his organization has encouraged all schools to share their COVID data “liberally,” adding that he expects “the reporting will get more robust over time.”

In an email, Marion P. Thomas Superintendent Mincy said she understands why other school leaders might feel vulnerable sharing COVID data with the public. But allowing people to see exactly how many — or how few — COVID cases have been reported in schools can help reduce anxiety and reassure the public that schools are keeping students and employees safe.

“We owe it to our community,” she said, “to continue to operate with empathy, grace, and transparency.”

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75 Newark district students have tested positive for COVID since classes began, officials say

2021-09-29T21:16:41+00:00

Only a tiny fraction of Newark students and staff members have tested positive for COVID-19 since schools reopened this month, district officials said Tuesday, the first time they shared the case count.

Just 75 of the roughly 37,000 students in Newark Public Schools have tested positive since classes began Sept. 7, said Superintendent Roger León, adding that 30 of those students are currently in quarantine. Including summer classes, a total of 95 students from 30 schools have tested positive, as have 74 staff members, he said.

The data should reassure families who feared sending their children back into classrooms after 18 months away, especially after the highly contagious delta variant fueled a new wave of infections this summer. The small number of confirmed cases this month is an encouraging sign that the district’s safety measures, such as mandatory masking and improved ventilation, have helped curb COVID’s spread inside schools.

Schools will be “continuing to follow the procedures that we’ve outlined because they work,” León said at a school board meeting Tuesday.

However, the district’s data most likely undercounts the actual number of cases. Schools have not started weekly COVID testing, leaving some cases undetected — especially when infected individuals are asymptomatic. (León did not say how the district determined the number of cases.)

The superintendent previously has shared how many district employees tested positive, but Tuesday marked the first time he revealed the number of student cases. The disclosure comes after Chalkbeat reported mounting frustration among parents and teachers who say the district has kept them in the dark about COVID cases.

Unlike other nearby districts, Newark Public Schools — and most of the city’s charter schools — have not published COVID case counts on their websites. At Tuesday’s meeting, board member A’Dorian Murray-Thomas said officials need to discuss how to make school COVID data easily accessible to families and the community.

“We can’t rest until we have this conversation,” she said, “and reach a solution immediately.”

Newark schools have worked hard to avoid COVID outbreaks, with each campus creating its own safety plan in addition to the district’s guidelines. Perhaps most importantly, 89% of district employees are vaccinated against the virus, León said Tuesday.

Despite those precautions, some infections are bound to occur. But while León shared the district-wide case count, school communities are not always informed about individual cases, according to district employees and parents.

“Administration has not shared any specific information with anyone,” said a North Ward elementary school staffer who, like other employees interviewed, asked to remain anonymous to avoid retaliation. “I was informed by word of mouth.”

A teacher at a different school said the entire school community was notified about one positive case. However, the school did not tell employees and families about at least two other cases, she said.

“We’re very concerned about the lack of consistency as far as informing people,” she said. “If the parents knew all the information, they would be upset.”

Flohisha Johnson, co-vice president of the Newark school board, said Tuesday that she knows many families have called for Newark to share school-level COVID data.

“It’s not falling on deaf ears,” she said, adding that a board committee discussed the matter this week but has not decided on a course of action.

Dr. Leah Owens, a former board member and education researcher, urged Newark to follow the lead of other districts and publish its COVID case numbers online.

“I’m not really sure why there needs to be an ongoing discussion about providing the data,” she said during the public comment portion of Tuesday’s meeting. “I think it would give communities, families, parents, a lot of relief to see that the numbers are low.”

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In Newark, school has started, but promised COVID testing hasn’t

2021-09-29T00:50:27+00:00

Nearly a month into the new school year, Newark schools have yet to launch the weekly COVID testing that many teachers and parents were counting on.

Routine COVID testing would provide another layer of protection against the highly transmissible delta variant now that school is in session. Newark Public Schools officials told the teachers union this summer that schools would offer weekly testing, and some principals made a similar promise to families.

Yet, three weeks after in-person learning started, COVID testing still hasn’t — and the district hasn’t explained the delay or offered a start date.

“We’re concerned at the district’s lack of respect and failure to communicate the status of such an important issue,” Newark Teachers Union President John Abeigon said in a statement. Noting that the majority of teachers are vaccinated but only 55% of eligible students are, he added, “It’s the parents who should be outraged.”

At a school board meeting Tuesday, Superintendent Roger León said the district is working with two organizations, which he did not name, to set up on-site COVID testing.

“We are in the process of making sure that our testing strategy is implemented in our school system,” he said, without saying when testing will begin. “Once we have the actual date when we will be starting this, we will make sure that all of you are aware.”

Also, for the first time, the district on Tuesday shared its COVID case count for this school year.

Since classes began Sept. 7, 75 students have tested positive for COVID, while 30 students are currently isolating, León said at the board meeting. From July 1, which includes summer classes, 95 students from 30 schools have tested positive, as have 74 staff members.

Testing students and school employees for COVID on a regular basis can catch asymptomatic infections and reduce the risk of infections when combined with other mitigation strategies, such as masking and vaccination. Federal and state officials have urged schools to offer weekly testing now that students are back in classrooms and those under age 12 are not yet eligible for the COVID vaccine.

Earlier this month, New Jersey said it would provide schools $267 million in federal funds to cover the cost of routine testing, which soon will be mandatory for unvaccinated school employees. More than 550 of the state’s roughly 600 school districts have signed up, state officials said, but did not specify whether Newark is among them. Some of those districts have started weekly testing, but officials could not immediately say how many.

The Newark school district offered weekly pooled testing this spring, when about 40% of students returned to school part time. With pooled testing, students and teachers swab their own nostrils and the samples are tested in batches. This fall, León said, schools will use individual rapid tests instead of pooled testing.

The Newark Public Schools website says the district “is providing” on-site testing for all students on a weekly basis.

The Newark Public Schools website says schools are providing weekly on-site COVID testing — but staffers say testing hasn’t actually started.

But staffers at multiple district schools told Chalkbeat this week that COVID testing has not started, and neither the district nor administrators have given them a timeline for its launch.

“The teachers have been talking amongst themselves, ‘When is testing?’” said an elementary school teacher who, like others interviewed, asked to remain anonymous to avoid retaliation. “We haven’t heard anything.”

Earlier Tuesday, district spokesperson Nancy Deering would not answer questions about testing. She would only say that some information might be provided at the board meeting.

“[Tuesday] is the monthly Board Meeting where everyone expects to hear answers to some of these very same questions,” she said in an email.

However, León did not answer the questions Chalkbeat submitted, including why weekly testing has been delayed and when it will begin.

The district has been similarly tight-lipped about the number of COVID cases in its schools. While other New Jersey districts have posted case counts online, the Newark district and many charter schools have not published that information, which has added to the anxiety within some school communities.

At Tuesday’s meeting, school board member A’Dorian Murray-Thomas said the district should make its COVID data publicly available online.

“There needs to be really easy ways for parents to access information around what’s happening at their school,” she said.

This story was updated to include information from Tuesday’s board meeting.

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‘Left in the dark’: Newark schools won’t share COVID data with families and teachers

2021-09-23T17:47:33+00:00

School had been in session less than a week when first graders at McKinley Elementary School were sent home. Someone in their classroom had tested positive for COVID.

They were among the first students at their Newark school ordered to quarantine, but they wouldn’t be the last. Since classes started Sept. 7, dozens of students across multiple grade levels have had to quarantine for 10 days at a time, according to parents and staffers.

But rather than inform families, the school appears to have kept that information under wraps. As a result, some families said this week they weren’t aware of any quarantined students or COVID cases at McKinley.

“We’re not allowed to tell other parents about it,” said a McKinley parent whose children in first and fourth grade had to quarantine this month. She declined to give her name for fear of angering administrators. “The first thing they tell you is: Don’t tell anybody, don’t speak to nobody.”

McKinley, whose principal did not respond to email or phone messages, isn’t the only school in Newark with a don’t-tell policy.

The city school district and most charter schools have not publicly released their COVID case counts or quarantine numbers since classes started. Like McKinley, some schools don’t even inform everyone in the building, instead only notifying families and employees about cases in their particular classrooms. Adding to the uncertainty, the Newark school district has yet to launch the weekly COVID testing it planned to offer students this fall.

Why the secrecy around case counts?

Local officials note that student-privacy laws limit what information they can share. However, the U.S. education department has made clear that schools can inform families and employees, the public, and media about COVID cases as long as individual students are not identified. In fact, many of the school districts surrounding Newark list COVID case counts on their websites.

Officials also have said sharing school COVID numbers could provoke unnecessary alarm. However, the lack of testing and transparency appears to have done just that — fueling rumors and fraying nerves as parents and school staffers are left to speculate about COVID’s spread within the city’s newly reopened classrooms.

“It leaves people feeling uneasy,” said Nadirah Brown, whose daughter is in the seventh grade at a district school. “We’re left in the dark.”

Transparency varies by state, district

The limited disclosure starts at the top.

Unlike some states, including Connecticut and North Carolina, New Jersey does not share school-level COVID case counts. While New Jersey says schools “should be encouraged” to report case counts to the state health department, the state does not release that data. Instead, it lists the number of “school outbreaks” — three or more linked COVID cases — per county.

Across New Jersey, children 17 and under account for about 13% of COVID cases, according to state data.

Newark Superintendent Roger León has not said how many people have tested positive for COVID since school started Sept. 7.

Some school districts have opted for greater transparency. Newark’s neighbors, including the Jersey City, Elizabeth, East Orange, and South Orange & Maplewood districts, all publish online the number of COVID cases by school and district-wide.

But Newark, the state’s largest school system with some 37,000 students, has withheld that information from the public. Staffers at five different Newark public schools told Chalkbeat they suspect COVID cases have cropped up at their schools but have no way of knowing for sure.

“Teachers are really working in fear,” said an employee at McKinley.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has ordered school employees to get vaccinated or tested weekly, but students face no such mandate. Newark has encouraged eligible students to get the vaccine, and the district had planned to provide weekly COVID testing with the help of state funding. But nearly three weeks after students returned to school, the district still hasn’t started weekly testing.

“It would help if they got tested week to week,” said Veronica Gillon, a teacher’s aide at Thirteenth Avenue School. “The unknown is what stresses you out the most.”

A city spokesperson referred questions about the number of COVID cases in Newark schools to the school district. A district spokesperson and Superintendent Roger León did not respond to emails.

Dr. Mark Wade, director of the Newark health department, told Chalkbeat that schools will start weekly COVID testing in the coming days. On a WBGO radio segment last week, he said a team of roughly 50 contact tracers in his department investigates all COVID cases, including those in schools. However, he suggested that families will only be notified if there is a positive case in their child’s class.

“We always want to make sure that all of the parents in the classroom know that there was a positive child,” he said.

In some districts, teachers unions have demanded more transparency about school COVID cases. In Philadelphia, the district responded by launching a public COVID tracker.

However, the head of the Newark Teachers Union said he is fine with the district only informing people of cases in their classrooms.

“I have no problem with a need-to-know basis,” said union President John Abeigon. “We’re not a fan of yelling ‘fire’ where there is none.”

For now, teachers are left guessing.

“Our administration doesn’t tell us anything,” said a staffer at East Side High School, who has heard rumors about two COVID cases at her school. “Nothing, nothing, nothing.”

No public tally of charter school COVID cases

Newark’s charter schools, which enroll more than 20,000 students, also have been tightlipped about COVID cases.

Shortly after KIPP TEAM Academy started classes in August, the school informed Anita Crawford that her son Carlton had to quarantine because he was in “close contact” with someone who tested positive for COVID in his sixth grade class. For students, close contact is defined as spending 15 minutes or more within 3 feet of someone.

Federal guidance only says schools should notify close contacts about positive cases, though it doesn’t prohibit schools from wider disclosure. KIPP chose only to inform close contacts about the positive case in Carlton’s class; the families of other students in the classroom were not notified. In fact, Crawford said, the school even advised her against telling the parents of the children in Carlton’s carpool.

“What I have experienced is, if it’s not your child who’s a close contact, then you don’t know,” Crawford said. “We have to go through word of mouth.”

KIPP New Jersey will not say how many COVID cases have been reported in each school or across the charter school network.

Spokesperson Jessica Shearer said KIPP New Jersey investigates all suspected COVID cases in its schools. The charter operator has not found any “widespread outbreaks” or had to close any buildings, she added.

KIPP New Jersey has also started to inform all families and employees when there is a COVID case in their school, in addition to notifying close contacts about possible exposure. However, KIPP still will not say how many cases have been reported in each school or across the charter network.

“We know transparently sharing this information is key, but can also be anxiety-producing for families,” Shearer said in an email last month.

Other schools have been more forthcoming.

A spokesperson for Great Oaks Legacy, which operates six Newark charter schools, said it briefly closed its high school and middle school last month to allow for COVID contact tracing. Legacy, one of the network’s elementary schools, had to close a classroom this week due to a positive case.

In total, six students and six staffers have tested positive for COVID since classes started Aug. 9, the spokesperson said. With more than 2,000 students and 400 employees, the positive cases represent 0.5% of the Great Oaks Legacy community, he added.

“We’re proud of all of the steps we’ve taken thus far to ensure we are keeping our students and staff safe amid ever-changing circumstances,” said a statement from the network’s executive director, Jared Taillefer, who added that 80% of staffers are vaccinated.

A spokesperson for North Star Academy, Newark’s largest charter operator, would not share the schools’ case count. Jada Lee, who has two children at North Star schools, said the schools should inform families about any positive cases.

“They should let people know,” she said.

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Newark nearly doubled its youth vaccination rate in 2 months. Here’s how.

2021-09-17T23:30:07+00:00

Earlier this summer, Newark’s youth vaccination rate was still alarmingly low.

As of mid-July, only 30% of eligible Newark children had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine — a full 14 percentage points below the statewide rate. That month, Mayor Ras Baraka warned Newark residents that, with so few young people inoculated and the delta variant spreading like wildfire, schools could end up shutting down right after they reopen.

“Our kids are not vaccinated at the rate we need them to be,” he said on July 30.

Then something remarkable happened. The city and its partners embarked on a shot-giving spree that drove up Newark’s youth vaccination rate by 25 percentage points in just two months. Now, 55% of 12 to 17 year olds have gotten at least one shot — nearly erasing the city-state gap. (Among all Newark residents 12 and up, 72% have had at least one dose.)

How did Newark do it? The key, said Dr. Mark Wade, director of the city health department, has been meeting residents where they are. That has meant not only setting up vaccination clinics in schools and neighborhoods across the city, but also patiently listening and responding to residents’ concerns.

“The availability of vaccines was not an issue,” he told Chalkbeat. “It was literally convincing and assuring community residents that it’s safe, it’s effective, and worth doing — not only for one’s individual health, but to protect the community as a whole.”

Now, Newark plans to accelerate its vaccination drive by opening clinics in almost every school and targeting parts of the city with the lowest rates. At the same time, district schools will soon start testing students for COVID on a weekly basis, Wade said.

“We know what to do,” he said. “And we will get the job done.”

Earlier this year, Newark was one of New Jersey’s least-vaccinated cities. Despite suffering a disproportionate share of the state’s COVID deaths, just over one-fifth of Newark residents had been vaccinated by early May — half the statewide rate. And when a federally run mass vaccination site opened in the city, more out-of-towners got shots there than did Newark residents, Baraka said.

That’s when state and local officials changed tack. Rather than only offer vaccination appointments at select sites, Essex County and the city started hosting pop-up clinics at parks, schools, and churches. The state sent trained volunteers into Newark and other underserved communities to answer residents’ questions in person and walk them through the vaccination process.

The more personalized approach proved effective. By late July, 56% of Newark adults were fully vaccinated — up from just over 20% in May.

“We moved much more aggressively over the summer out of the four walls of our institutions, and got deeper into the community,” said Wade, who credited Baraka’s leadership.

But there was a problem: Despite making headway with adults, Newark had vaccinated less than a third of eligible children, ages 12 to 17, by mid-summer. The low rate was especially worrying as Gov. Phil Murphy had ordered all students to return to school in person this fall. Experts warned that school outbreaks, already a real possibility due to the delta variant, would be even likelier if more students weren’t inoculated.

So Newark again adjusted course.

From late July through late August, the city health department, Essex County, and Saint James Health, a Newark-based healthcare provider, set up vaccination clinics in nearly 30 district schools. Knowing that some working parents couldn’t accompany their children, the sites allowed parents to give vaccination consent over the phone. The school district helped promote the new “Vaccines for Teens” campaign.

In partnership with local faith leaders and community groups, the agencies also started giving shots at summer festivals, barbecues, and back-to-school drives. Just this week, Saint James Health and the Willing Heart Community Care Center, a charity founded by Newark’s Metropolitan Baptist Church, held an event where youth could get vaccinated and play video games inside a 32-foot-long mobile entertainment center.

Saint James Health offered the COVID-19 vaccine to families during a back-to-school event at Rafael Hernandez Elementary School this month.

As access expanded and schools reopened, youth vaccinations surged in Newark. Still, many young people remain hesitant. Like their peers nationwide, some question the safety of the vaccine or fear possible side effects. And like so many Americans, they are inundated with misinformation about the vaccines on social media.

“It’s some crazy stuff out there,” Newark Councilwoman LaMonica McIver said last month at a backpack giveaway she helped organize, where parents and eligible children could also get vaccinated. “Trying to beat that misinformation and educate young people is something that we have to do more of.”

Misinformation isn’t the only thing fueling vaccine hesitancy. The American healthcare system’s long history of mistreating Black people has understandably bred mistrust among some of the city’s Black residents, including teenagers.

A group of students hanging out in Newark’s Nat Turner Park Thursday told Chalkbeat they don’t plan to get the vaccine. Judaea, an 11th-grader at a local charter school who declined to give her last name, said she doesn’t trust the vaccine because she doesn’t trust the government.

“Still, to this day, I don’t know if the government is behind COVID,” she said, citing a conspiracy theory not backed by evidence. She added that officials urging people to get the shot only heightens her suspicion. “I wouldn’t do anything based on what the government tells me to do.”

Dr. Wade said officials promoting the vaccines must acknowledge the history of racism within the medical establishment and U.S. government. But they should also emphasize that getting the vaccines will help protect Black and Hispanic communities, which COVID has hit especially hard.

“Safe, effective, protects,” he said. “They have to hear it over and over and over again.”

Of course, many families don’t need convincing.

Corie Jones walked her daughter, Tokyo, to a pop-up vaccination site that Saint James Health set up Thursday near the corner of Peshine and Clinton avenues. Tokyo, an 11th grader at Newark Vocational High School, said watching friends get sick or lose family members to COVID made getting the vaccine a no-brainer.

“I was like, ‘Yeah, I need to get it,’” she said. “I got it to be safe.”

Isaiah Archer, a freshman at Shabazz High School, jumped into his mother’s waiting car as soon as he got his shot at the same site Thursday. His mother, Kai Archer, said she hopes more families do the same.

“The parents need to get out here and get their kids vaccinated,” she said. “It’s to save their lives.”

Newark parents worried their kids might get COVID in school, poll says

2021-09-13T09:45:00+00:00

An overwhelming majority of Newark parents are worried about their child contracting COVID-19 this school year, and some say they aren’t sending their kids back at all, according to a new online poll published Monday.

The Project Ready poll, conducted by Change Research the week leading up to the first day of school for Newark, found that 49% of Newark parents would have opted for a fully remote learning option this fall if it had been offered.

Newark students returned to full-time in-person instruction last week, joining charter and parochial school students who returned to classes last month, after 18 months of remote or hybrid learning. Some families, concerned about the highly contagious delta variant, have said they planned to keep their children at home.

With no remote-learning option on the table for the 2021-22 school year, districts were ordered to open full-time and in-person, leaving families to either send their kids back to school or opt for homeschooling.

Seventy-two percent of Newark parents said they’re sending their kids back to school for in-person learning this fall, but about 10% said they weren’t planning on it and 18% said they weren’t sure, according to the poll.

That could mean hundreds of students starting the school year off at home.

“That is a significant number of parents in the district who are so worried about COVID-19 that they won’t send their kids back at all,” said Shennell McCloud, CEO at Project Ready, a social justice nonprofit in Newark. “It’s not that they’re still thinking about it. They decided against it completely.”

Parents are concerned about the virus spreading at school, with about 87% saying they’re worried their child might get the virus.

Many parents also are concerned about the way the virus has affected their kids socially, emotionally, and academically. Eighty percent said they’re worried about their children’s social and emotional well-being and 79% said their child falling behind on learning is a concern.

McCloud said the data prompts her to think about how the hundreds of kids whose parents decided to keep them at home may not get to work on social and emotional development that schools might be able to offer.

“You could understand why a decision like that would be made, to keep their families safe,” McCloud said, “but you still have to ask, how are they going to address learning loss and social-emotional development? Because those two issues will continue to exist even if they stay home.”

The district and charter schools have said they plan to prioritize social and emotional learning this school year.

When asked about the layers of precautions being taken in schools to reduce the spread of the virus, most parents were on board. About 86% said they support the mask mandate for students and 68% said they favored the vaccine mandate for teachers. Support for a student vaccine mandate was at 54%.

“Overall, leaders should know that when it comes to public health measures, parents have their backs,” McCloud said. “I think there’s a lot of speculation about whether or not families are supportive of some of these mandates but based on our poll, they are mostly supportive.”

The Project Ready poll was conducted among 301 parents of school-aged children in Newark between Aug. 27 and Sept. 7, with a margin of error of 5.66 percentage points.

As Newark schools reopen amid COVID, will some families keep their children home?

2021-09-07T01:43:48+00:00

To Luz Ortiz, the coronavirus is not an abstraction. It’s terrifyingly real.

The virus tore through her home earlier this year, infecting her and her daughter, son, and granddaughter, and it sent her brother-in-law to the hospital. He didn’t survive.

That harrowing experience is why Ortiz plans to keep her son home when the new school year begins Tuesday, rather than let him return to Barringer High School, where he is set to begin the 11th grade.

“I’m terrified to send him back to school,” Ortiz said Monday, adding that she hopes to homeschool her son at least temporarily.

Ortiz is one of nearly 40,000 Newark residents who have tested positive for COVID; thousands more have watched a mother or father, sister or brother, son or daughter get sick. Since the pandemic began, COVID has killed nearly 1 in 300 Newark residents, shattering families and traumatizing those left behind.

Among those tens of thousands of Newarkers who have seen COVID’s cruelty up close are parents like Ortiz, who feel alarmed about school buildings reopening. Because New Jersey has taken remote learning off the table this school year, just two options remain: in-person learning or homeschool.

The district and politicians have spent weeks trying to reassure families at public events and meetings that schools are safe, even as the highly contagious delta variant fuels yet another surge of COVID cases. But even school board members acknowledged recently that some parents still were unsure whether and how schools would protect their children.

In the spring, when Newark Public Schools reopened classrooms part time, about 60% of families decided to keep their children home. And applications for seats this school year declined by 34% compared to last year, a sign some families were wary of their children returning.

The vast majority of families are expected to choose classrooms this fall. But the nationwide rise in homeschooling during the pandemic — especially among Black families — suggests a small but significant minority of families might keep their children home.

“There are a lot of parents that are saying that they’re not going to send their kids back to school,” said Newark Board of Education Member Flohisha Johnson at a meeting last month.

Yet homeschooling is not an option for many working parents, said LaMonica McIver, a Newark councilwoman whose own daughter is starting kindergarten this week. Other parents want their children to return to classrooms because they struggled with schoolwork or mental health over the past year, she added.

Even if most Newark families do send their children back, no doubt many parents will feel mixed emotions Tuesday morning when their masked children line up for hand sanitizing and temperature checks before the first day of school even begins.

“I think many parents just have this knot in their stomach about the safety of sending their kids back,” McIver said. They feel “uncertain and unsure.”

Families of the Newark school district’s roughly 37,000 students got a preview of reopening last month. That’s when most of the city’s charter schools, which enroll about 20,000 students, started classes. While their first weeks were mostly uneventful, Robert Treat Academy had to temporarily revert to remote learning after 11 staff members tested positive for COVID, and an infection at a KIPP school forced some people to quarantine.

State and local officials are doing their best to convince families that, despite the occasional brief shutdown, schools will be safe this fall.

Gov. Phil Murphy imposed universal masking in schools and ordered all school employees to get vaccinated or submit to weekly testing. Newark Public Schools Superintendent Roger León recites the district’s safety protocols at every public appearance, and principals held virtual family meetings last month where they reviewed safety plans and answered questions.

At a backpack giveaway that Councilwoman McIver hosted last month, several parents said their children had felt isolated and distracted during virtual learning and needed to be back in school.

“It’s having the hands-on learning,” said Alleesah Thwreatt, whose three children attend KIPP charter schools. “They learn better that way.”

Yet other parents remain wary. Some fear that children under age 12, who are not yet eligible to receive the COVID vaccine, could be especially vulnerable to the delta variant. Some parents worry about making young children wear masks all day, while others say they have received limited information from their schools.

“There are several organizations and families and parents who are still not understanding how schools are reopening,” Board Member Asia Norton said at an Aug. 21 meeting, where she asked if the district could send representatives into the community to provide information. (In a later interview, Norton said the district sent out community liaisons after the meeting.)

At the same meeting, Board Member Shayvonne Anderson said the district had taken every possible precaution to reopen schools safely. Yet, she said, she had heard some families say they want to keep their children home.

“If you feel like that’s something you’re really steadfast about, then you can homeschool your child,” she said, noting that New Jersey gives families that right.

Nélida Figueroa, who’s both a parent and classroom aide at Park Elementary School, said some of her friends said they plan to homeschool their children this year. Other parents have called her to ask if she thinks school will be safe.

She’ll be taking her own daughter into school Tuesday, in large part because Figueroa herself has to get back to work. And while she believes it will be safe, she’s still anxious.

“I’m trying to stay positive for my child and the students and their parents,” she said last week. “But it is nerve wracking. It’s scary.”

Newark’s first day of school is Sept. 7. Here’s what you need to know.

2021-09-03T19:24:24+00:00

As Newark Public Schools students and staff re-enter brick and mortar schools on Tuesday for the first time after 17 months of virtual and hybrid learning, some classroom routines and procedures might feel familiar while others will be new.

COVID-19 has changed the school experience in myriad ways, from face masks to social distancing. It’s also reshaped the lives of students and educators beyond the classroom, with many directly impacted by the virus.

Unlike previous school years, educators say there will be a strong emphasis on developing and nurturing social and emotional skills and fostering supportive environments for staff and students. There will also be efforts to help students who lost ground academically during the ongoing pandemic.

Other classroom features will be new for students who didn’t opt for hybrid learning last spring. For starters, in Newark, classrooms will be equipped with “PPE kits,” or personal protective equipment, such as hand sanitizer, face masks, disinfectant sprays, and paper towels, and more tools meant to keep hands and surfaces clean. Desks will also have sneeze guards to serve as a protective barrier, and students will eat lunch in their rooms instead of cafeterias.

Here’s what else you need to know:

Fully in-person

Gov. Phil Murphy did not renew his executive order allowing virtual instruction during the pandemic. Once last school year ended, districts were told that students would be required to be fully in-person for the 2021-22 year, even if certain guidelines – such as social distancing – could not be followed.

New Jersey Parents for Virtual Choice, a parent group formed following Murphy’s announcement last spring, is pressuring the governor for the option to keep their students learning remotely. Karen Strauss, one of the group’s founding members, has said some parents in the group with children who are immunocompromised are concerned about the delta variant, while others say their children did better academically and in terms of their mental health by learning remotely. An online petition asking for a virtual learning option has more than 25,000 signatures.

In the event of an outbreak or other emergency, however, districts are allowed to switch to remote learning, the governor’s office said.

It’s unclear if the district will have at least three feet of social distance between students and staff in every classroom when at full capacity this fall. State guidelines don’t mandate physical distancing but strongly encourage it “where possible.”

Universal masking

Murphy issued an executive order in August mandating universal maskings in schools for the start of the 2021-2022 school year. Students, educators, staff, and visitors must wear face masks inside all public, private, and parochial preschool, elementary, middle, and high school buildings, including charter and renaissance schools, the order states. Newark’s reopening plan, posted in June as a requirement for applying to federal funding, had already required universal masking for the fall.

Murphy also said written notice from a doctor will be required from anyone seeking an exemption from wearing a mask. He added that a parent request will not be enough to grant an exemption.

Vaccines

In the wake of rising COVID cases related to the highly contagious delta variant, Murphy also issued a mandate last month requiring all school employees to be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus by Oct. 18. By that time, if an employee has not submitted vaccination proof, they will be required to submit to weekly testing, the executive order states.

Newark’s plan states that employees can upload their proof of vaccination cards on the district’s employee platform.

During a virtual staff convocation in late August, Newark Superintendent Roger León said that the exact number of employees who have been vaccinated is unknown because they have not all uploaded their vaccine cards to the employee portal. He said around 60% of teaching staff have been vaccinated but did not provide exact figures.

Though at least one district in New Jersey has mandated vaccines for eligible students, Newark has not moved in that direction. The district has vaccination sites set up at various school buildings to encourage more teens to get vaccinated. About 45% of eligible Newark students — those ages 12 and up — have been vaccinated, León said last week.

Weekly testing and other safety measures

There will be weekly COVID testing available in school for students and staff members when class resumes, according to the teachers union and school administrators, though the district has not publicly announced its testing plan. Guardians will need to sign a consent form in order for students to be cleared for testing and the free tests will be optional for vaccinated employees.

Under Murphy’s new mandate, unvaccinated employees must be tested weekly. The state will provide funding to help districts pay for weekly testing of unvaccinated students and staff.

Newark schools will offer routine COVID testing as classrooms reopen

2021-09-02T01:47:08+00:00

Newark schools will offer routine COVID testing for students and staff members when classes start this month, district and union officials said.

Students whose parents give their consent will get tested in school on a weekly basis, according to a school administrator.

The free tests will be optional for vaccinated employees, the Newark Teachers Union said, but unvaccinated employees must get tested weekly. The union president said the district has not indicated whether vaccinated students will also be tested, but he favors testing all students.

The routine COVID testing, which can catch asymptomatic infections, will offer an extra layer of protection against the highly contagious delta variant as students return to classrooms on Sept. 7. Yet with school starting in less than a week, the Newark school district has not publicly shared details of its testing plan, including the cost.

Gov. Phil Murphy announced Wednesday that the state will provide at least $267 million to help districts pay for weekly testing of unvaccinated students and staff, funding that is in addition to federal money the Biden administration allocated earlier this year for school-based testing.

“We all want the safest return to school for children and staff,” said state Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli, “and this funding will help schools open safely by providing access to testing resources.”

Experts say regular testing is an effective, if costly, way to limit spread of the coronavirus.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say that in-school testing can reduce the risk of infections when combined with other mitigation strategies, such as masking and social distancing. And while weekly testing can present logistical challenges, it allows schools to identify asymptomatic COVID carriers who could slip through temperature and symptom checkpoints.

Newark Public Schools offered weekly pooled testing this spring, when students and teachers swabbed their own nostrils and the samples were tested in batches. The results returned within 48 hours; if a group test was positive, then each person had to get retested individually.

The district will no longer use pooled testing, the teachers union said. Instead, a testing company will administer rapid tests weekly to each individual student, who should get the results within about 10 minutes, according to an elementary school principal who informed parents this week of the district’s testing plan.

Newark Teachers Union President John Abeigon told Chalkbeat that pooled testing had been difficult to carry out and sometimes produced unreliable results. He said the union is waiting for the district to share details of its plan for this school year.

“We would appreciate it if all students were tested, especially in the lower grades that do not have access to the vaccine,” he said. Only children 12 and up are currently eligible for the vaccine.

A district spokesperson did not respond to emails and text messages seeking information about testing.

Weekly student testing might not be necessary in areas with low COVID spread, Persichilli said Wednesday. As of Aug. 21, no region in the state fit that description. Vaccinated students can also skip routine testing, she added. Statewide, 44% of children ages 12 to 17 are fully vaccinated.

In New Jersey, districts can choose whether or not to offer routine testing in schools, and parents can decide whether to give their consent.

At a Newark school board meeting last week, Superintendent Roger León said the district was still finalizing its plan to provide regular testing to students and staff members. He added that families will get testing consent forms shortly.

“Obviously, we will be sending all of that information out so people can fill out all the proper documentation,” he said.

A district parent told Chalkbeat that, as of Wednesday, she still hadn’t received the forms.

Catherine Carrera contributed reporting.

Newark students struggled on college-readiness tests amid COVID, data shows

2021-08-26T23:29:19+00:00

Just 1 in 4 Newark high schoolers who took the Advanced Placement tests passed this year, and the average SAT math score was 472 out of a possible 800.

The test scores, newly released by the district, make one thing clear: The pandemic has left many Newark students academically unprepared for college.

Just 26% of high school students who took the AP tests last school year earned a passing score, the Newark Public Schools data show — down from 46% the previous year. Most colleges grant course credit to students who pass the rigorous AP tests.

Few Newark students took or passed the 2021 Advanced Placement tests.

Pass rates varied widely by subject. More than 30% of Newark students passed English language and composition, the district’s most commonly taken test, followed by biology, which 26% of students passed. Yet only 6% of Newark students who took the U.S. History test passed, and none of the 46 students who took the AP Chemistry test earned a passing score. (Nationally, 48% of AP test takers passed U.S. History this year and 51% passed chemistry.)

Among district students who sat for the SAT, an exam traditionally used in college admissions, the average math score was 472. That score is nearly 60 points below the “college-readiness” benchmark, which the test maker, College Board, says is associated with passing introductory college courses. The average English score was 469, which is 11 points below the college-readiness cutoff.

Most Newark 11th graders took the PSAT, which determines eligibility for certain scholarships. The average math score was 417 — more than 70 points below the New Jersey average in 2020, and nearly 100 points lower than the college-readiness threshold.

“If you wanted to see ugly, you saw it,” said Superintendent Roger León at a school board meeting Tuesday, where officials shared the test scores and other academic data from the 2020-21 school year.

On average, Newark students scored far below the “college-readiness” cutoff scores in math (530) and evidence-based reading and writing (480).

The high school data comes with major limitations, including very low test participation. Just 12% of the district’s 11th and 12-graders took the SAT last school year — partly because the pandemic made it harder to take the test, but also because most colleges made it optional for applicants to submit SAT or ACT scores. (New Jersey also removed assessments, including the SAT, from its graduation requirements this year.) And only 38% of the small number of Newark Public Schools students who take AP classes signed up for the end-of-course exams.

Tests also give an incomplete picture of student achievement. High school grades are a better predictor of college success than test scores, and more than half of all final grades were As and Bs last school year, according to Newark officials — though some teachers said they faced pressure to inflate grades during the pandemic.

Yet despite their limitations, the test scores attest to the havoc the pandemic wreaked on many students’ lives and schooling, and add to mounting evidence that the pandemic and remote learning slowed students’ academic progress and disrupted their college plans.

“Many students are simply surviving,” said Nefertari Nkenge, national program director at Pathways to College, a nonprofit that helps prepare students in Newark and other cities for higher education. “It was all they could do to keep their heads above water this past year.”

The pandemic has been especially tough on high school students in Newark, which suffered from disproportionately high rates of COVID and unemployment. Many teens reported feeling isolated and anxious while classrooms were closed, while also having to take on adult responsibilities, such as looking after younger siblings and working at fast-food restaurants, grocery stores, and other essential jobs.

Remote learning presented its own challenges. Some students had trouble logging into online classes, or struggled to stay motivated while learning at home. Noah Singman, who teaches geometry and AP calculus at Central High School, said he had to slow the pace of his class due to low attendance and the difficulty of teaching advanced math virtually.

“We made a valiant effort,” he said, but “we did not cover as much of the material as we were supposed to.”

What’s more, many college-prep programs went virtual, leaving some students feeling ill-prepared for the SAT or ACT. The pandemic also disrupted testing; many test centers shut down or reduced capacity, forcing some Newark students to travel to other towns to take the SAT, said Lyndon Brown, who runs a free college-prep program for Newark students along with Wilhelmina Holder.

“A lot of sites were closing down, some without notice,” he said. “It was very chaotic.”

Considering students’ social-emotional struggles over the past year, the financial hardships many families faced, and the shortcomings of online learning, advocates say it’s no wonder that students’ test scores slipped.

“For there to be an expectation that standardized test performance would be anything other than disastrous was unrealistic,” said Nkenge, who noted that low-income students faced structural disadvantages on the SAT even before the pandemic.

The Newark school district has contracted Nkenge’s group, Pathways to College, to offer its college-preparatory program in six high schools this year, up from three in the last school year.

But the district has not put forward a more comprehensive plan for students’ academic recovery. Yvette Jordan, a history teacher at Central High School, said she hopes such a plan arrives soon, as students are sure to need extra help this fall.

“I think that everybody is concerned about learning loss among our students,” she said, “from the superintendent all the way down to the teachers aides.”

‘Spirit loss’: How K-5 teachers prep for a class shaped by COVID

2021-08-23T14:45:00+00:00

The Newark elementary school teachers gathered in a large circle at the center of a classroom, where student desks lined the perimeter and a makeshift sign on one wall read, in part, “Step up, step back and create a safe space.”

It was time for “morning check-in.”

One by one, on this Friday morning in August, they shared their feelings.

Some were happy to be wrapping up a second week of professional development. Others were excited for the weekend. A few were feeling tense from a difficult morning at home. Between each turn, the rest of the group would share words of encouragement or validation.

“We’re happy for you.”

“Thank you for sharing and being here with us.”

“We see you. We hear you.”

The ritual was part of a day of professional development for the teachers of KIPP Truth Academy, the charter school system’s newest K-4 school in Newark.

The morning check-in, which the teachers plan to incorporate in their classroom routines this year, is meant to create an intentional safe space and time to share feelings, offer compassion, and establish a welcoming environment.

In Newark, as in schools across the country, elementary school educators have been preparing for how to best help their youngest students transition to being in the classroom on a full-time basis for the very first time or first time in 17 months. While the pandemic continues to be a threat to their own health and that of their families, many students are carrying into the classroom the experience of facing a crisis at home spurred by COVID and other traumatic events.

As back to school season gets underway, a rise in the highly contagious Delta variant has caused more anxiety and fear in school communities. Gov. Phil Murphy has mandated universal masking in schools, as has Newark Superintendent Roger León for the city’s schools, and a state order requiring vaccinations for educators is expected to be announced soon.

Most charter school students in the city returned to school this month, while Newark public school students await their first day of school on Sept. 7.

For the first time in nearly a year and a half, students in New Jersey won’t have a remote or hybrid option for instruction, and they’ll need to be in school full-time, under Murphy’s orders. In the midst of an ongoing health crisis, elementary school educators plan to focus on addressing the social and emotional needs of their students.

“We need to give kids a chance — even though they’re young and may not be able to articulate fully — to share their feelings and their stories,” said Maurice Elias, a psychology professor at Rutgers University who directs the Rutgers Social-Emotional and Character Development Lab.

The first few days and weeks of school should prioritize social and emotional learning over academic instruction, he said.

“Getting kids back into the academic routine is not as important as them feeling comfortable,” Elias said. “This is a process. It’s not a moment.”

Conversations before learning

KIPP Truth Academy School Leader Princess Fils-Aime co-led the professional development session that Friday morning in August with a focus on “educating the whole child,” which drew strategies from the book “The Whole-Brain Child,” by Daniel J. Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson. The book explains how children are ruled by “the right brain and its emotions” over the “logic of the left brain” and offers ways to share healthy emotional skills so that kids can feel better able to cope with their feelings.

In their experiences, the teachers in the room shared, children don’t tend to wait for the most convenient or appropriate time before they feel an urgency to share or express their feelings, which can manifest in different ways.

Rachel Fergusen, a third-grade teacher, asked, “When more than one kid in a classroom is feeling pain or hurt or strong emotions, how do we then manage the prioritization of the pain? Whose feelings get addressed first?”

Fils-Aime suggested leaning on the help of the teacher assistant in the room. She emphasized that students will need to feel heard before they can begin to fully absorb academic instruction.

“They’re going to need us to be understanding, to show them grace and patience,” Fils-Aime said. “You have to make the time for the conversations because the learning won’t happen if the conversations don’t happen first.”

Sheyla Riaz, director of social work at KIPP New Jersey, said the school system has incorporated social and emotional learning into the academic curriculum so that feelings don’t get compartmentalized into just one part of the day.

“If we’re reading a story, we’re asking our kids to reflect on the characters’ experiences, how the characters engage with others, and how the characters manage their stress,” Riaz said. “It’s part of the daily conversation which makes it less compartmentalized and more fluid throughout the entire day.”

Professional development this summer aimed to ensure the teachers have the skillset to address the emotional needs of students this year, Riaz said. She said teachers can also refer students to a social worker if needed. Each of the system’s 14 Newark schools have two to four social workers.

León has also said the district is committed to prioritizing the social and emotional needs of students this upcoming year. During a Board of Education retreat on Saturday, he said school administrators underwent professional development over the summer that focused on social and emotional learning.

‘Spirit loss’

In Newark, 1,021 people have died from COVID, accounting for nearly half of all deaths from the virus in Essex County alone, according to county data. There were 80 new positive cases reported on Friday. The vaccination rate in the city was 45% as of Aug. 20, up from 43% a month ago, according to the state vaccination dashboard.

In a recent nationwide survey, roughly 80 percent of parents had some level of concern about their child’s mental health or social and emotional health and development since the pandemic began. Black and Hispanic parents are seven to nine percentage points more likely than white parents to report higher levels of concern, the survey reported.

“Unaddressed mental-health challenges will likely have a knock-on effect on academics going forward as well,” read the McKinsey and Company report. “Research shows that trauma and other mental-health issues can influence children’s attendance, their ability to complete schoolwork in and out of class, and even the way they learn.”

Because Newark was one of the hardest hit by the coronavirus in terms of deaths and positive rates, “it’s so much more likely that the kids in Newark have experienced some negative consequences of COVID,” Elias said.

“The challenge is that people are worried about learning loss and I think that’s a misplaced concern right now because I think we have to be concerned about spirit loss,” he added.

Riaz said teachers will find opportunities for breaks between academic lessons to teach mindfulness activities such as breathing exercises and yoga poses.

“This is not business as usual or as it was before,” she said.

Yun Shin, the early childhood division director at La Casa de Don Pedro, a community-based social service organization based in Newark, said her teachers are preparing to start with teaching 3- and 4-year-old students about the basics of mask-wearing and procedures with hand washing and hand sanitizing.

“We will talk about it, ask questions and share feelings,” said Shin, who runs the organization’s Head Start, Early Head Start, and district preschool programs. “Our teachers not only get training on how to address mental health needs, but also recognizing child abuse and other trauma.”

‘It’s Friday’

After sharing their feelings during the morning check-in, the group of teachers in the professional development session began clapping to a song Fils-Aime, the school leader, said was her favorite Friday tradition.

For this one, they took turns sharing their weekend plans. The mask-wearing teachers, whose smiles came through their eyes, chanted together in an upbeat tune:

“It’s Friday!

It’s Friday!

It’s the end of the week!

It’s Friday!

So what you gonna do?”

“I’m gonna get my nails done!” Fils-Aime sang.

“She’s gonna get her nails done all weekend long!” they sang in unison, before repeating the refrain for the next educator. This year, the teachers plan to make the sing-along a part of their Friday classroom routines.

‘Everyone is going to need support.’ How schools are racing to respond to a mental health crisis

2021-08-20T15:46:58+00:00

It was the monotony that wore down Aisha Oyediran.

She woke up each school day, opened her laptop, stared at the screen — then eat, sleep, repeat. Add the stress of schoolwork and the loneliness of remote learning, and things started feeling bleak.

“It just kept going,” said Aisha, 17, who last year was a senior at Newark’s Central High School. “There was no end to it.”

Aisha managed to excel despite the pandemic dreariness and is now headed to Johns Hopkins University. Yet the prospect of returning to classrooms amid rising COVID cases has stirred conflicting emotions.

“I’m very excited,” said Aisha, who moved to campus on Friday. “And also very scared.”

She isn’t alone. Many students are eager to finally reunite with friends and teachers, yet nervous about socializing and learning in the flesh. Some are still processing traumatic experiences they endured during the pandemic.

The turmoil of the past year, the anxiety-provoking return to classrooms, the pent-up demand for support — all that has experts predicting an unprecedented surge in student mental-health needs. Now, flush with federal money, schools are racing to respond by expanding mental health services that, in the past, often got short shrift.

“You can’t keep kicking the can down the road,” said George Worsley, a long-time school social worker in Newark. “If you do, the devastation is going to be monumental.”

‘Students are struggling’

The pandemic wasn’t great for anyone’s mental health. But for many vulnerable young people, it was disastrous.

In addition to the isolation and frustration of remote learning, many students from low-income families also faced difficulties getting online, uncertainty around food and housing, and pressure to help care for siblings or contribute financially. Black and Hispanic Americans, subject to disproportionately high unemployment and COVID rates, also were more likely than white people to report anxiety and depression during the pandemic.

In addition, the debates about racism and images of police violence roiling the country took a psychic toll on many Black people.

“As a Black girl, it was kind of difficult to watch,” said Olufunsho Olaniyan, 18, a Newark student and fellow at The Gem Project, a youth-leadership program. “That’s not what you want to see: people who look like you dying all the time.”

Mental health problems among young people, already on the rise pre-pandemic, spiked over the past year. Teens reported feeling more stressed and disconnected, and mental health crises accounted for a larger share of children’s emergency room visits. All the while, students had less access to school-based social services and outlets such as sports, arts, and afterschool programs.

“If it wasn’t evident before, it’s screaming in our face now,” said Tahirah Crawford, director of college placement at People’s Prep Charter School, “students are struggling with a whole lot of things.”

The return to school should offer most students some relief, even if it means readjusting to old rules and routines. Yet students who actually preferred remote learning because it spared them from bullying or harsh discipline policies might dread going back. And even those eager to return can’t avoid fears of the delta variant and another round of school closures.

“The world is so unpredictable right now,” said Nivioska Bruce, director of school clinical interventions at CarePlus NJ, a nonprofit mental-healthcare provider. “That causes stress, and stress does a lot to the human body.”

‘We’re outnumbered here’

Many schools have not kept up with students’ soaring mental health needs.

In a survey last school year, 70% of elementary and middle school principals said they didn’t have enough mental-health professionals on staff to meet students’ needs. And existing staff are overwhelmed. In Newark, New Jersey’s largest school district, there are nearly 540 students for every counselor — more than twice the recommended number of students per counselor.

“We’re outnumbered here,” said Worsley, who’s retiring this month after five decades in the Newark school system. “It just became overwhelming.”

Congress has thrown a lifeline to schools in the form of pandemic-relief money, including some earmarked for mental health services. New Jersey set aside $30 million of its portion of the federal aid for mental health, and district leaders nationwide say they plan to use part of their allotments for that purpose.

But if districts use the federal money to boost staff, they will have to find some other way to fund those positions when the aid runs out — or else lay people off. And hiring itself could be a challenge.

“There’s a huge demand right now for mental-health professionals,” said Molly Fagan, executive director of Family and Children Services, a New Jersey social service agency. “They’re very much in short supply.”

The mental-health staffers already in schools find that much of their time is spent providing legally mandated services and evaluations. That can leave students without diagnosed needs waiting in vain for help.

“It’s long been the case that there are far more kids who need services than actually receive them,” said Dr. Linda Raffaele Mendez, a professor of school psychology at Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Her university is trying to help address the staffing problem. Through a partnership with Newark Public Schools, graduate students will provide counseling in four of the district’s 60-plus schools this year.

What schools can do now

Schools don’t need to wait for reinforcements to start helping students when they return.

They can start by assessing students’ mental-health needs, though some surveys require parental consent, which can be difficult to obtain for every student, Raffaele Mendez said. Teachers should also watch for unusual behavior, such as frequent absences or trips to the nurse’s office, which could be symptoms of anxiety or other mental health issues.

“Anxiety can present in a number of different ways,” she said. “Sometimes you might not be able to see it at all because kids can hide it pretty well.”

Teachers can promote mental health by having students practice deep breathing and meditation, and share their feelings during morning meetings. Educators also should tell students it’s fine to feel nervous or uncomfortable as they readjust to school, said Tonia Lloyd, who coaches students on resiliency.

“Everyone is experiencing some level of anxiety,” she said, “and that’s OK.”

Educators also can adopt a “trauma-informed” approach, which recognizes that children who’ve endured hardships might act out or shut down in the classroom, said Nivioska Bruce of CarePlus NJ.

“It’s not making an assumption that these kids are just being bad,” she said. “Take it a step further and try to find out what’s really going on.”

Schools can offer social-emotional learning, which trains students how to identify emotions, manage stress, and other healthy habits. People’s Prep plans to introduce “Wellness Wednesdays” this school year, where students will spend their advisory period studying those skills and practicing mindfulness and journaling.

“Resiliency and wellness are going to be especially important this school year,” said Nicolette Rittenhouse-Young, the school’s director of student support. That’s because students “have so much more on their plates — more stress, more loss, more changes and transitions.”

Viva White, a licensed clinical social worker whose son attends Newark’s Belmont Runyon School, said she’s happy to see schools promoting self-help skills. But she emphasized that such skills aren’t substitutes for counseling and other support services. As schools reopen, families should demand that students get the mental-health help they need.

“Everyone is going to need support,” she said, “because everyone is going through it.”

‘It’s only a matter of time’: Newark union leader tells teachers to prepare for vaccine mandate

2021-08-13T15:51:21+00:00

Newark will soon require teachers to get vaccinated against COVID-19 or face weekly testing, the teachers union told members Thursday.

The school district has not announced a vaccine mandate, but union leaders said such a requirement is likely. To date, less than a third of district employees have provided proof of COVID vaccination, officials said, even as Newark classrooms are set to open in less than a month.

“Like California, and soon to be NJ and Newark, be prepared for vaccine mandates upon returning to work,” said Newark Teachers Union President John Abeigon in an email to members. The mandate: “be vaccinated or get tested once a week at your own (co-pay) expense.”

Vaccine requirements are gaining steam as the highly contagious delta variant fuels a COVID resurgence, and a rising number of children are getting infected.

This week, California became the first state to require teachers to get vaccinated before returning to school or submit to weekly testing, and Chicago announced plans to do the same. On Thursday, the nation’s largest teachers unions signaled their support for such policies.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said this week the state is considering whether to require teachers to get vaccinated or tested weekly, and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka signed an executive order Tuesday requiring city employees to get inoculated against COVID.

Abeigon said a similar mandate is likely in store for teachers in Newark’s school district, where in-person learning is scheduled to resume Sept. 7.

“I think it’s only a matter of time,” he said, adding that the union told district officials it would support a vaccine-or-weekly-testing requirement for school workers. “The NTU has been pushing for mandatory vaccinations for students and staff since the vaccines were approved.”

A district spokesperson did not respond to multiple emails. During an appearance on the mayor’s online COVID briefing last week, Superintendent Roger León said COVID vaccines were not mandatory for district staffers. But Abeigon said there is no doubt the district is mulling a mandate.

“We know that they’re considering it because they had a discussion with us,” he said Thursday, adding that he wasn’t sure why the district has yet to impose a mandate. “I don’t know what they’re waiting for.”

Newark’s largest charter school operators have not imposed vaccine mandates yet, but some are considering doing so. For now, North Star Academy said all unvaccinated teachers must undergo weekly testing, and KIPP New Jersey said all employees must get tested each week.

With schools nationwide beginning to reopen amid the latest surge of COVID cases, pressure is mounting for teachers who have yet to get vaccinated to do so.

The National Education Association, which says the vast majority of its three million members already are immunized, on Thursday endorsed policies that require teachers to get vaccinated or submit to weekly testing. New Jersey recently instituted that policy for workers in “high-risk settings” such as hospitals and prisons, and the state’s largest teachers union said it would support a similar mandate for educators.

“If the governor’s executive order requiring vaccination or regular testing in certain other sectors is extended to schools, we will work to ensure that it is implemented in a way that protects the health and welfare of everyone involved,” said New Jersey Education Association spokesperson Steve Baker in an email.

Noting that the union has heavily promoted the COVID vaccines, he added, “Vaccination is the best tool we have to better protect our schools and communities.”

Newark’s union is an affiliate of the other major educators union, the American Federation of Teachers. Its leadership encouraged local unions to negotiate vaccine mandates with school districts.

While “we still believe the best way to increase vaccinations is through education and voluntary adoption,” AFT President Randi Weingarten said in a statement Thursday, “we want to be in a position to work with our employers on workplace vaccination policies.”

The reported COVID vaccination rate for Newark Public Schools employees is strikingly low. Only 2,000 or so of the district’s roughly 6,300 employees have been immunized, León said last week. That roughly 32% rate is far below the 58% of adults in Newark and 72% across New Jersey who are fully vaccinated.

But Abeigon cautioned that the district’s figure only includes employees who have uploaded their vaccination cards into an online system. The actual number of immunized employees is much higher, he said, adding that the union’s internal surveys suggest most of its members have had the shots.

“The large majority of them are already vaccinated,” he said. “You didn’t need to tell them twice.”

Still, he conceded that some educators remain hesitant. When Chalkbeat informally polled Newark parents and educators in February, most said they planned to get the vaccine — but a few said they worried about possible side effects or that the vaccines were rolled out too quickly.

“I feel that more testing and research needs to be done first,” one pre-K teacher wrote to Chalkbeat, saying she had “no intention” of getting the vaccine. “I feel like it is an overnight cure and that those getting it now are lab rats.”

Studies have consistently found the COVID vaccines to be safe and highly effective, and more than 350 million doses have been given in the U.S.

As colleges and other institutions require COVID vaccination, some people are buying fake vaccine cards online, which the FBI has warned poses health and legal risks. In his message to members, Abeigon warned anyone who decides not to get immunized against misrepresenting their status.

“Anyone thinking of using a Fake Vaccination ID purchased over the Internet or elsewhere—don’t!” Abeigon wrote. “If discovered, the district will refer these cases to the county prosecutor and you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law, and that may include loss of tenure and pension.”

Yet the union president also praised his members for following safety protocols when classrooms partially reopened this spring, which he said kept in-school infections to a minimum.

“I think we’ve been doing a great job under the circumstances and our reward has been these low numbers,” Abeigon said in his message to members. “With some planning, prayer and research we can have as safe a return as possible.”

Catherine Carrera contributed reporting.

Just 9% of Newark students met state math standards this spring, data show

2021-08-04T22:28:18+00:00

Newark students suffered extensive learning loss last school year, according to spring 2021 test scores that show for the first time how profoundly the pandemic disrupted students’ academic progress.

Just 9% of students in grades 2-8 met state expectations in math based on the results of end-of-year tests taken this spring, according to Newark Public Schools data Chalkbeat obtained through a public records request. Only 11% of students met expectations in reading.

The grim results are only estimates of how students would have fared on New Jersey’s state exams had they not been canceled this spring. Also, the tests measure student performance against pre-pandemic benchmarks, which do not account for the extreme challenges Newark students faced after COVID shuttered school buildings and shattered any sense of normalcy for more than a year.

Still, the standardized tests that thousands of Newark students took this spring offer the most detailed look yet at the academic damage wrought by the pandemic. While alarming, the test scores parallel national and statewide data that show the past year’s social and educational disruptions knocked most students off course, with Black, Hispanic, and low-income students weathering the biggest blow.

The data come from the MAP Growth assessments created by the nonprofit testmaker NWEA. Newark students took the tests at the beginning, middle, and end of last school year. Schools across the country used the MAP tests or similar assessments to measure students’ progress because this year’s state exams were cancelled.

Students’ MAP scores can predict how well they would have performed on the state tests. According to NWEA’s estimates, only 10% of Newark third graders would have met or exceeded expectations on the state math exams this spring, compared with 35% of Newark third graders who met that benchmark in 2019. In reading, just 12% of eighth graders would have met state expectations this year, compared with 44% who hit that target in 2019.

“There’s no doubt that these data are a call to action,” said Martin West, an education professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education who reviewed some of Newark’s test scores at Chalkbeat’s request. “What really matters is what happens next.”

In line with national trends, Newark students started last school year academically behind and made less progress than would be expected in a typical year, the data show.

For example, fifth graders fell from the 15th to the 4th percentile in math over the course of the school year, landing them near the very bottom of the pack nationally. In reading, they dropped from the 11th to the 2nd percentile.

The rankings are based on prior year data, which gives a sense of how Newark students’ performance last school year compared to how other students across the country performed in a typical year. However, the rankings don’t show whether Newark students fared any better or worse than their national peers during the pandemic.

The findings confirmed what Linda Williams witnessed in her own home. The mother of three children who attend Avon Avenue School, she watched their grades plunge and progress stall as remote learning dragged on for 13 months.

“As far as education goes,” she said, “I think they lost a year.”

West, who is also a researcher at the National Bureau of Economic Research, urged caution when interpreting the MAP scores.

First, the results might underestimate the pandemic’s academic impact because some of the most disadvantaged students are likely to have missed the tests. Also, there is no way to compare Newark students’ growth last school year to prior years because they did not previously take the MAP tests. Instead, their performance must be measured against national averages from before the pandemic.

For those reasons, the data does not show whether Newark did any better or worse than other districts in navigating the pandemic, West said. What’s clear is that Newark students dealt with more hardships than their more advantaged peers — including family illness, job losses, and housing insecurity — and were shut out of classrooms longer.

“They experienced the worst of both worlds,” West said, “so it’s hardly a surprise that the data from this year suggests substantially slowed academic progress.”

Experts call pandemic learning loss a national crisis. The federal government has allocated billions of dollars to help students recover, and some school districts have announced plans to increase learning time, offer intensive tutoring, and hire extra teachers.

Newark is expecting more than $282 million in federal pandemic-relief funds, yet officials have said little about their academic recovery plans. And while documents show that district officials are well aware of students’ severe learning loss, they have not publicly shared or discussed the data.

A district spokesperson did not answer questions about the district’s plans to tackle learning loss. The school board president did not respond to an email seeking her reaction to the test scores.

Newark and other school districts should be transparent about the pandemic’s academic fallout, said Steven LoCascio, executive director of the educational leadership program at Kean University’s College of Education.

“No one’s at fault here — this is a worldwide, unprecedented scenario we’re facing,” he said. “However, we would be remiss if we didn’t acknowledge the challenges.”

LoCascio and other experts say recovery efforts should start by helping students process the social and emotional upheaval they endured over the past year. “We can’t just jump back into business as usual,” he said.

Wilhelmina Holder, a Newark education advocate, said that helping families get back on their feet will also benefit students. The district could use some of its federal aid to hire staffers to assist families with housing, employment, and health issues, she said. The district could also recruit college students to tutor Newark youth and hire additional classroom aides, she added.

Holder predicted that the academic recovery will be long and arduous.

“It’s not going to be easy,” she said. “But if we don’t get these kids caught up and excelling, their options in life are going to be limited.”

Newark mayor proposes vaccinating students in school to boost city’s low rate

2021-07-30T23:58:25+00:00

With most Newark students heading into the new school year unvaccinated against COVID-19, the city will start giving shots in schools, Mayor Ras Baraka said Friday.

Newark will “pass a policy” allowing parents to grant permission for their children to get vaccinated, Baraka said on Facebook Live, without elaborating on the proposed policy. Those children will then get the shots in school, sparing families from having to travel to clinics. If the plan works, it also will increase the city’s low youth vaccination rate.

Just 30% of Newark children ages 12-17 had received at least one COVID vaccine dose by July 19, Chalkbeat reported Thursday. Newark’s rate trails the average nationally and in New Jersey, where more than 40% of eligible children have been vaccinated. (Children 11 and younger are not yet eligible to get the shot.)

The city’s low rate could cause problems this fall when New Jersey schools must fully reopen, bringing students and educators into close proximity even as the highly contagious Delta variant tears through the state. Unless more Newark students get inoculated before September, COVID infections could surge and schools would be forced to return to remote instruction, Baraka warned.

“What will happen is, we’re going to get outbreaks, and we’re going to wind up having to close schools down,” he said, “if we do not make sure people are vaccinated.”

The risks are not evenly spread across Newark. Nearly 70% of eligible children in the city’s East Ward have had at least one vaccine shot, compared with less than 20% of children in the South Ward, according to the latest city data.

Other cities that have struggled to get young people vaccinated are taking aggressive steps to ramp up their rates. Jersey City is calling families weekly to urge them to get their children vaccinated, New York City is giving shots at summer school sites, and other communities are offering financial incentives to people who get the vaccine — an approach that President Biden is pushing.

Newark had not announced any similar strategies until Friday when Baraka said the city would “begin doing vaccinations in school.” However, it was unclear whether the campaign will start this summer or in the fall, and a City Hall spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for clarification.

Baraka will need the cooperation of the Newark school district, which the elected school board controls, not the mayor. A district spokesperson did not immediately respond to an email asking about the mayor’s plan.

In the meantime, the city will continue offering free COVID vaccines to residents 12 and older at sites across the city, Baraka said. Residents can also call 211 to schedule a free Lyft ride to get their shot.

“Our kids are not vaccinated at the rate we need them to be,” the mayor said Friday. “We have to begin to do a little better than what we are doing.”

Newark slow to vaccinate eligible youth, with only 30% getting first COVID shot

2021-07-29T19:38:13+00:00

Less than a third of eligible Newark youth are vaccinated against COVID, according to city data, a worrying trend as the new school year approaches and the highly contagious delta variant causes cases to rise.

Just 30% of Newark children ages 12-17 had received at least one vaccine dose as of July 19, the data show, which is more than 10 percentage points lower than the statewide and national averages for that age group.

Even more alarming, children in some parts of the city are far less likely to be protected against COVID than their peers. Within three ZIP codes in the city’s Central and South wards, less than 20% of eligible youth have received at least one vaccine shot — a rate three times lower than in the neighboring East Ward, where more than 60% of 12-17-year-olds have had their first dose.

Children are less likely than adults to become seriously ill due to COVID, but they still can be infected, get sick, and spread the virus to others. Nearly 91,000 children ages 5-17 have tested positive for COVID in New Jersey since the pandemic began, and many more were forced to quarantine last school year after their classmates became infected.

Now, time is running out to inoculate eligible students, who must get their first shot within the next two weeks to be fully vaccinated before school starts in September. The stakes are high, as all New Jersey students are required to return to classrooms this fall.

While the city and partner groups have hosted vaccination clinics at some schools, experts say greater access and more aggressive outreach is needed.

“It’s very concerning,” said Dr. Shereef Elnahal, CEO of University Hospital in Newark and New Jersey’s former health commissioner, referring to the low vaccination rate among youth nationally. He noted that the vaccines have proven safe and effective for all eligible age groups, and warned that the delta variant could heighten the risk of in-school transmission if more students are not vaccinated before the fall.

“These places, especially middle schools and high schools, could be the next types of institutions where spread is most common,” he added. “And then, of course, what happens is people bring the disease home to their loved ones.”

New Jersey is among the most vaccinated states, with 70% of its residents 18 and older fully immunized against COVID-19. State officials say the vaccines have been incredibly effective, with vaccinated residents accounting for well under 1% of hospitalizations this year.

But young people are a different story. Just 44% of youth ages 12-17 had received at least one shot as of Monday, compared with 76% of the overall eligible population, officials said. And while COVID rates remain far below their earlier peak, key metrics have started trending in the wrong direction.

“To reverse the increases in the hospitalizations that we’re seeing and the cases in our state, we need even more New Jerseyans to get vaccinated,” said state Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli, adding that immunizing young people before next school year is a top priority. “The best thing parents can do to protect the health of their children is to vaccinate them against this virus.”

A rising number of Newark residents have received shots, with 56% of adults now fully vaccinated. But with the city’s test positivity rate doubling since June, too many residents are falling prey to online misinformation about the vaccine, Mayor Ras Baraka said during an online discussion Wednesday.

“People are listening to people who haven’t passed their high school science course,” he said, “as opposed to people who have a degree in medicine.”

A survey of Newark voters in May found that distrust of the government was the most commonly cited reason for vaccine hesitancy, followed by concerns about the vaccine’s safety and side effects. In recent interviews with Chalkbeat, several Newark students and educators echoed the mayor’s assessment that misinformation is also a major factor.

Stephen Haley, who graduated this year from Arts High School, said misinformation is rampant among many of his peers. They have told him — incorrectly — that COVID is a “scam,” the shots contain tracking devices, and the vaccine is a government ploy to control the population, he said. Other friends gave more mundane reasons for avoiding the vaccine, including a fear of needles or side effects.

“I’ve heard it all at this point,” said Haley, who lives in a South Ward neighborhood where just 17% of the 12-17 age group has been vaccinated. Haley, who is 17, got his shots — but his older brother hasn’t, he said.

Akbar Cook is the principal of West Side High School, which sits in a ZIP code where just 18% of eligible children have received at least one shot. The school hosts a weekly vaccination clinic, but Cook said it is contending with residents’ wariness of the medical establishment and false rumors about the vaccine that spread like wildfire on social media.

Now, he dreads the possibility that the low vaccination rate could lead to outbreaks this fall, prompting school closures.

“Our community above all can’t go through another shutdown,” he said, recalling the fallout from more than a year of remote learning. “The learning loss was too severe in my area, and I’ve seen the impact it had on kids that were perfectly fine to now they’re depressed with thoughts of suicide.”

In the Newark ZIP codes with the lowest youth vaccination rates, the majority of residents are Black. The American healthcare system’s long history of mistreating Black people has understandably bred mistrust, said Rev. David Jefferson, Sr., pastor of the Metropolitan Baptist Church in Newark’s Central Ward.

“If our foundation was stronger, we’d be in a much stronger space to get vaccination up,” he said. “But because it was broken to start with, we’re working double time to make up for that.”

The city and partner groups have been working to expand access and promote vaccination among residents, including young people. Schools have hosted pop-up vaccination sites, the city has offered free rides to clinics, and canvassers are scheduled to go door-to-door sharing vaccine information.

Jefferson’s church recently partnered with North Star Academy charter school and other local organizations to host a community vaccination event that also offered free food, clothing, and ice cream. Similar events pairing vaccine clinics with barbecues and backpack giveaways are planned for August.

“We have to draw young people in on an event basis and work with them on their level,” Jefferson said.

But some local leaders say the city and school district need to ramp up outreach. They point to New York City, which is offering the vaccine at summer school sites, and Jersey City, which is calling families to urge them to get their children vaccinated.

Newark Teachers Union President John Abeigon said the district should launch a social media and advertising campaign to encourage eligible students to get vaccinated.

“It’s sad when small community-based organizations and teachers unions have greater outreach than a billion-dollar-a-year organization,” he said.

A district spokesperson said the school system is partnering with the city health department, Essex County, and other agencies to provide vaccines to young people across the city. The district lists vaccine sites for teens on its website, but the list is outdated. (A current list is available here.)

Mirabel Chukwuma, a 15-year-old sophomore at Weequahic High School, suggested that the city offer gift cards or the chance to win a scholarship to young people who get vaccinated, as other places have done. Mirabel, who is vaccinated, said she would also urge her peers to think about the larger community.

“Even if you’re not going to get the vaccine for yourself,” she said, “at least do it for the people around you.”

The pandemic set back student learning. Newark kept the data under wraps.

2021-07-01T21:01:21+00:00

When Newark students took a series of diagnostic tests last fall, some seven months into the pandemic, the results were alarming:

Nearly 80% of third graders and almost 90% of fourth graders would “not meet the passing score” on the state math exams, according to a district analysis that was not made public. The projections suggested that far fewer students were on track to master grade-level math than in previous years.

After a spring of school closures and limited learning, students were seriously struggling in math.

“Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, learning loss among our students in mathematics is one of the most significant challenges faced by schools in Newark,” district officials wrote in an application this January seeking academic recovery funds. “Many of our students have fallen even further behind than they were prior to COVID-19.”

Many of those students likely continued to slip behind last school year as remote learning stretched into April, keeping students out of classrooms for 13 months. Yet, in more than two dozen public school board meetings since the global crisis began, district leaders have never given a detailed accounting of the pandemic’s toll on student learning.

Even after the fall test scores, which the district never publicly released, clearly showed that academic damage had already been done, Superintendent Roger León suggested publicly that learning loss could still be curbed.

“Part of the strategy here is not to assume that there will be loss,” he said at a board meeting in December, “but to assume that we actually can do something about it right now.”

It isn’t just test scores. The district has taken other steps that, intentionally or not, have obscured the pandemic’s full impact on students.

After school buildings shut down last spring and teachers lost touch with many students, the district reported nearly perfect attendance during remote learning. And this past school year, several educators told Chalkbeat they were forbidden from giving failing grades even to students who never attended online class or completed any work — all while the district insisted its normal grading policies remained in effect.

“Their grades aren’t their correct grades,” a district elementary school teacher told Chalkbeat this week, asking to remain anonymous to avoid retaliation. “You couldn’t fail any kids.”

There is no doubt that district officials have closely monitored students’ academic progress over the past year and worked diligently on plans to address their needs. But they have not publicly shared data on student learning or gone into detail about the district’s plans for academic recovery. León has referenced plans for tutoring and Saturday school, but has not disclosed specifics — leaving it unclear how the district will spend more than $40 million in federal money specifically intended to address learning loss.

Newark is not the only school district that hasn’t voluntarily released academic data from the past year. Still, the lack of transparency means Newark families and the public have no way of knowing how far students fell behind during the pandemic, and no way of holding the district accountable for catching them up.

“Until we have the numbers and we own what has happened to our children, we can’t fix it,” said Deborah Smith-Gregory, a former district teacher and president of the Newark NAACP.

Newark community members have repeatedly asked the district for details about the pandemic’s impact on student learning.

At a closed-door meeting in December, school board member A’Dorian Murray-Thomas told district officials that “the board and community want to know more information on how students are performing academically,” according to meeting minutes. An official then gave the committee a presentation on the results of the diagnostic tests students took this fall, called the NWEA MAP Growth tests.

But at a public board meeting the next week, officials said nothing about the tests. When a board member asked León about his plans to address learning loss, he gave only a vague answer. He mentioned “online programs,” “some changes to the curriculum,” and “opportunities before and after school, even on Saturdays.” He did not specify what the programs, curriculum changes, or opportunities were, nor how many students were getting support.

Yet just a month later, in a grant application not available to the public, the district went into detail about students’ academic needs and a proposed program to catch them up.

In the application for a state grant to address learning loss, the district revealed that the fall MAP tests showed “students in grades 3 and 4 are struggling in mathematics.” The district estimated that only 22% of third graders would be able to meet grade-level expectations on the state math test, compared with 35% who met expectations in 2019. Among fourth graders, just 11% were projected to meet math expectations, compared with 32% who did so in 2019.

In response, the district proposed a four-week math program this summer targeting 600 rising fourth and fifth graders with the lowest MAP scores. The program would “compensate for the learning loss of the most vulnerable students during the COVID-19 pandemic,” the district wrote in the application submitted this January, which the state would not release to Chalkbeat until June.

The state did not award Newark one of the roughly $156,000 learning loss grants. However, the district is getting more than $282 million in federal pandemic-relief funds, with about $40 million reserved for academic recovery efforts.

Whether Newark is putting any of that money towards an intensive math program this summer is unclear. A district spokesperson did not immediately respond to questions about the program, learning loss data, or recovery plans.

So what is Newark doing to address the unprecedented disruption in student learning, when most students were shut out of classrooms for over a year and many spent part of that time struggling to access online classes?

The district told the state last school year simply that it was offering “Saturday Academies; Extended School Day; Tutoring” to address learning gaps, as well as lessons and counseling to meet students’ social-emotional needs — all services that many schools provided well before the pandemic. The district is also operating a summer learning program, as it does every year. Officials have not described publicly how they modified summer school this year to respond to students’ heightened needs.

Newark is certainly not the only school district in New Jersey, or nationwide, where student learning has suffered over the past year.

An analysis by the New Jersey education department of mid-year test data found that about 37% of students statewide were below grade level in math and English. The analysis also found wide racial gaps, with more than half of Black and Hispanic students below grade level in math, compared with less than 30% of White students.

An independent analysis of test scores from 15 New Jersey districts and charter schools also found evidence of pandemic learning loss. During the first half of last school year, students in grades 3-8 made about 30% less progress in English and 36% less progress in math than they would be expected to make during that period in a typical year, according to the analysis, which was commissioned by the advocacy group JerseyCAN.

Patricia Morgan, the group’s executive director, said officials from the state down to individual districts must be forthright about learning loss before they can properly address it: “We need to know where our students are to get them the resources they need.”

N.J. will not require universal masking in schools this fall — but Newark will

2021-06-28T21:48:54+00:00

New Jersey will not require students to wear masks when they return to school this fall, though masks are “encouraged” for unvaccinated people, according to guidelines released Monday.

The new state guidelines offer suggestions for how schools can safely reopen this fall, when Gov. Phil Murphy has ordered all schools to resume full-time in-person learning. In addition to urging non-vaccinated people to keep wearing masks, the guidelines also suggest that students stay physically distanced inside classrooms and districts track which employees and students have been vaccinated.

But officials emphasized Monday that the safety protocols issued by the state health and education departments are recommended but not mandatory, leaving districts to create their own policies based on local conditions. While the recommendations offer districts flexibility, they also shift the burden of assessing health conditions to local officials. The state was criticized for this kind of decentralized approach this past school year, when districts devised their own reopening plans.

In Newark, officials have already said they will require universal masking this fall.

Murphy added that schools must physically reopen even if they can’t follow every suggested protocol.

“If you can’t meet the recommendation, we still need you to open,” he said during a Monday press briefing.

The state guidelines say:

Masks are recommended for non-vaccinated people inside schools, but are mandatory on school buses.
Districts should promote vaccination for staff and eligible students (currently, those age 12 and up), and are “encouraged” to track each person’s vaccination status.
Schools should try to keep students 3 feet apart in classrooms “to the extent possible.”
Schools should consider ways to reduce group sizes at lunch, such as having students eat at staggered times, outdoors, or in classrooms.
Schools should disinfect daily high-touch surfaces, including desks, doorknobs, and computer keyboards.

Districts were required to post fall reopening plans this month to access federal funding. Newark’s plan is similar to the one it released last school year, with the major exception that remote learning is no longer an option for students unless there is a COVID outbreak.

Newark’s plan for the 2021-22 school year says:

School employees, students, and visitors will continue wearing masks.
Students will be “encouraged” to socially distance in classrooms, and sneeze guards will remain on desks.
Students will be allowed to move between classrooms, which the district prohibited this spring.
Staff members must submit a negative COVID test before returning to work, but the district did not say it will provide weekly COVID testing for all students and employees as it did this spring.

At a school board meeting last week, district officials said parts of the plan might change.

“As we go through the month of September and we monitor conditions, we may loosen up on some of those,” said Newark Public Schools Deputy Superintendent Nicole T. Johnson, who was the co-chairperson of the district’s reopening task force.

The district also plans to continue its arrival protocols for students and staff, aincluding screening for symptoms, which can be done on paper or via an app; temperature checks; and hand sanitization.

“The safe return plan outlines what is our best understanding given what we know today of what school will look like in September,” Superintendent Roger León said at the meeting.

In an effort to increase vaccination rates in the city and across schools, the district began holding weekly vaccination clinics at some schools, including Malcolm X Shabazz High School (on Fridays) and East Side High School (Mondays and Tuesdays). RWJ Barnabas Health also set up a weekly vaccination clinic, specifically for teens ages 12-19, at Clara Maass Medical Center in Belleville, the district said.

“We don’t know what’s going to occur during the summer months but we’re hopeful that the trends we have [this summer] are better than what they were last school year,” León said

State officials said their guidelines could also change as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issue new recommendations, particularly around masking, for the coming school year.

“This is our best sense of what back-to-school looks like,” Murphy said, adding that officials “reserve the right to revisit some of this” based on CDC guidance and the trajectory of the pandemic.

The state also released a self-assessment tool that districts can use to determine whether they’re ready for full-time in-person learning, and strategies to address pandemic-related learning gaps.

Fewer Newark students enrolled in college during pandemic, report finds

2021-06-28T18:16:27+00:00

The pandemic knocked many Newark students off the path to college, resulting in a citywide decline in college enrollment last fall and far fewer admissions to the local community college, a new report finds.

Just under 43% of Newark Public Schools graduates headed to college last fall, a 9 percentage-point decrease from the previous year, according to the new report by Advocates for Children of New Jersey. Essex County College, typically the top destination for Newark graduates, enrolled 39% fewer first-time, full-time students.

Charter schools, which educated about a quarter of the city’s 12th graders in 2020, also saw college-going declines last fall. For example, the share of Marion P. Thomas Charter School graduates who enrolled in college plummeted by 23 percentage points.

In another worrying trend, which Chalkbeat previously reported, only a fraction of students in this year’s senior class applied for college financial aid, suggesting that the enrollment slump could continue. As of June 18, just 34% of Newark Public Schools 12th graders had completed the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, according to federal data and enrollment figures provided by the district.

Taken together, the data underscores how profoundly the pandemic disrupted students’ schooling and future plans, and suggests Newark will need to redouble its efforts if it wants to steer more students to college.

“We have to do a whole lot better,” said Superintendent Roger León during a panel discussion last week about COVID’s impact on high school graduates.

The pandemic scrambled many students’ college plans. Nationwide, college enrollment fell by an unprecedented 4 percentage points last fall, to 57%. New Jersey’s college-enrollment rate dropped 5 percentage points to 67%. Newark’s rate, while far below the state’s, was similar to the 46% national average for high-poverty schools.

A long list of factors likely contributed to the declines. Most high schoolers couldn’t visit college campuses last year or see their guidance counselors in person, complicating the admissions process. Many students struggled with remote learning, which left some feeling under-prepared for college and reluctant to enroll while college courses were still online. And the pandemic battered many families’ finances, making it difficult or impossible to afford college costs.

Last week’s panel, which Advocates for Children of New Jersey hosted, featured several Newark students who faced such challenges.

David Daughety, who graduated from Arts High School last year, was admitted to his dream school, the prestigious Howard University. But the costs were too steep.

“It was very, very devastating,” he said, adding that he’s now happily enrolled at Rutgers University-Newark.

After graduating from Technology High School in 2019, Tatiana Arce-Rodrigues headed straight to college. But after the pandemic struck during her second semester, she left for spring break and didn’t return.

“I decided to drop out of college,” she said. “I knew if I was to stay in school and do everything online, it was just going to be a waste of money.”

Halimah Herbert, a 2020 high school graduate, said she struggled academically and emotionally after the pandemic derailed her senior year. And with school fully remote, it was difficult to get the support she needed, including help with college applications.

“We didn’t have guidance counselors readily available, so it was hard in that sense to navigate all that we were going through,” said Herbert, who decided to postpone college and begin working.

Students’ odds of heading to college last fall varied dramatically by school. Despite slight year-over-year declines, more than 84% of students at North Star Academy, a high-performing charter school, and over 78% of students at Science Park High School, a selective magnet school, still enrolled in college. But at four traditional high schools, fewer than a third of students enrolled.

From “Newark Kids Count Data Snapshot: College Students and COVID-19” report by Alana Vega and Peter Chen

Several of those same traditional high schools — including Barringer, Central, and Malcolm X Shabazz — also saw big drop-offs in FAFSA completion this school year, as did a few charter and magnet schools. Across New Jersey, about 63% of students had completed the FAFSA by June 18, a roughly 4% decline from last year, according to a federal data tracker.

Students who complete the application have access to federal grants and loans and, national data suggests, are more likely to enroll in college. This month, the Newark school board approved a new policy that will require seniors to complete the FAFSA, or an alternative form for undocumented students, in order to graduate beginning next school year.

Elisabeth Kim, a postdoctoral associate at the Joseph C. Cornwall Center for Metropolitan Studies at Rutgers-Newark, tracks FAFSA completion. She said one reason for this year’s decline is likely that many students did not get in-person help filling out the complicated form. (More than 70% of high schoolers opted to stay remote even after Newark Public Schools reopened classrooms in April.)

“Many Newark families benefit from in person, one-on-one support from the schools and community organizations for FAFSA completion but did not have as much access to that due to COVID restrictions,” Kim said in an email. She added that some local colleges might accept the FAFSA after the June 30 federal deadline, so students should still consider submitting it.

The new report on Newark’s college enrollment decline, written by Alana Vega and Peter Chen, also noted some ways that local universities have tried to support students. Rutgers froze tuition and fees last year, and allowed students to switch to a pass or no credit grading scale. And the Abbott Leadership Institute, along with Rutgers-Newark and the Center for PreCollege, will launch the Newark Grad Center this summer, which will help high school graduates apply to college and seek financial aid.

Abbott Leadership Institute Executive Director Kaleena Berryman, who moderated the student portion of last week’s panel, praised the students for deftly adapting after the pandemic disrupted their plans. Arce-Rodrigues enrolled in an EMT training program, Herbert found a job at Berryman’s organization, and Daughety was admitted to the honors program at Rutgers-Newark, where he’s now studying political science and public affairs administration.

To help steer Newark young people back toward college, the students said they need more mental-health services, more individual assistance during the application process, and easier access to the wealth of college-prep resources in Newark. And, Daughety added, policymakers need to put students’ suggestions into action.

“These spaces can’t be a dead end,” he said. “We have to go beyond the conversation to then begin to produce results.”

Newark plans to spend most of pandemic relief aid to improve aging facilities

2021-06-25T23:32:42+00:00

Newark plans to spend the bulk of $177 million in American Rescue Plan money on upgrades to 100-year-old school buildings, but officials say much more is needed to fix facilities that have been neglected for years.

For the first time since the historic windfall for the district was announced, school officials offered a glimpse this week into how the latest round of federal coronavirus relief aid will be spent.

The district projects to spend 51% of the aid on facility upgrades and maintenance, said School Business Administrator Valerie Wilson at a virtual school board meeting this week.

About 34% would go toward teaching and learning while 15% would be spent on technology, she added.

“There is a focus to address indoor air quality,” Wilson said. “There’s a focus to address HVAC conditions in schools — all of which significantly impact the learning environment.”

The district is also due $84 million from an earlier round of pandemic relief funds, which brings the total to about $262 million in new federal aid.

The district is spending 51% of that earlier allotment on teaching and learning and 15% on technology, Wilson said.

“Students have returned to that in-person, physical environment so there’s a need for more materials to support the student,” she said referring to the bulk of that aid going toward support for teaching and learning.

Thirty-four percent, or roughly $28.6 million, of the earlier round of federal aid will go to facilities — not enough, Wilson said, to cover the needs of the 65 school buildings in the district.

“That 34% is scraping the first layer of paint off of a wall,” Wilson said. “It does not come close to the amount of money that is going to be needed to make our facilities effective.”

But neither does the $90 million earmarked for facilities from the bigger pot of federal aid.

“It barely scrapes the surface,” Wilson said.

Many district schools have been in serious disrepair, with falling roofs, faulty heating and cooling systems, and broken windows and doors.

“Fifty-one percent of $177 million sounds like a lot of money,” Wilson said, “but when we talk about our schools that are at an average age of 98 years old, schools that have had deferred maintenance for the last 15 to 20 years, and schools that are way past their useful life ... That’s not a large number.”

She estimates the district will “probably need about a billion worth of bonding” to address all the existing issues and upgrades at its facilities.

“This money should go toward some of that but no one should anticipate or expect that the schools are going to look smashing and beautiful and gorgeous with the monies that are being invested through these three areas,” she said, including last year’s first round of federal COVID relief money.

How should the district spend this money?

The district reached out to constituent groups made up of students, parent organizations, board members, teachers, administrators, school staff, community members, and labor groups for feedback on how to spend the millions of dollars in new federal aid, said Anzella Nelms, a former district official who assisted the district in its return to local control.

“Each of them had their own personal story to tell about what they wanted to consider,” Nelms said at the board meeting of the various groups.

In her presentation, Nelms listed the input from feedback surveys the district collected. Suggestions ranged from redesigning existing stadiums at Malcolm X Shabazz and Weequahic high schools to creating “learning pods” for English Language Learners.

Other suggestions included:

Recruiting multilingual teachers
Increasing mental health services and support for students and staff
Personalizing instruction plans for each student
Offering extended learning time (Saturdays, before and after school)
Teaching about cultural racism and instructional racism in schools
Improving internet access
Offering and expanding resource centers, wraparound services, and parent rooms
Installing new boilers
Addressing plumbing issues

‘Truly disappointing’: N.J. lawmaker asks why families are still waiting for pandemic food money

2021-06-24T22:10:52+00:00

A powerful state senator is demanding to know why New Jersey families have yet to receive emergency food assistance meant to keep children from going hungry during the pandemic.

Sen. M. Teresa Ruiz said Thursday that it is “truly disappointing” that the families of some 840,000 New Jersey children have been kept waiting for months for grocery money intended to make up for school meals that children missed during remote learning. Families were supposed to receive hundreds of dollars per eligible child this school year, but state officials now say families of school-age children won’t receive the money until later this summer.

“As long as the money gets into families’ hands, that’s great,” Ruiz told Chalkbeat, which wrote this week about the long-delayed benefits. “But it is truly, truly disappointing and unfortunate that it didn’t make it inside houses when it was supposed to help during the midst of the crisis.”

Ruiz, a Democrat who chairs the senate education committee, plans to send a letter to state officials Thursday seeking an explanation for the delay.

Congress created the Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer program, or P-EBT, to ensure that students who would have received subsidized meals in school had access to food while learning from home. The program began last spring but was extended through the 2020-21 school year and this summer.

Eligible students were due about $123 for each month of this school year when they were learning from home full-time, and about $61 for months when they learned remotely part-time. But as the school year ends, families of children in kindergarten through 12th grade still have not gotten the money — even as an estimated 15% of New Jersey children faced food insecurity this year.

“They should have gotten this funding in the middle of the crisis when it was most needed,” said Ruiz, whose district includes part of Newark, where she said she has seen families lining up at food pantries and distributions throughout the pandemic. “You could clearly see that there was a dire need.”

State agencies across the country have struggled to get the Pandemic-EBT money to families this school year. The delays stemmed from shifting federal guidance and the complexity of determining student eligibility, which required tracking how many days each student learned remotely in a given month.

But some states also were slow to come up with plans for tracking eligibility and distributing the benefits. New Jersey did not submit an initial plan to the federal government until March; after state officials made required revisions, the plan received final approval April 19.

In recent days, the state Department of Human Services has started issuing benefits to the families of about 105,000 preschool-age children. But school-age children are still waiting.

Because of New Jersey’s late start launching the program, the state’s more than 600 school districts are still submitting student data from October to June that is needed to determine how much money eligible families should receive. The state has said it will issue the benefits this summer, but has not given an exact timeline.

“Human Services does not have student information,” said spokesman Tom Hester, adding that the agency is working with districts now to obtain the data. “This process is being done as quickly as possible.”

Ruiz, who said she learned some families still have not received the benefits only after reading Chalkbeat’s coverage, said the state agency must explain why it’s taken so long to gather eligibility data and issue the money.

She acknowledged that many state agencies did not have the capacity to keep up with the overwhelming demand for services during the pandemic or to administer new benefits such as P-EBT. However, she said the agencies should have been more open about those challenges and, if necessary, sought help from private contractors to speed up the administrative process.

“No department was staffed up to deal with this pandemic,” she said. “There’s a lot of federal money that would help us get any vendor” to assist those agencies, she added — but they first had to ask for help.

Hester said that, in addition to providing about $116 million in P-EBT benefits to the families of children under 6 this month, the human services department has also issued nearly $770 million in extra food assistance since the pandemic began.

At a press conference Tuesday announcing new relief money for small businesses, Gov. Phil Murphy was asked about the Pandemic-EBT program’s slow rollout. He said that state agencies have worked hard to distribute an unprecedented amount of federal aid, some of which has yet to be given out.

“We still have a lot of money to put on the street,” he said. “You just can’t sort of turn on a dime.”

Still waiting for Pandemic-EBT benefits? Here’s what you need to know.

2021-06-23T20:08:34+00:00

Summer is starting, yet money that was meant to feed students this past school year has only just started trickling in.

The federal Pandemic-EBT program was supposed to provide eligible families with monthly food benefits during remote learning. In total, New Jersey families are owed nearly $564 million.

Yet families of preschool-age children only just started receiving the money. And hundreds of thousands of families with school-age children are still waiting for the benefits, which the state says should arrive this summer.

Here’s what you need to know about the long-delayed food money.

What is Pandemic-EBT?

Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer, or P-EBT, is a federal program meant to help families purchase food when students weren’t able to get school meals during the pandemic.

Eligible families receive money on debit cards they can use to buy food anywhere that accepts food stamps, including most grocery stores, food markets, and online retailers such as Amazon and ShopRite.

The program began after school buildings shut down last spring and was extended through the 2020-21 school year and this summer. Families should receive benefits for each month of school that their children were learning remotely at least part of the time.

Who is eligible?

Students in kindergarten through 12th grade are eligible if they receive free or reduced-priced lunch while in school. About 76% of Newark Public Schools students fell into one of those categories last school year.

Students also had to attend a school that operated remotely at least part time this past year, which all Newark schools did. Students are not eligible for any month when they learned fully in person.

This school year, children 5 and under also qualify for P-EBT benefits. However, they had to live in an area, such as Newark, where schools were at least partly remote. And their families had to qualify for SNAP, or food stamps, in October 2020.

You do not need to sign up for this benefit — the state will automatically enroll eligible children.

The state will add the money to existing EBT cards for families with children in SNAP. Families who aren’t enrolled in SNAP should receive a P-EBT card if they haven’t already.

How much money will you get?

Eligible children 5 and under should get $122.76 for each month of the 2020-21 school year.

Eligible school-age children should get $122.76 per month when they learned remotely full time. They should get $61.38 per month for when they were on a hybrid schedule, meaning they went into classrooms part time. In Newark, most students were fully remote until April, when some began hybrid learning.

When will you get the benefits?

Eligible families already should have received benefits for spring 2020 and last September.

Children 5 and under should get their benefits for October 2020 to the end of the 2020-21 school year by June 25. That includes some 105,000 children statewide.

School-age children should receive their benefits sometime this summer. That group includes roughly 840,000 students statewide.

Why is it taking so long?

The P-EBT program was pretty straightforward last school year: Any child who received subsidized school meals was eligible for the benefits for the months school buildings were closed. While New Jersey delayed sending out the benefits, most families received those for spring 2020 by late July last year.

The program became a lot more complicated this past school year. Now, school districts must determine whether each eligible student was fully remote, hybrid, or fully in person each month.

In addition, the Trump administration was slow to roll out guidance for states. And some states took a long time to submit plans for how they would issue the benefits. New Jersey didn’t send its plan until midway through this school year, and the federal government didn’t approve it until April.

As a result, the state is still working with districts to gather information about which students are eligible and how much money their families should receive. While families of children under 6 started seeing money this month, the families of roughly 840,000 school-age children are still waiting for their benefits.

What can you do?

Families with questions about their case may call the NJ Pandemic EBT Call Center at 1-833-581-2214. They may also use this online contact form.

The state also recommends contacting your school district if you’re not sure whether your child is eligible.

And if you need a replacement EBT card, you can contact your local county board of social services.

As school year ends, New Jersey families are still waiting for pandemic food money

2021-06-21T22:35:42+00:00

New Jersey families were supposed to receive nearly $564 million this school year to keep their children from going hungry. But as classes end, the state still has not distributed most of the emergency food money.

In a state where more than one in seven children are projected to face food insecurity this year, the monthslong bureaucratic delay has left some children without enough to eat.

Jameeleh Benson, who lost her job at a Popeyes chicken restaurant shortly after the pandemic began, has five children in the Newark school system. With all but one learning remotely since last spring, the children have missed the free daily meals they’d normally get at school. Benson has turned to family members and food pantries for help, but it hasn’t been enough: Many days, her children have had to skip breakfast or lunch, she said.

“Never in a million years have we struggled the way we’ve struggled these past months with COVID going on,” she said.

A federal relief program called Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer, or P-EBT, was meant to be a lifeline for families like Benson’s. Created last spring, it gives parents grocery money to make up for school meals that children missed while learning from home.

In September, with most school buildings still shuttered, Congress extended the program through this school year. It also expanded the program to include children in child care, who had not been eligible for the first round of benefits.

In New Jersey, families should receive about $123 per month for each eligible child under 6 and for school-age children who were fully remote. They are due about $61 per month for each child who attended school in person part-time. (To be eligible, the families of children under 6 had to receive food stamps; school-age children are eligible if they normally receive free or reduced-price school meals.)

But, as the school year ends, New Jersey has only just started giving out food money for the past nine months to the parents of eligible preschool-age children. Benefits for those roughly 105,000 children should be distributed by June 25, officials said.

The families of more than 840,000 school-age children still have yet to receive a single dollar of the emergency assistance they are owed dating back to last October. That money could have filled countless cupboards and refrigerators in homes where children were stuck learning remotely this school year.

Benson should have received about $5,340 to buy groceries for her family. Without that aid to supplement her food stamps, she has relied on food pantries to stock up on canned food and vegetables for her children.

“I have to go there in order to make ends meet,” she said. “That keeps something on the plate.”

New Jersey also was late sending out the Pandemic-EBT money last year.

A spokesman for the state Department of Human Services, which administers the benefits program, said the agency is still working with school districts to identify students who were eligible for the food money this school year. It expects to issue the funds “later this summer.”

The delay is partly due to the Trump administration, which was slow to roll out the new benefits program last year. But New Jersey also bears some responsibility.

Some states, including Massachusetts and Rhode Island, submitted plans to the U.S. Department of Agriculture in December explaining how they would issue the food money to families with school-age children. But other states took much longer to finish their plans, which must be approved before benefits can go out. New Jersey didn’t get its plan approved until April.

Now, the state Department of Human Services is scrambling to get the detailed information it needs from school districts in order to calculate how much money families should receive. Districts, in turn, must determine whether each eligible student was fully remote or on a hybrid schedule in every month since October. (Families already received benefits for the month of September 2020.)

“It’s a heavy lift for school districts to figure out which kids they should send to DHS,” said Nancy Parello, communications director for Hunger Free New Jersey, an advocacy group that helped the state get the P-EBT program running. “In an ideal world, these benefits would already be in the hands of families that need them.”

Errors at any step in the process could cost cash-strapped families hundreds of dollars.

In Newark, Neoshi Baker never received the first round of emergency benefits for her two children, who attend Ridge Street School and received free lunch before the pandemic. Eventually, Baker was told her children were ineligible because she failed to submit an income-verification form, which she says she never received. She contacted school, district, and state officials to correct the issue, she said, but got nowhere.

“I’ve been sending emails, letters, phone calls — everything humanly possible since July of last year — and no one will help me,” she said. “Now, my kids are suffering.”

A district spokesperson did not respond to questions for this article.

Meanwhile, states face yet another hurdle. When Congress extended the food assistance program through this school year, it set September 2021 as the end date. As a result, states must figure out how to disburse benefits this summer even as they rush to make retroactive payments.

So far, only 12 states have approved distribution plans for this summer. New Jersey is not one of them.

Schools and families weathered the pandemic together. Will the partnership last?

2021-06-17T14:17:21+00:00

On the day before spring break, the lobby of Roseville Community Charter School overflowed with food.

The April vacation meant families would go more than a week without support from the Newark, New Jersey, elementary school, where 98% of students are economically disadvantaged. So staffers in masks and gloves stood at the school entrance that afternoon handing out bags stuffed with donated cereal, pasta, popcorn, and canned vegetables.

When a family who had recently suffered a house fire arrived, Dr. Dionne Ledford, the school’s principal and executive director, pulled them aside. She handed the third-grader and her mother Walmart gift cards worth $1,100, which school employees had raised to help the family recover.

A few minutes later, Maranda Morinia came to pick up music supplies for her fourth-grade daughter, Brooklyn. In between shifts at a daycare center and Amazon’s grocery service, Morinia caught glimpses of Brooklyn’s virtual classes and was impressed. “You guys are doing amazing,” she told the principal.

“We’re trying,” said Ledford, a 32-year veteran educator who began her career teaching Newark children with behavioral difficulties. “We always say: We can’t do it without you guys.”

Dr. Dionne Ledford, Roseville’s principal and executive director.

At Roseville, and schools everywhere, the pandemic has toppled the walls separating school and home. Families and educators developed a new intimacy as they peered virtually into each other’s living rooms and overheard each other’s conversations. And as both sides labored to keep children learning, they leaned heavily on one another.

In Newark and beyond, parents dealing with lost jobs, precarious housing, and sick loved ones looked to schools for help with food, counseling, and childcare. And teachers counted on parents and guardians to connect students to online classes and enforce classroom rules at home.

“You couldn’t navigate this school year without parent partnership,” said Paula White, a former Newark school leader who heads Educators for Excellence-New York. “In this moment, it’s a nonstarter if you’re not engaging parents.”

Roseville educators shepherded students through challenges small and great — from spotty Wi-Fi to the death of a parent. And most families kept children coming to virtual class, even when that meant logging on from cars, workplaces, or different countries.

Whether these family-school partnerships will outlast the pandemic is an open question, one that will soon be put to the test. As the post-COVID recovery begins, schools like Roseville will need to enlist families in efforts to shore up students’ learning and mental health. And, most urgently, schools must persuade still-wary families that it’s safe to fully reopen classrooms this fall.

“The only way they’re going to respond to that,” White said, “is if they trust the messenger.”

A community in crisis comes together

When the coronavirus sent the world into lockdown last spring, Roseville was in better shape than many schools: It had laptops on hand to send home with each of its nearly 300 students. Yet the technology would do little good without parents like the Dairos.

Oyefunmilola Dairo worked opposite shifts with her husband, John, so that one parent was always with their daughter, Abigail, during remote learning.

Oyefunmilola Dairo is a certified nursing assistant at a hospital in Elizabeth, and her husband, John, works at a Papa John’s Pizza distribution center. The couple, who emigrated from Nigeria several years ago, coordinated their shifts so that one parent was always with their daughter, Abigail. Though she ended her kindergarten year learning from a laptop in her bedroom rather than a Roseville classroom, Abigail’s parents made sure she never missed a day of class.

“We just figured out a way,” Oyefunmilola said, “and somehow it worked for us.”

As New Jersey became an epicenter of the pandemic last year, COVID-19 patients thronged the hospital where Abigail’s mother worked. The Dairo family remained healthy, but many other Newark residents were not so fortunate.

The city’s mostly Black and Hispanic populace was especially vulnerable to the virus. Many had preexisting medical conditions, such as asthma, or held jobs at nursing homes, warehouses, and grocery stores where working remotely was not an option. In April 2020, nearly 60% of the roughly 8,000 coronavirus tests administered in Newark came back positive. By this June, nearly 360 out of every 100,000 Newark residents had died from COVID — twice the national average.

Late last summer, a rising tide of COVID cases forced the city’s schools, including Roseville, to scrap their reopening plans and begin the year virtually.

That was painful news for the Dairos. Not only was Abigail entering first grade, but their four-year-old son, Michael, was starting preschool. On top of everything else, Oyefunmilola was pregnant. Yet the parents had no choice but to keep working.

John would pull the night shift, sleep for a few hours, and log Abigail on to school by 8 a.m. Oyefunmilola, who clocked in at the hospital before sunrise, returned home each day around 4 p.m. By then, John would be waiting in his car, ready to return to work.

“As soon as she drives in,” he said, “I drive out.”

As Abigail started first grade remotely this school year, her brother, Michael, was beginning preschool.

Despite their grueling schedules, the Dairos felt blessed. They were not among the thousands of Newark residents who lost their jobs last year when the pandemic paralyzed the economy. The city’s unemployment rate skyrocketed from 6% in 2019 to over 22% last June. Compounding the misery, unemployment offices were closed and online systems were backlogged; even federal food benefits were delayed. Many families turned to food pantries.

“I’ve never seen bread lines that long in the 20 years that I’ve worked here,” said Catherine Wilson, president and CEO of United Way of Greater Newark, which established an emergency relief fund.

Roseville, which serves grades K-4 in a former Catholic school building in northwest Newark, tried to do all it could to help students and their families weather the storm.

Last fall, school officials brought students with disabilities into the building to receive in-person services. After Ledford heard how some working parents were struggling with childcare — including a postal worker who had to detour from her delivery route to check on her child — Roseville allowed the children of essential workers to learn in person, too. (The arrangement lasted until mid-November, when a student and staffer in the building contracted COVID and the school went fully remote.)

During video classes, teachers noticed some families’ cramped living spaces, so the school purchased laptop trays and noise-cancelling headphones for every student. Ledford also insisted that community-building events continue online. The school offered virtual workshops on parenting, technology, and financial literacy. Students and their families gathered on Zoom for holiday concerts, read-a-thons, and school-wide assemblies where cheerleaders waved their pom poms on screen.

“What we’ve learned is the importance of connections,” Ledford said. “Nothing can replace that.”

Parents also were doing their part to keep children connected to school. Even as they dropped their kids off with babysitting relatives, drove them to doctors’ appointments, or, in a few cases, left the country to stay with family members in the Dominican Republic, they still made sure their children logged in to class.

“Even if scholars were in the car riding with their parents, they still were able to be in school,” said Morinia, the fourth grade parent. “Nobody’s missing any days.”

Recognizing those efforts, Roseville tried to lighten the load on families. Molisa Cheng, Abigail’s first-grade teacher, promised parents this fall that she would teach their children to become self-sufficient.

“Now she does everything by herself,” Oyefunmilola said about Abigail. “My God, I don’t know how they did it.”

A partial return

Roseville students sing “Count on Me” by Bruno Mars during their music class. In mid-April, about 70% of Roseville students began returning to classrooms two days per week.

By late April, Roseville’s classrooms were stirring to life.

After 13 months of remote learning, most students started returning to school two days a week. (About a third of students remained fully virtual.) Ledford was delighted. Everyone was following the new safety protocols. And despite some initial apprehension, teachers and students seemed at ease and excited to be back. Parents were thrilled, too.

“I’m tired of them being in the house!” Charlene Bowman told Ledford as she dropped her daughter off at school on April 20, during students’ second week back.

Inside the school that morning, hybrid learning was going smoothly — even if it only loosely resembled pre-pandemic school.

In a first-grade classroom, Molisa Cheng was teaching a reading lesson about the “magic” silent E to her online and in-person students. The four students in the classroom sat behind plastic shields at desks spread far apart. Instead of looking at the flesh-and-blood Cheng, they watched her on laptops and listened through thick headphones. During independent work, the only sound was the hum of the newly purchased air purifier.

Abigail had started coming into school Mondays and Wednesdays, but it was a Tuesday so she was at home. After the lesson, she piped up on Zoom to compliment a classmate.

“And,” she told Cheng, “I want to give a shout-out to you for teaching us.”

A Roseville first grader follows along as her teacher, Molisa Cheng, instructs in-person and remote students simultaneously.

The return to classrooms did require adjustments. No longer could students pet their dogs, chase their siblings, or grab a snack whenever they wanted. “At home, they eat all day,” Cheng said, as a girl in the classroom pulled out a sandwich for the 10:30 a.m. snack break.

In COVID-era school, students could no longer work in groups or switch classrooms. Now, they ate lunch at their desks and took art and physical education through Zoom. Simply interacting in person took some relearning. “It was almost like they had muted themselves,” Ledford said.

The changes didn’t bother students like Abigail, who treasured her two days per week in the classroom. Each evening, she asked her parents if the following day was her turn to attend “real school.”

“It’s my very, very favorite part,” she said.

About half of Roseville’s students are Hispanic and just under half are Black. Their year away from physical school was part of a nationwide trend, in which Black and Hispanic students were far more likely than white students to remain at home even as classrooms started to reopen. Those students have also experienced the biggest learning gaps over the past year.

Meanwhile, many young people have struggled with anxiety, isolation, depression, and other mental health challenges during the pandemic. But low-income Black and Hispanic children were at a heightened risk for such struggles, experts say, because they were more likely to endure potentially traumatic experiences, such as a loved one falling ill or a parent losing a job.

“For these kids, it’s really cumulative stress that is causing them difficulties,” said Dr. Mark Kitzie, executive director of the Youth Development Clinic of New Jersey, which provides mental health services to Newark youth. “It’s kind of like a pot of water that’s just about boiling and you turn up the heat.”

Roseville and other Newark schools were part of a nationwide pattern, in which Black and Hispanic students were much more likely than white students to continue learning remotely this school year.

Roseville has tried to foster mental wellness over the past year with virtual yoga classes and lessons on social-emotional skills, such as self-regulation. The school also provided counseling to students who needed it. Among them was a first grader who, right around Christmas, lost his father to COVID-19.

For some students, the healing process started when they returned to school. In-person classes offered a reprieve from crowded homes and unreliable internet and delivered a twice-weekly dose of consistency and calm.

Learning at home “was kind of hard because I had some internet problems,” said a fourth-grader named Erick as he stood in the bright hallway outside his classroom. “I had to take care of my little brothers when my mom wasn’t there.” For him, returning to school was a relief.

Fourth grade math teacher Michael Stokes Jr. found many of his students to be more engaged and focused in the classroom than they had been over Zoom.

“I get to see my friends and teachers,” he said, “and I get to do my work without being distracted.”

Michael Stokes Jr., the fourth-grade math teacher, found that many of his students focused more and progressed faster in the classroom. Those who’d been silent on Zoom seemed to emerge from their shells in person.

“I’d be like, ‘Wait, is this the same student we had online?’” he said.

Still, Stokes knew there was a limit to how much ground students could make up during two months of part-time in-person learning. And that didn’t include the roughly 30% of Roseville students who’d stayed fully remote.

“I think when it comes to next school year, there’s going to be a lot of challenges,” he said, referring to schools generally. “They’re going to have to figure out: How do we get these students caught up?”

Preparing for what comes next

By the end of May, Roseville had started looking ahead to next school year.

After lunch one afternoon, Cheng asked her students to share goals they had written for second grade. In the classroom, one student said she would learn to count to 100; another said she would make new friends. Over Zoom, Abigail said, “I’m going to do anything to get as smart as I can.”

Then Cheng called individual students to a side table, where she sat behind a clear divider like a bank teller. As students read passages, she assessed their reading skills. “I think you’re ready for second grade!” she told one girl. Like Stokes, she noticed the in-person students pulling ahead.

Cheng continued to rely on parents to keep the remote students on track. Parents texted or emailed Cheng their children’s work, and Cheng reached out when their children wandered off screen.

“We couldn’t do it without the parents,” she said.

Teachers like Molisa Cheng have relied on parents to help keep students on track while they’re learning from home.

It wasn’t just Roseville thinking about the fall. Last month, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said all students must return to classrooms full-time next school year. Schools would receive billions of additional federal dollars to aid in their recovery, with 20% of the money meant to fill learning gaps.

They had their work cut out for them. A recent state analysis of test scores from this school year found that more than half of Black and Hispanic students were below grade level in math and English, compared with less than 30% of white students. At Roseville, just 27% of third and fourth graders scored at or above the national average in English on a test called NWEA MAP this winter, up from 24% in the fall.

Ledford was busy planning programs for the summer and next fall to help students catch up, along with training to help teachers spot students struggling with their mental health. She felt ready to welcome every student back into the building, but knew some parents who’d kept their children home this spring were still afraid. They had some reason for concern: Just 44% of Newark adults were fully vaccinated by June 11, compared with 65% of adults statewide.

So, Ledford decided, she would keep holding meetings to discuss safety plans for the fall and would answer any and every question that families might have.

“When people trust you,” she said, “they’re more inclined to be there when you need them.”

In early June, Roseville hosted the “Funlympics” in the school parking lot. Despite the 90-degree heat, students played hopscotch and ring toss while Kidz Bop songs blared. As Cheng’s students raced while balancing plastic eggs on spoons, Ledford called out, “Slow and steady!” Apart from the masks, it looked like any other end-of-year celebration.

Students and teachers play at Roseville’s “Funlympics” event on a 90-degree June day, celebrating the end of the school year.

After the games, Cheng misted her students with a spray bottle and watched them dance. A few days earlier, she’d been reflecting on how they’d made it through this extraordinary year. She decided that without her relationships with students and their families, “nothing would be successful.”

“I do hope that even when things go back to normal, we don’t drop the community,” she said. “When you have that community, parents will do anything for you, and teachers will do anything for them.”

A few parents came to watch the festivity. Jose Cabrera, who’d kept his son remote, said he still was “iffy” about in-person learning next fall. But he trusted the school. “As long as the kids are safe, I’m with it,” he said.

Another parent, Stephanie Miranda, had initially been nervous when she sent her son and daughter back into school this spring. Then she saw them start to flourish. “They’re learning a lot more than they were in the house,” she said. Nearby, her first-grader, Eivelyn, picked up a piece of chalk and scrawled “Best Day Ever” on the pavement. Below that, she drew a heart.

Chalkbeat produced this Pandemic 360 series in partnership with Univision 41.

As college enrollment drops, a proposed free tuition program in New Jersey could be ‘life-changing’

2021-06-14T21:02:32+00:00

New Jersey could be on the cusp of widening an initiative that would help cover the cost of attaining a post-secondary degree, a step several states and individual higher education institutions have taken in recent years to make college more affordable.

The measure has the potential to change the lives of thousands of low-income students across the state, especially as families continue to cope with financial strains caused or exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

A proposal in the governor’s 2022 budget would help pay for tuition and fees for two years at any of New Jersey’s four-year public colleges or universities for students with household incomes of $65,000 or less. The average annual tuition at a public four-year institution in New Jersey is $13,963 for an in-state full-time student, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

Gov. Phil Murphy would allocate $50 million of taxpayer money to fund the program, but that could change as lawmakers have until July 1 to approve or amend the proposed spending plan.

The financial aid program, officially called the Garden State Guarantee, would expand on the state’s Community College Opportunity Grant, and similar to that program, pay for the balance of tuition and fees that remains after eligible students’ needs-based grants and scholarships are applied.

The community college program, which was implemented in 2019 and signed into law earlier this year, is also open to students with household earnings of $65,000 or less. Murphy’s proposed spending plan would allocate $27 million to continue that program.

The average cost for tuition and fees at a public two-year college in New Jersey is $4,715, according to federal data.

Students could potentially qualify for both programs and have four years of college paid off.

“This is a life-changing opportunity,” said state Higher Education Secretary Brian Bridges, “particularly as our economy rebounds and we look to our students to help grow our workforce.”

Bridges discussed the proposed initiative with current college students at Montclair State University last week as part of a series of roundtable discussions he’s hosting to promote the program.

“I, like many other New Jersey students, was a first-generation college student,” Bridges said. “Through the Garden State Guarantee, we want all students across the state to know that they can afford college.”

College enrollment declined nationally last year and fewer students have applied for federal financial aid this year, signalling a continued decline in enrollment since the pandemic emerged. Some graduating seniors are opting for a gap year or putting college on hold, discouraged by the high cost of tuition, fees, books, and campus housing.

“A lot of us are scared to even apply for college, not because we don’t think we’re going to be successful or that we don’t deserve a higher education. But because it’s not affordable,” said Elizabeth Moyeno, an incoming graduate student at Montclair State University who spoke during the live-streamed discussion. “Though we’ve been resilient through a pandemic...what deters us and what turns people away is whether or not it’s actually accessible.”

The enrollment decline has disproportionately affected students of color and low-income students. In Newark, where most students are Black and Hispanic from low-income families, college enrollment among graduating seniors dropped 9 percentage points last fall from the year before, compared to a drop of 5 percentage points statewide, state data shows.

But last-dollar programs like the Garden State Guarantee and Community College Opportunity Grant could help reverse that trend. Enrollment through the Community College Opportunity Grant has increased by more than 140% since spring of 2019, according to Murphy’s budget statement.

About 13,000 students statewide could qualify for the Garden State Guarantee, Bridges said. If the allocation gets approved by lawmakers later this month, the program would take effect in the fall of 2022.

The Garden State Guarantee was previously recommended in the 2021 budget before the pandemic threat surfaced. Murphy’s office cut the program from the revised budget last year because of the “fiscal uncertainty posed by the pandemic,” according to an email from the Office of the Secretary of Higher Education.

At the roundtable, when asked what it would personally mean to have two years of tuition and fees covered at a four-year state institution, some students said it would give them more time to study instead of trying to make ends meet.

“I worked two jobs that summer to make sure I had the finances to go to school in the fall. And then, I worked in the fall to make sure that I had enough money to go to school in the spring,” said Karla Farfan Miguel, a Lakewood native and senior at Montclair State University. “And that’s the way I’ve been working at it since I’ve been here.”

Transparency and tutoring: poll shows what Newark parents want from COVID relief

2021-06-04T10:58:00+00:00

When it comes to the $262 million coronavirus relief money earmarked for Newark schools, city parents are clear: They want to know exactly where the money goes and they want a say in how it is spent.

That comes from an online poll commissioned by Newark-based voting advocacy group Project Ready and conducted by polling firm Change Research of 346 Newark voters, a third of whom have school-age children. The poll, administered from May 15 to May 20, also found that city parents strongly agree with spending the money on tutoring services, a $500 educational stipend for every student, and other programs such as expanding pre-K and mental health services.

“Parents don’t just want a seat, they want to be a decision-maker in how this funding is used and make sure the process to provide that input is accessible to all,” said Nayibe Capellan, chief of staff at Project Ready.

About 85% of Newark parents said they agree that “it’s important that parents, teachers, employers, and non-profit leaders have a seat at the table and a voice in how this funding is used,” the survey said.

Forty-six percent want the district to “create a commission of employers, non-profit leaders, teachers, and parents to have a voice in how funding is used,” according to the survey. About 45% said they want transparency and another 45% said they want accountability when it comes to how the district spends the funding.

New Jersey’s public schools are set to receive $2.7 billion, with $177 million slated for Newark, from the latest round of COVID-19 relief funding approved by President Joe Biden and Congress earlier this year. In addition to $84 million in relief funds already allocated for Newark schools, the total due to the district amounts to $262 million in new federal aid, or nearly $7,300 extra per student.

“This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity,” Capellan said. “Newark voters and parents see this as our one big opportunity to make things equitable and to shift education in Newark for everyone for years to come.”

The survey, which was also administered to 1,215 voters statewide, found that two-thirds of all New Jersey parents would take advantage of tutoring services if offered. That jumped to 83% for low-income parents. In Newark, 92% of parents said they would use tutoring services.

“To have access to high-quality tutoring service for free can be really life-changing for some students,” Capellan said.

Another 85% of the Newark respondents said that a one-time $500 grant for their child’s education would make an impact on their academic success, the survey said.

When asked about the types of academic and social emotional services the district should invest the money into, the top five priorities of survey respondents were:

Providing teachers with better instructional materials and digital resources;
Developing tools to help teachers with student academic and mental health needs;
Providing tools and support for students’ emotional and mental health needs;
Providing special funding for students with greater learning needs;
Expanding broadband access to underserved areas and upgrading technology.

“Parents were at their child’s side for the last year watching them struggle academically and they know what’s missing from their education,” Capellon said. “Policymakers should take into account the suggestions that parents are offering and show them how they’re being implemented and executed.”

Gov. Phil Murphy: ‘Masking in schools’ likely next fall for N.J. students under 12

2021-05-25T20:33:37+00:00

Mask requirements and other COVID-19 safety protocols will likely stay in place for students under 12 this fall, Gov. Phil Murphy said Tuesday, offering a glimpse of guidance for the 2021-22 school year expected to be released next month.

“We will have masking in schools in the fall as a result of that,” Murphy said Tuesday in response to a question on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that relayed some parents’ concerns for safety for pre-teen students.

Drug companies are currently testing if the COVID-19 vaccine is effective for children under 12. Earlier this month, children ages 12-15 became eligible to take the vaccine. Last month, vaccines were approved for those over 16.

“I would suspect we will continue with some of the public health protocols inside the classroom and inside the school buildings,” Murphy said.

The governor has said that all New Jersey students must return to school in-person five days a week starting next school year. The state Department of Education is expected to release guidance for the 2021-22 academic year in June, Murphy said.

There are still many unanswered questions about what school will look like in the fall. If social distancing is still in place, for example, many Newark schools would need to somehow reduce class sizes and acquire more space if all students must be accommodated.

As of Tuesday, 1% of 12- to 15-year-olds and 1% of 16- to 17-year-olds made up the statewide total of people who have had at least one dose of the vaccine, according to the state’s COVID-19 dashboard.

So far, about 3.9 million people are fully vaccinated in New Jersey, which aims to vaccinate 70% of the population, or 4.7 million people, by the end of June.

Murphy earlier this week announced the mask mandate would be lifted starting Friday with some exceptions, including schools, summer camps and childcare centers.

Newark school district to get massive $177 million infusion of federal stimulus funds

2021-05-25T17:15:47+00:00

The Newark school district is set to receive a staggering $177 million in federal stimulus money, according to figures released Monday — a historic windfall that has the potential to reshape New Jersey’s largest school system for years to come.

When combined with the $84 million in pandemic relief funds already allocated for Newark schools, the district is due about $262 million in new federal aid, or nearly $7,300 extra per student. The funding is equivalent to about 25% of the district’s total budget — but unlike other revenue that must cover salaries and other fixed costs, the district has wide latitude in how it can spend the relief money.

The massive influx of funding could fuel sweeping changes. A decade ago, a $200 million infusion from private donors, including Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, bankrolled an overhaul of the Newark school system — including school closures, new charter schools, and a revamped teachers contract — which continues to reverberate today. That pool of private money was 30% smaller than the surge of funding now headed Newark’s way.

“We are thrilled to be the recipients of much-needed funds to help and support students, staff, and families in our district,” Superintendent Roger León said in a statement. “And after the year we all have had, the timing is perfect and they deserve no less.”

The latest round of relief money is part of the huge stimulus package Congress approved earlier this year, which included nearly $130 billion for K-12 education. High-poverty districts are getting a larger slice of the aid, which is why Newark’s per-student amount is about twice the national average.

Just two years ago, the Newark school district had to cut positions and postpone building repairs in order to balance its budget. Now, incredibly, it’s poised to emerge from the pandemic flush with cash. In addition to the new federal aid, the district also got a 10% boost in state funding for next school year.

Local officials have a lot of freedom in how they spend the federal money. It can go towards technology, mental health services, certain building repairs, services for English language learners and students with disabilities, and hiring new employees, among other uses.

Districts must spend at least 20% of their allotment, or about $35.5 million in Newark’s case, to address student learning loss caused by the pandemic. Possible strategies that the stimulus bill suggests include summer learning, afterschool programs, and longer school days or school years.

While cash-strapped schools are sure to welcome the federal aid, it comes with some big limitations, said Bruce Baker, a school finance expert at Rutgers University.

Districts only have until October 2024, or just over three years, to spend the stimulus money. If schools spend it on recurring expenses, such as employee salaries or tutors, they will have to find another way to cover those costs — or get rid of them — when the aid money runs out, Baker said.

One of the best uses of the money is building improvements, such as new heating and cooling systems, which will last beyond the three years and could end up reducing utility costs, he added. Other uses, such as lowering class sizes, could bump up against space or staffing constraints.

“It’s good, it’s necessary, it’s going to stem some bleeding,” Baker said about the stimulus money. “But I’m not convinced it’s a game changer unless the federal money keeps flowing down the line and the state gets to the point of fully funding” schools.

Newark’s bounty comes from a $2.76 billion pot of stimulus money reserved for New Jersey schools. While 90% of the aid must go to districts, the state will keep $276 million.

The New Jersey education department recently released a draft spending plan. The plan includes technical assistance to help schools combat learning loss, grants for summer and afterschool programs, and teams of experts to provide districts with coaching and training.

One condition of the aid is that districts must develop plans for bringing students back into classrooms. The public must have a chance to weigh in on the “safe return” plans, which are due June 24.

Newark’s charter schools will also get a big boost from the stimulus. For example, North Star Academy, which has 14 Newark campuses, will get $30 million. KIPP, with 11 Newark schools, is due roughly $25 million.

As Newark schools plan for the fall, questions remain about student vaccination, safety measures, and family hesitancy

2021-05-24T22:10:09+00:00

As Newark schools inch back toward normalcy, the big question now is what to expect this fall.

Will students and staffers still be required to wear masks and socially distance? Will eligible students get vaccinated? And will parents who kept their children home this spring even after classrooms reopened be ready to send them back in September?

Those uncertainties hung in the air as Randi Weingarten, a national teachers union leader, visited a Newark school Monday. The visit was part of the union’s publicity campaign promoting educators’ role in reopening classrooms this spring and calling for a return to full-time in-person learning this fall.

“Next year: Full time, full on, everybody back,” said Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, during her visit to First Avenue School.

Weingarten’s push for fully in-person learning this fall follows criticism that teachers unions played a key role in delaying school reopenings this academic year as they fought for safety precautions that sometimes exceeded the recommendations of health experts. The Newark Teachers Union, which is an affiliate of the national union, twice opposed the district’s plans to reopen classrooms this school year.

The district ultimately kept most students out of classrooms for 13 months, until some returned part-time last month.

Now the tide is turning. As COVID-19 infections plummet and vaccination rates rise, Gov. Phil Murphy said last week that all New Jersey schools will operate entirely in person next school year and will not offer a remote option. Other states have issued similar orders, and New York City did so on Monday.

But the rush to declare that all students will learn in classrooms this fall has left some major questions unanswered. For instance, will masks and social distancing remain mandatory inside schools?

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently said vaccinated people no longer need to wear masks in most indoor spaces — but quickly clarified that the guidance does not currently apply to schools. Now, the agency is working on guidance for next school year.

On Monday, Murphy said New Jersey’s mask mandate will lift on May 28, as will social distancing rules inside restaurants and other businesses. But the changes do not apply to schools or childcare centers, and the state has not said when new guidance will be available.

Weingarten, whose union represents some 1.7 million members, sent a letter to the C.D.C. last week seeking clarity on safety protocols for next school year. For her part, the union leader has said students should remain at least three feet apart in classrooms this fall — a recommendation that would force many schools to reduce class sizes and secure extra space.

“The vaccines have been a game-changer, but mitigation really matters,” Weingarten told Chalkbeat on Monday, adding that smaller class sizes will create safer and more effective learning environments.

She also said that she expects masking will continue to be mandated this fall in elementary schools, where most children will not be vaccinated.

Another looming question is what to do about families that remain hesitant to send their children back into classrooms.

A recent online poll commissioned by the American Federation of Teachers and other groups found that only 59% of Black parents and 72% of Hispanic parents feel comfortable sending their children back into schools full-time this fall. But those percentages shoot up if strict safety measures remain in place, including masks and physical distancing, the poll found.

The national union is launching a $5 million back-to-school campaign to reassure parents who are still wary about in-person learning. The outreach could include home visits by teachers and school walk-throughs, Weingarten said, adding that planning is currently underway.

“We must address those fears,” she wrote in a column about the campaign.

Yet another unknown is how many children ages 12 and up, who are now eligible for the vaccine, will receive it before next school year.

Just 28% of Newark residents are fully vaccinated — nearly 20 percentage points below the statewide share. The relatively slow vaccination pace in Newark suggests many eligible children and their parents might remain unvaccinated this fall.

Some school districts have used federal relief funds to promote vaccination; for instance, in Chicago, mobile vaccination sites have been parked outside schools. In Newark, the city has set up vaccination sites at two high schools, but the district has not launched a vaccination campaign aimed at students or their families.

“The district will continue to communicate all opportunities provided to residents and staff for vaccinations in Newark,” said spokesperson Valerie Merritt, adding that “deciding to vaccinate is extremely personal for all families.”

Only about 40% of Newark Public Schools students returned to classrooms last month. Yet the district has not publicly launched a campaign to address any lingering fears before the fall. Merritt said the district will keep families updated on plans for next school year.

Much of the outreach will likely fall to schools. First Avenue School’s principal, Rosa Branco, said her school will hold family meetings to explain the in-person safety procedures and answer questions.

“Just making them feel comfortable,” she said, “and letting them know that everything has really gone well since we opened.”

Newark Teachers Union President John Abeigon said he isn’t aware of any district plans to vaccinate students or reassure parents. But he said union members have done their part, with more than 80% now fully vaccinated, according to the union’s count. If more community members follow suit, schools might be able to relax their safety measures this fall, he added.

“If the number of vaccines in arms continues to rise,” he said, “the less restrictions we’ll have in September.”

As schools plan for the pandemic recovery, here’s what Newark students say they want

2021-05-21T20:56:25+00:00

In Newark and nationwide, education officials are plotting a pandemic recovery of massive proportions.

Due to an unprecedented infusion of federal funds, the Newark school district has received more than $100 million in relief money — and still more is on the way. The district is planning summer programs and tutoring to get students back on track, and officials recently surveyed community members to solicit more ideas.

But what do students, the focus of all this planning and spending, really want from the recovery?

On Wednesday, students from 11 traditional and charter high schools in Newark gathered virtually to discuss their experiences over the past year and brainstorm ways to bounce back. The online event was organized by Chalkbeat Newark, the Newark News and Story Collaborative at WBGO, and Free Press.

Mirabel Chukwuma, a freshman at Weequahic High School, told the more than 70 young people and adults who attended that their voices have power.

“Maybe we should be more outspoken,” she said, so that students “can get the education and help we need for the future.”

The pandemic, which struck Newark especially hard, shook many students to the core.

School buildings that had been lively hives of learning, socializing, art-making, and athletics shut their doors. Some students took to the new flexibility of remote learning, but many others floundered.

Older students in particular often found it hard to focus at home, especially when they had to keep an eye on younger siblings or pick up jobs to help their families pay the bills. Faced with distractions and their own dwindling motivation, many students saw their grades and attendance take a nosedive.

“Since the pandemic hit, it’s been very stressful,” one student said during a breakout session Wednesday. “My grades have just gone down and down.”

It isn’t just students’ schoolwork that’s suffered. At the event, young people described feeling exhausted and overworked. And after more than a year of learning from home, some said they feel lonely and disconnected.

“We’re humans,” one student said, “we need to interact.”

Wednesday’s gathering not only gave students a chance to share their common struggles — it was also an opportunity to come up with solutions.

Participants split into youth-led groups to brainstorm ways to help students recover from the pandemic. Aisha Oyediran of Central High School led a group focused on mental health. Naheim Dixson of Malcolm X Shabazz High School led a discussion about academics. Daniela Palacios of Science Park High School facilitated a conversation about college readiness, and Theodora Hoegah of North Star Academy headed a group focused on student advocacy. (Aisha and Theodora are fellows with the The Gem Project, a Newark-based nonprofit that trains students in leadership and community activism.)

The mental health group suggested regular wellness checks and outreach to make sure students know what resources are available. The academics team proposed spending more class time on key concepts instead of quickly covering lots of material. The college readiness group said students need to start learning about college and career options as soon as they start high school. And the advocacy group proposed giving students a voice — and a vote — in school policy decisions.

“A lot of times students are let into these spaces just to keep the seat warm — not to actually have decision-making power,” said Stacy Tyndall, a program manager at The Gem Project, which helped facilitate the event.

The event was intended to amplify students’ voices so that the officials planning the pandemic recovery might hear their concerns and, perhaps, even bring students into the planning process. That vision came to life Wednesday when Dawn Haynes, president of the Newark school board, sat in on the meeting.

“I’m eternally grateful that I was [invited] and able to get feedback on the things that are important to you as students,” Haynes told the group over Zoom. “These conversations are being had” about how to spend the relief money and get students back on course, she added, “but not in a platform where students are leading them.”

Tanesha Golding, a senior at Great Oaks Legacy Charter School, said it was a relief to hear students from across the city describe facing similar challenges during the pandemic.

“This conversation made me feel like I was not alone in this experience,” she wrote in a post-event survey.

“I also love that we were not just saying the things that are not effective,” she added. “We came up with solutions.”

Below is a list of solutions generated during Wednesday’s event.

Mental health

Regularly assess students’ mental health
Educate students about what mental health resources are available
Offer mental health days
Help students reacclimate to school and socializing in person
Destigmatize seeking mental health support

Academics

Create individual growth plans for students
Assign manageable amounts of work
Provide clear instructions and examples for assignments
Continue teacher office hours

College readiness

Start preparing students for college in 9th grade
Teach college skills, including critical thinking and essay writing
Offer tutoring during the school day to help prepare students for college
Provide information and guidance about career pathways

Student advocacy

Use social media to engage students
Invite students to school leadership/staff meetings
Survey students about their concerns
Train students on how to advocate for themselves and their peers

Update: This post was updated with additional information about The Gem Project.

What Newark students need now: A student-led event to plan for pandemic recovery

2021-05-07T14:15:21+00:00

Over the past year, Newark’s high school students have watched their worlds turn upside down.

School buildings shut down for 13 months, and classes moved online. Art and athletic pursuits were put on hold, and socializing was confined to social media. Many teenagers spent the school day looking after younger siblings or earning paychecks to help support their families.

Now, as classrooms slowly come back to life and planning gets underway for the summer and next school year, it’s critical that we take stock of the past year and contemplate what should happen next. And the people best equipped to do that are students.

On May 19, Chalkbeat will co-host a virtual event on Zoom where Newark high school students will come together to discuss the pandemic recovery.

First, students will split into groups to discuss four key issues: mental health, academic recovery, college readiness, and student advocacy. Each group will come up with specific recommendations that can help guide decision-makers as they plan for the months and years ahead.

Immediately after the planning session, students will present their ideas to the public. All community members are invited to attend.

Please join us and help spread the word to Newark high schoolers. RSVP here to attend.

This event is hosted by Chalkbeat Newark, The Newark News and Story Collaborative at WBGO, and Free Press.

How should Newark schools spend $84 million in COVID relief money?

2021-04-29T22:39:27+00:00

Newark school leaders are asking families and educators to tell them how the district should spend $84 million in federal relief funds.

The district must seek public input to apply by May 14 for the millions in federal coronavirus relief money that has been allocated to Newark, Superintendent Roger León said Wednesday at a virtual community meeting.

Residents can use a survey — due Monday — to detail how they think the funds should be used, León said.

“Many of you have said, ‘You know the district, you have historically done whatever you wanted to do.’ This is the day where we say…We’re not going to do that,” León said. “This is one very important stakeholder series.”

He emphasized that public recommendations need to fall under “allowable uses,” which includes mental health services, summer learning, training and professional development, and providing technology for online learning, among other uses outlined in the survey.

As part of the requirement to apply for the relief funds, local school districts need to consult with stakeholders and take public input into account when developing a plan for using the money, the federal Department of Education said in a news release.

Newark officials met with stakeholders throughout April, including elected officials, principals, union presidents, students, parents, teachers and held a virtual community meeting Wednesday.

“If COVID could have done anything positive … it’s definitely this allocation of these dollars to change the lives of all the students and their families,” León said. “When we educate our children better, we impact the community profoundly.”

Newark previously received more than $19 million in federal pandemic relief money, which was spent on facemasks, air purifiers, laptops, and other COVID-related expenses. The district will soon get a third injection of federal relief funds, expected to be about double the amount of the second relief package. At least 20% of that money will have to address learning loss.

León mentioned that every student in the district has been provided with a Chromebook or laptop device if they need one, though some families have complained about faulty devices and unreliable internet connections.

Starting in September, the one-to-one program will continue by giving every kindergartener a new Chromebook that they can take home and keep until fifth grade, at which point they’ll receive a new device, he said. Those students will again receive a new device in ninth grade, he said.

During the meeting, participants shared in a chat box some ideas for the federal money, including creating a parent resource center, after school activities, and a food and clothing pantry.

The district is required to spend at least $5 million on learning acceleration and $194,805 for mental health supports and services, and can use the remaining $79 million for other needs.

“We’re not prevented from spending more [in these categories], but we have to spend at least that amount,” Business administrator Valerie Wilson said.

Wilson added that the funds can cover expenses related to the pandemic beginning March 13, 2020, and the full amount allocated to the district must be spent by Oct. 13, 2023.

Newark Public Schools will let students learn in person more days each week

2021-04-27T18:39:48+00:00

Just over a week after Newark resumed in-person learning, the district is doubling the number of days that students can return to classrooms.

Students who opted for hybrid learning can now come to school four days per week instead of two, officials said Tuesday. Most students will still learn virtually on Wednesdays while schools are sanitized, the teachers union said, though the district said some schools will offer five days of in-person learning.

The shift is likely to be welcome news for working parents as well as students who were desperate to return to classrooms after more than a year of remote learning due to the pandemic.

In the short time since district school buildings reopened on April 12, students’ social and emotional wellness and their academic skills have already improved, said John Abeigon, president of the Newark Teachers Union. The shift to more in-person days should accelerate those gains.

“All of the positives that were happening under the two-day schedule,” he said, “will be doubled now that they’re on a four-day schedule.”

Until now, most schools had split students into two cohorts that learned in person either Monday and Tuesday or Thursday and Friday. But because only 39% of district students opted to return to classrooms, most schools found they are able to combine the in-person cohorts and still maintain social distancing in classrooms.

The policy change will not affect some schools that already have been bringing students back four days per week. It also will not apply to classes where a large number of students signed up for in-person learning, Abeigon said. In those cases, students will remain in cohorts that learn inside classrooms just two days per week, he said.

About 30% of New Jersey’s public school districts and charter schools are now operating fully in person, Gov. Phil Murphy said Monday. Another 58% are offering hybrid schedules, with students dividing their time between in-person and online learning. And about 6% are still fully remote.

Newark scrambles to boost college enrollment after steep decline last fall

2021-04-19T19:55:34+00:00

Just last year, Moses Gbagbe-Sowah’s college options seemed limitless.

A straight-A student and star offensive lineman on his Newark football team, he’d been scouted by college coaches and invited to visit Princeton. But the pandemic disrupted his season and drove off recruiters. Now, instead of planning to attend college right after graduation, he’s eyeing a post-graduate football program that he hopes will lead to better college offers down the line.

The pandemic “changed a lot of things,” he said. “It’s made it a lot harder.”

For students across the country, choosing and transitioning to college has rarely been this difficult. The coronavirus canceled campus visits and in-person college fairs, making it harder to find the right school. Remote learning sank some students’ grades and interrupted arts and athletics, limiting their college options. And the pandemic strained family finances, leading some students to downsize their college ambitions or put them on hold indefinitely.

College enrollment nationwide declined by an unprecedented 4 percentage points last fall. This year, fewer students than usual have applied for college financial aid, which could signal a continuing downturn in college-going.

Like so much else during the pandemic, the postsecondary pain has not been spread evenly. High-poverty high schools saw a roughly 5 percentage point decrease in college enrollment last fall — more than two times the rate of decline at low-poverty schools, according to a report by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. The enrollment slump was also disproportionately large at schools that mainly educate students of color.

The same pattern has played out in New Jersey. Just over 67% of high school graduates statewide enrolled in college last fall, a 5 percentage point drop from the previous year, according to newly released state data. But in Newark, where the majority of students are Black and Hispanic and come from low-income families, just 43% of district graduates headed to college last fall — 9 points lower than the year before.

The decline is especially devastating for Newark, where the college-going rate is far lower than the statewide average but had been climbing steadily before the pandemic. And while some of the students who skipped college last fall might eventually find their way to campus, they risk losing the academic momentum that gives those who start college right after high school a greater chance of earning degrees.

The worrisome trends are continuing. As of April 9, the number of 12th graders in Newark’s district schools who completed college financial aid forms was down 23% compared with last year, according to federal data. By contrast, the statewide number was down just 4%.

Now, school staffers and nonprofit agencies are scrambling to steer Newark students back toward college. The mission might get easier with some students returning to classrooms, yet the work ahead remains daunting.

“It’s scaring us, to be quite honest,” said Nefertari Nkenge, national program director at Pathways to College, a nonprofit that helps prepare students in Newark and other cities for higher education. “We’re nervous because we know the numbers in Newark, and because many of our students are struggling.”

The FAFSA, or Free Application for Federal Student Aid, is often a bellwether of college enrollment.

The lengthy form unlocks federal grants and loans, as well as some state aid and university scholarships, and students who complete it are more likely to enroll in college. National data suggest that students who submit the FAFSA are far more likely to enroll in college.

Across New Jersey, about 57% of high school seniors had completed the FAFSA by April 9, according to a federal data tracker. But in Newark, only about 33% of seniors had completed the FAFSA by then.

The Newark school board said in August that students would have to file the FAFSA in order to graduate this year, but it quickly dropped the requirement. Since then, very few students have applied for financial aid at some schools.

For instance, just 16 students at Malcolm X Shabazz High School had completed the FAFSA by April 9, according to the federal tracker — down from 47 students at that point last year. At Central High School, 26 students had completed the aid application, compared with 64 students last year. (Three schools — Science Park, Technology, and Weequahic — saw a slight uptick in applications.)

Some students say it’s been harder to fill out the complicated form, which requires entering family tax and financial information, without in-person assistance. Rasheed Smith, a senior at University High School, said the pandemic stopped him from visiting a college-prep center for high schoolers.

“We would get different scholarship information and they would help us fill out the FAFSA,” he said. Without that, “it has been pretty difficult.”

Still, schools and nonprofits have found ways to assist students remotely.

The Newark school system held a virtual college fair and online FAFSA workshops for families, and school guidance counselors have worked with students over video, phone, and email, a spokesperson said. Local universities and agencies have also offered free FAFSA workshops, she added.

Gbagbe-Sowah, the football player and A student, said the college advisers at University High School are constantly reminding students to apply for scholarships and financial aid.

“I get at least three or four notifications every few hours,” he said. “They’ve been really pushing to help us out.”

At Newark Collegiate Academy, a charter high school operated by KIPP New Jersey, staffers met privately with families over video during a virtual “FAFSA Night.” And because counselors could no longer host working lunches in their offices, they had food delivered to students’ homes while they talked college over Zoom.

“I think we’re realizing how important the relationship piece is,” said Diane Adams-White, director of KIPP’s college-access program in Newark. She said about 77% of seniors at the KIPP high school have completed the FAFSA so far this year.

As Newark students who opted for in-person learning return this month, high schools might have more luck helping students fill out college forms.

At Barringer High School, where FAFSA completion plummeted this year, the school has seen a spike in submitted applications now that students are back in the building, staffers said. (One reason for the school’s low FAFSA numbers is that many students are undocumented immigrants, making them ineligible for federal aid.)

In New Jersey, incoming college students have until Sept. 15 to apply for financial aid.

Other states have launched campaigns urging students to submit applications, said MorraLee Keller, director of technical assistance at the National College Attainment Network.

At the local level, school districts can partner with colleges to make sure accepted students complete the necessary steps to enroll, she added. And schools will need to ramp up assistance for students who haven’t yet applied to college or sought financial aid; that could include hiring counselors to work with students over the summer.

“Adding months of time of additional support services is going to be the No. 1 strategy,” she said.

Beyond technical assistance, 12th graders still reeling from the pandemic also need encouragement to stay the course toward college, said Nkenge, the Pathways to College program director.

“Your life trajectory is dependent upon this key decision of whether or not you’re going to college,” she tells students. “Your ancestors are awaiting your greatness.”

Back to school in April: Newark students return to the classroom

2021-04-12T20:30:57+00:00

Under a silvery sky, the Newark school system flickered back to life Monday morning.

Crossing guards ushered children across the street. Yellow buses rumbled past. And students lined up outside their schools, equal parts eager and anxious as they waited to enter classrooms for the first time in 13 months.

“Welcome everybody!” said Charity Haygood, principal of Avon Avenue School, to the children and parents lined up in the cold rain. “It’s a little moist out here, but it’s warm inside!”

Until Monday, the Newark school district, which is New Jersey’s largest, had operated remotely since the coronavirus pandemic forced schools nationwide to close in March 2020. Since then, the district has tried multiple times to reopen its school buildings, but was stymied by the city’s high infection rate and teachers union opposition. Meanwhile, concerns have mounted about students’ academic progress and social-emotional well-being after a year of online learning.

By early April, Newark was one of just over 100 school systems in New Jersey whose buildings remained closed — the state’s nearly 700 other districts and charter schools were already bringing students back into classrooms at least part-time. Newarks’ schools will be working on a hybrid model, with students at most schools in the classroom two days a week and remote the other three. (Some high schools will offer four days a week of in-person learning.) Most of the city’s charter schools also plan to shift to a hybrid model this month.

About 40% of families in the Newark Public Schools system registered their children to return to school buildings this week.

Sajataflori Poole signed up her sons, who are in prekindergarten and kindergarten at Avon Avenue School. The evening before classrooms reopened, she readied their outfits and backpacks and wrote on construction paper, “My first first day of school.” On Monday morning, she waited outside the school with her preschooler, Semaj, who wore a PAW Patrol facemask.

“This is their first year, so all they know is their peers and their teachers on the computer screen,” Poole said about her sons. “It’s going to be a different connection when they’re face to face.”

While families lined up outside the school, staffers handed them forms to sign certifying that their children had not displayed any COVID-19 symptoms. A security guard reminded the children to stand on red hearts that had been spray-painted six feet apart along the sidewalk.

“That’s your special heart today,” the guard said, smiling through the rain. “Everyone has a special heart.”

Yejide Benson said she was sending her second-grade son back to Avon because he struggled to concentrate online and longed to leave their house. Still, she felt mixed feelings on Monday.

“I actually wanted him to go, but also I’m worried about the situation with COVID,” she said. “But since the principal and the school authority have shown us that they are going to give [students] the maximum protection, I think it’s O.K.”

Yejide Benson with her son, Irabo, a second grader at Avon Avenue School.

Newark has gone to great lengths to reassure families that it’s safe for their children to return.

The district purchased air purifiers for every classroom, ramped up cleaning protocols, set up an employee vaccination site, and adopted weekly COVID-19 testing for students and staffers. Individual schools developed intricate safety plans — some fill nearly 50 pages — and produced explanatory videos. In Abington Avenue School’s video, Principal Alejandro Echevarria demonstrates how to safely enter the school alongside someone dressed as a bespectacled owl, the school’s mascot.

Under the district’s new in-person protocols, most students stay in the same classroom the entire day — no going to the gym, cafeteria, or auditorium. Younger students eat lunch in their rooms, while older students are given grab-and-go meals as they leave school at 1:30 p.m., which is earlier than pre-pandemic dismissal.

Ninth-graders Sonia Bolus (right) and Ciara Espinal (center) took classes in person at East Side High School for their first time ever Monday. Their friend stayed remote but met up with them after school.

A couple of miles away from Avon Avenue School, students scurried out of East Side High School after classes ended Monday. Wearing clear plastic backpacks the school distributed to streamline morning security checks, the teenagers debriefed about their first day back.

Sophomore Noryn Junqueira said it was nice just to get out of the house.

“I mainly didn’t like staying at home because it was stuffy,” Junqueira said. “It was just depressing because you’re not around people.”

For ninth-graders, Monday was the first time they took classes inside their high school. Freshman Christopher David said it was a little nerve-wracking, but also productive.

“In person I can concentrate way more than I can with online,” he said. “My full mindset was just on the work.”

Another ninth-grader, Ciara Espinal, remarked how strange it was to see some of her classmates’ faces for the first time.

“When you’re virtual,” she said, “you don’t really know who’s in your class because they turn their cameras off.”

Her friend and fellow ninth-grader, Sonia Bolus, said all the social distancing and desktop sneeze guards felt a little awkward. Even still, just sitting in a classroom again was enough to focus her mind.

“I don’t know why,” she said, “but today is the first time I actually did work in a long time.”

A year after going dark, Newark classrooms are reopening. Here’s everything you need to know.

2021-04-09T21:56:25+00:00

It took more than a year, multiple false starts, prodding from elected officials, and meticulous planning. But on Monday, students in New Jersey’s largest school district will finally make the leap from videoing on couches to learning in classrooms.

“It’s like, almost, an awakening,” Superintendent Roger León told NJ Spotlight News this week.

In fact, a limited number of Newark students have already returned to classrooms. Last year the district offered in-person summer school at two sites as a way to rehearse safety procedures, and last month it quietly reopened a school for students with disabilities. In addition, a few charter schools recently resumed in-person learning, including the city’s largest charter school operator, North Star Academy, which reopened schools this week.

Still, Newark Public Schools’ April 12 launch of hybrid learning will be the first time most Newark students have seen the inside of a classroom since the pandemic triggered the jarring shift to remote learning some 13 months ago.

Since then, the district has attempted to reopen school buildings three separate times but backpedaled due to rising coronavirus cases, teachers union resistance, and delays in updating school ventilation systems. As remote learning dragged on, concerns about the toll on student learning and mental health have deepened, and both President Joe Biden and Gov. Phil Murphy have urged all schools to resume face-to-face learning.

This month’s shift to part-time in-person learning is the result of painstaking preparation. The district has stocked up on facemasks and cleaning supplies, set up a staff vaccination site and weekly COVID-19 testing, and plotted every socially distanced step that students will take inside school buildings.

Yet after all the time away from school, and all the work to bring students back, most Newark families intend to keep their children home. That’s little surprise in a city hit especially hard by the pandemic, where just 8% of residents, who are mostly Black and Hispanic, have been fully vaccinated — compared with 23% of New Jersey residents.

Still, thousands of parents will be dropping their children off at school this month. ldemar Vazquez, who has spent $125 a week on child care for her daughter, will be sending the fourth-grader back to Marion P. Thomas Charter School.

“She cannot wait,” Vazquez said. “She’s doing great, but there’s nothing like real learning — in-person learning.”

As the much-anticipated moment arrives, here’s everything you need to know about schools reopening in Newark.

When will students return?

The first group of Newark Public Schools students return to classrooms Monday and Tuesday, April 12 and 13. They will be dismissed earlier than usual, around 1:30 p.m., and expected to do online work at home.

Superintendent Roger León (center) and Mayor Ras Baraka (left) toured a classroom ahead of schools reopening. The white desktop partitions are meant to provide another layer of protection against the virus.

The next cohort will show up Thursday and Friday, and all students will be remote on Wednesdays.

While most students whose families opted for hybrid learning will learn in person two days a week and remotely three days, some high schools will bring students back four days per week.

Charter schools, which enroll about 35% of Newark’s public school students, are on different schedules.

Several charter schools — including Achieve, KIPP New Jersey, LEAD, Marion P. Thomas, Philip’s Academy, Robert Treat Academy — will reopen classrooms for some students on April 19. Roseville Community Charter School reopens April 12. And in-person learning already started on March 15 at Discovery Charter School and on April 7 at North Star Academy.

How many students will return?

About 14,500 district students are expected to return to classrooms part-time, based on the number of families who opted for hybrid learning. That represents about 40% of Newark Public Schools’ roughly 36,000 students.

Families were more likely to send younger children back, with only 28% of high schoolers expected to return. Across all grades, the remaining 60% of students will stay fully remote.

Nélida Figueroa said she worried how her daughter would handle the sudden transition back to in-person learning and wearing a mask all day.

“It would be stressful on her,” said Figueroa, who chose not to send her daughter back to her fourth-grade classroom this spring. “The teachers are going to be on edge.”

The percentages are similar at several charter schools that Chalkbeat contacted, with some 35% to 45% of students slated to return. Those students will learn in person two to four days per week, depending on the school.

One exception is KIPP New Jersey, where only about 20% of students are expected back. Officials said they identified students who would benefit most from in-person learning, including those with attendance, mental health, or academic challenges. They will learn in person four days a week.

“Should community spread decrease and vaccination rates increase, or if we receive increased demand from families, we are prepared to offer more students in-person instruction,” Joanna Belcher, executive director of KIPP’s Newark schools, said in an email.

What about teachers?

Nearly 75% of district teachers are expected to return to their classrooms, officials said.

Newark set up a temporary vaccination site for school employees.

Teachers were ordered to return unless they had an approved exemption. Some schools plan to offer childcare for staffers with young children.

While the district is not requiring employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19, an estimated 70% or more of returning educators have received at least one vaccine dose, said Newark Teachers Union President John Abeigon, citing survey data. Teachers also were given time to inspect their classrooms for cleanliness, protective gear, and working Wi-Fi, he added.

“Regardless of how we feel, we’re going to put that aside and we’re going to return with bells on for our kids,” he said Friday.

What safety measures are in place?

Nearly every aspect of school has been reconfigured to reduce the risk of coronavirus infections.

Let’s start with safety procedures.

First, families will be asked to check children daily for any COVID-19 symptoms using a mobile phone app. On campus, students will complete a multistep entry process that involves a temperature check, and hand and shoe sanitizing.

Once inside, students will head to designated classrooms, where they’ll remain for most of the day. Cafeterias, auditoriums, and gyms are off limits, with most students taking phys ed virtually from their classrooms. They’ll eat breakfast and snacks at their desks, and all but the youngest students will get take-home lunches as they leave. Bathroom use will be limited and water fountains turned off; students must bring their own water bottles.

Next up, safety measures.

Only students and employees are allowed inside schools (no parents or visitors), and everyone must wear masks. Plastic dividers have been installed in main offices, and student desks have been spaced six feet apart and topped with three-sided barriers. Class sizes are not expected to exceed 10 students.

Custodial staff are expected to disinfect classrooms daily and conduct a weekly “deep cleaning.”

Each classroom will have plenty of hand sanitizer and cleaning supplies, officials said.

The district used federal pandemic-relief money to beef up school ventilation, which experts say is critical for curbing airborne transmission of the virus. Outdated HVAC systems were upgraded, new filters installed, and air purifiers placed in every occupied room, officials said.

“We’ve increased ventilation to the maximum possible extent,” said Steve Morlino, who oversees district facilities.

What about COVID-19 testing?

Students will self-administer the weekly COVID-19 test.

Thanks to new funding from the Biden administration, the district will offer weekly COVID-19 testing for students and staff members who return to schools.

Students will self-administer the tests using nasal swabs, which will be analyzed in batches through a process called pooled testing. If the result is positive, then the entire class must quarantine and each student must get tested individually.

What will learning look like?

Classroom learning will look entirely different than it did pre-pandemic.

Students will spend most of their day in a single classroom. In high school, that means students will log into online classes from their homerooms rather than switching rooms each period, while their homeroom teachers lead virtual classes with different students.

Elementary school students are used to sticking with one teacher for most of the day, but now they won’t leave their rooms even for art class or phys ed. Some schools have even canceled recess and replaced it with outdoor breaks when students can briefly remove their masks. Instead of textbooks and worksheets, students will do classwork on laptops — even in-person students won’t escape those ever-present screens.

Dawn Haynes, a district parent and school board member, said she’s in awe of students who are returning to schools this month despite all the uncertainty about what lies ahead.

“What we’re dealing with inside of this world with this pandemic, it’s a very brave choice for you to go back,” she said at last month’s board meeting. “Your courage is really encouraging.”

‘I miss everything’: Newark teenagers reflect on their year away from classrooms

2021-04-08T13:55:20+00:00

The pandemic has spared no student from its grasp. If asked, every young person could share a story about how the crisis rearranged their life and learning this past year.

In Newark, where the coronavirus has mounted a relentless assault, the stories have been heartrending.

Lisalove Atangana’s mother lost her job this fall, and her family had to cram into motel rooms while they searched for affordable housing. Stephen Haley, who has spent years training as a dancer, turned his living room into a makeshift dance studio yet still felt his skills slipping away. Nayvon Terry, an ambitious teenager who had maintained a 4.0 grade point average and planned to run for senior class president, watched his motivation dwindle and his grades decline. And Sophia Enemoh, stuck at home away from her friends and teachers, mourned the loss of the freshman year she’d always imagined.

“I miss everything,” she said.

And yet, like so many others in Newark and beyond, these young people have persisted. They’ve logged onto virtual classes even while looking after younger siblings. They’ve stayed connected to classmates and committed to school. And they’ve learned important lessons about themselves and the world amid the upheaval of the past year.

Chalkbeat spoke with those four Newark high schoolers and a dozen others over the past few months to hear firsthand how the pandemic has transformed their lives, both in and out of school. More changes are in store next week when Newark school buildings reopen — though just under 40% of district students, and only 28% of high schoolers, are registered to return.

The following are excerpts from those interviews, which were conducted individually and in groups, and organized here by topic. They offer a window into the hardships many students experienced over the past year, as well as their determination to make it through.

Not pictured: Brianna Sherrod (9th grade), Luke La-Anni (9th grade), and Sierra Garrett (12th grade), who attend Great Oaks Legacy Charter School.

Disruption

Sophia: I started my freshman year virtually, and that’s the hardest part. I’m telling you, the first day of high school, everybody was lost, everybody didn’t know what to do.

Nayvon: I’m the type of personality where I like to get up and go and do things. I love to be on top of things. I love to be interactive with the students and the teachers. And I haven’t been able to do that.

Brianna: I feel like I wake up and do the same thing every single day. It gets to the point where sometimes I feel like my days are blended. Like a whole week could pass by and I wouldn’t even notice because I’m doing the same routine every day.

Nathan: I don’t go anywhere at this point. The only place I might go is church on the weekends. Even that, they’re so cautious and everything. There’s no, like, hanging out afterwards.

Zacore: Six months ago, I just had a daughter. So my days are more or less me and my daughter. I sit in the living room, I do my [school]work. I’m here with my baby mother, my girlfriend. She helps me if I need help. But most of this stuff I try to work out on my own.

Lisalove: We were spending months in motels trying to look for homes. That was really rough. … It also took a toll on us as a family because sometimes we would just get mad at each other or just be so frustrated and stressed out because of how we’re living right now.

Nathan: My mother never stopped working because she works in the medical field. The stress and anxiety that she had to deal with was visible, it was audible, whenever she came home. On top of that, multiple members of my family had COVID at one time or another.

Sophia: I barely know what my own high school looks like. And that’s a high school I’m supposed to go to, but now I’m in my bed during school. And it’s just like I miss school, I miss walking through the hallways, I miss going to my friend’s house. ... I miss everything.

“It’s honestly not healthy at all. I don’t get away from my computer until 12 o’clock at night.” Photo: A student engages in virtual learning on their computer.

Virtual learning

Nathan: In the beginning, it took my brain and my body a while to realize that you’re at home but you still have to work, you still have to go to school. Because before this, if I was staying home, it meant relaxing.

Stephen: In my opinion, it’s not school. It just doesn’t feel like school at all. If you ask me, it’s all about retention now and not necessarily learning.

Lisalove: My second class, I have my Spanish teacher and she wants all of us to be on camera and visible. So that’s one class I can’t escape and be in the dark in my bedroom laying down.

Stephen: Sometimes I don’t even get out of bed and I just join from my bed. Sometimes I wouldn’t even have the energy to log on and I’ll miss a period. It’s definitely harder to stay motivated.

Sophia: The teacher will ask a question and it’s just quiet. I feel like I’m the only one to talk in class even when I feel like I’m the dumbest one. Because everyone will act like they get it and not say nothing.

Brianna: In my household, there’s just a lot of distractions. You know, technology and all that. And it gets very hard to log into every class and be like, “I got to do this,” and not just, like, ignore all my classes for the whole day and go watch Netflix.

London: When you’re the oldest [child], like I am, and everyone’s breaks are at different times, the children can come ask me for something but I’m in the middle of class. … They’ll ask me to make them something to eat. Or if it’s school-related, they’ll ask me to help with, like, a math problem. That one I usually get a lot.

Sophia: Teachers don’t know why your camera is off and they call you. They think you’re skipping class or you’re late on purpose or you’re not listening. Mind you, I’m trying to listen but I have to help my little sister.

Lisalove: It just takes so many hours for me to really get stuff done because I’m around my family and something might catch my attention and I’ll get distracted.

Sierra: It’s honestly not healthy at all. I don’t get away from my computer until 12 o’clock at night. … And then, on the weekend, you’re so tired to the point where you just want to sleep all day.

Nayvon: The momentum and the motivation stopped, so I didn’t want to study for the SAT. … We would also have a program where we could study for the SAT, almost SAT prep. That stopped. So when I did take the SAT, it wasn’t the score that I wanted and that I know I deserve.

Luke: There’s not a lot of motivation sitting in front of a computer for about eight hours a day — on top of COVID, on top of not seeing your friends or your teachers. I think that’s the largest issue about online learning: There’s not much motivation to do anything, but it’s not like you have a choice.

Malayjah: I used to be good in school, and then after awhile with the virtual I just started giving up. Because I feel like the teachers wasn’t really helping me.

London: For most of my schooling, it’s been teachers interacting with me. And [now] I’ve found it hard to do things without instruction. It’s been difficult for me to do things self-taught.

Nayvon: There’s no relationships and bonds being built. So the connection and excitement for school isn’t the same.

Zacore: I try to stay as focused as possible. I read, I watch a lot of YouTube, just keep my mind active. … In this day and age with technology, everything is free. These resources we have, I can easily Google it and figure it out and try it so many times until eventually I get it right.

Loss

Sierra: I was going to use this last year to let me branch out a little bit, let me explore my freedoms as a young adult. And then once this happened, it was like that was all gone.

Nayvon: A lot of things were ripped away from me. … The previous year I went to an internship at Ernst & Young. I thought I would be doing that again. … I’ve always dreamt of running for class president my senior year, being able to plan our prom … There’s a lot of things that I’ve had to leave behind.

“I’ve regressed.” Stephen Haley hasn’t been able to train in a dance studio during the pandemic.

Stephen: It’s really hard being a dancer in quarantine — especially when you don’t have the studio to work in. You don’t dance, basically. … I’ve regressed, you know. And I’m not where I should be in my development as a dancer.

Sophia: Now I’m a freshman and I’m pissed because I did not have my eighth grade social. My dress was on the way and I had to cancel the order. I cried because I was so ready.

Brianna: A couple months ago, my uncle, he got diagnosed with COVID. At first they didn’t know what it was because, you know, people were still gathering information. He had to go to the hospital … A couple days later he died from that. It’s just been really hard on my family. Especially my mom. My mom has a lot of brothers and sisters and she’s very close with all of them, especially my uncle. And just seeing her go through that, it really hurt me.

Sierra: I had to sit down and think about, “Oh, I’ve had so many deaths in my family.” … I have a hard time coping with death itself and grief. I feel like everybody grieves in a different way. It’s hard. It’s like you’re not taught how to to grieve. You’re not taught how to deal with your emotions. It’s like something you have to deal with yourself.

Stephen: Thankfully I haven’t been hit as hard as some of my friends. But I know some of my friends who actually thought about suicide. They couldn’t take the isolation anymore. I know people who grew depressed. They just feel so alone, and everything is just so sad in this world.

Lessons

Stephen: I find myself going through my camera roll remembering all the good times I had in school. And it’s like, wow, I really should have just stayed there and enjoyed it. … So if COVID taught me anything, it would be to take my time and enjoy these moments, because you never know when you’re going to have another one.

Lisalove: Even though it was kind of a curse and a really bad situation, it kind of brought us together. Because now we know we can really count on each other and really strengthen our bond as a family. Spending all that time — every single day, every single hour — being in that space, probably even getting to know each other even more than before. … Yeah, things were stressful. But at the same time, I was still able to laugh with my family, to have those good times.

London: When everything came down to it, I really had to learn a lot of skills that I wouldn’t necessarily have had to learn until college. Like time management. … With everything virtual, it’s definitely made me a lot stricter on myself with getting things done.

Nayvon: Just being really honest, I would say I strived for success for the wrong reasons. Such as, like, getting the award or just getting the praise and the acknowledgement. But now all that’s been stripped away. I have to regroup and find out what it is that I’m really striving for success for. Now I’m striving for success to better my future, to instill a different life than what my family has been used to.

Zacore: Sometimes isolation is your best friend. You don’t need to be outside and running around. You can sit sometimes and just learn about yourself, focus on yourself, and really take time to love yourself. … It gives you a chance to go to the next direction. Like a chance to do something new. Or a chance to be somebody new.

Stephen: I just hope that whatever comes next, I get to fully enjoy it. That’s all. I’m just ready to enjoy life again.

This project was a collaboration between Chalkbeat, The Newark News and Story Collaborative at WBGO, and Free Press.

The following individuals and organizations provided assistance: Deborah Smith-Gregory, Great Oaks Legacy Charter School, LEAD Charter School, Schools That Can-Newark, and SHE Wins Inc. These students also participated in interviews: Abriyah Julu, Lakita Lloyd, Nyla Mitchell, Taniyah Ferrell, and Zerlina Sutton.

Most N.J. students can skip state tests this spring, Biden administration says

2021-04-07T22:22:38+00:00

New Jersey students can skip the state’s standardized tests this spring, federal officials suggested this week in a letter to the state.

Instead, the state can administer a different set of academic tests this fall, the April 6 letter said. The Start Strong tests, which New Jersey created, are online tests that are shorter than the ones students typically take each spring.

The Biden administration’s decision is sure to please New Jersey educators who have questioned how they could properly administer tests this spring when some students are still learning remotely. Some educators also argued that the spring tests would squander valuable class time needed for catching students up.

“I think this is generally good news,” Gov. Phil Murphy said during a press briefing Wednesday. “At least for the spring assessments this year, we will be able to put them to the side and focus on the Start Strong for the fall.”

However, the change will not apply to students with disabilities and those still learning English, Murphy added. Those groups must still take state tests this spring that are designed for students with special needs.

The question of whether or not to test students this school year has been a subject of debate nationwide. While proponents say the tests can help reveal how far students have fallen behind during the pandemic, critics say they are a distraction and of questionable value.

In a joint statement Wednesday, leaders of statewide groups representing teachers, principals, and superintendents praised the Biden administration’s decision.

“New Jersey students will not have to see their instruction time interrupted to take tests that are not helpful or appropriate under current conditions,” the leaders said, adding that schools will still gather data on students’ learning progress.

This week’s guidance from the U.S. Department of Education comes in response to New Jersey’s request last month for permission to cancel the federally mandated tests that students in grades 3-12 must take each year.

In the request for a testing waiver, New Jersey’s acting education commissioner argued that the results of any tests given this spring would be unreliable because some students might take it remotely while others would take it in person. She added that schools should instead direct their attention to meeting students’ academic and mental-health needs this spring.

“As COVID-19 continues to cause severe disruptions to students’ education, school communities must focus on the social-emotional health, safety, and wellness of their students and staff,” wrote acting Education Commissioner Angelica Allen-McMillan.

Even as New Jersey sought permission to skip the annual tests, state officials told administrators to continue planning for the spring tests. The state education department has not yet sent updated guidance to districts.

During a state Board of Education meeting Wednesday, Allen-McMillan said the department was still reviewing the federal government’s response.

“While we have received a letter,” she said, “it will take us a few days to ensure we are interpreting it correctly and that we are able to move forward expeditiously with very pointed guidance.”

New Jersey developed the Start Strong tests as an optional tool to gauge where students started this school year in math, English, and science after the pandemic forced school buildings to close last spring. About 90,000 students took the tests last fall, or about 10% of the number that typically take the annual state tests.

The tests suggested that more than 1 in 3 students might need significant help in math and English in order to get back on track, state officials said last month.

This fall, the state will require all districts to give the Start Strong tests, which are aligned with New Jersey’s learning standards. The test for each subject is estimated to take 45-60 minutes to complete.

Some districts will also pilot a new test for incoming kindergarten students, which aims to measure their social skills, reading and math abilities, and physical health.

The U.S. education department under President Biden previously told states that they could not cancel this year’s annual exams as they did last spring, but that they could make adjustments to account for the pandemic. The department has allowed some states to shorten the tests, for instance, but forbade them from making the tests optional or allowing districts to choose what tests to give.

In the letter to New Jersey, the federal official said the state does not require a testing waiver because the Start Strong tests it plans to administer this fall will meet the federal testing requirements.

“Having assessment data that are based on your state’s academic and content standards for as many students as possible is important to provide useful information to parents, educators, and the public,” wrote Ian Rosenblum, acting U.S. assistant education secretary, “and to address existing and increased gaps in opportunity.”

Study: Some New Jersey students lost ground during the pandemic, racial disparities widened

2021-03-30T04:01:00+00:00

The pandemic pulled some New Jersey students even further behind this school year and worsened learning disparities across race and class lines, according to a new analysis of student test scores.

Looking at a sample of students in grades 3-8, the analysis found that students saw about 70% as much learning growth in English during the first half of this school year as they would during that period in a typical year. They made about 64% of expected progress in math during that time, and Black, Hispanic, and economically disadvantaged students saw less growth than their peers in both subjects.

Funded by the New Jersey Children’s Foundation, an education advocacy group, the report relies on test scores from this fall and winter that 15 districts and charter schools agreed to share. It focuses on just over 8,200 students within that group whose scores the researchers considered reliable.

While based on limited data, the findings are in line with studies showing that students nationwide started this school year academically behind, and that students of color and economically disadvantaged students experienced the most severe learning lags.

The analysis, which the advocacy group JerseyCAN commissioned, is the first to try to quantify the pandemic’s impact on student achievement across multiple New Jersey districts this school year. And it might be the only one for some time, as the state only recently began collecting local test data from districts and it is still unclear when and how many students will take this year’s state tests.

The report comes as New Jersey is set to receive billions of additional federal dollars to help schools recover from the pandemic — with at least $636 million meant to combat student learning loss.

“We should all feel heartbroken” about the report’s findings, said state Sen. M. Teresa Ruiz. However, the report can also help policymakers “use the generous amount of resources that are coming into the state and the districts to deal with the current pandemic learning loss.”

Concerns about academic backsliding emerged last spring after the pandemic emptied out classrooms and many schools struggled to shift instruction online. The fears were validated this fall when data from several diagnostic tests showed that students nationwide, on average, started behind where they would have in a typical year.

But rather than bring students back in person this fall and start the recovery process, the ongoing pandemic forced many schools to remain all-remote. While more New Jersey districts have started physically reopening schools, more than 300,000 students — including those in large urban districts such as Newark, Paterson, and Jersey City — have gone more than a year without entering classrooms. Even districts that have reopened buildings have tended to offer only a few days of in-person learning per week, and many have had to revert to remote learning following coronavirus outbreaks.

The analysis found that Black and Hispanic students in the sample made less of their expected academic progress during the first half of this school year than White and Asian students did.

The new analysis aims to measure the impact of the continuing disruptions of student learning. It was conducted by EmpowerK12, an education research firm that also has estimated learning loss in Washington, D.C. and Atlanta.

The New Jersey study found that students in the sample did not make as much academic progress from this fall to winter as they were expected to based on the average growth of similar students nationwide in the past. Students in the sample also slid backwards during that period in their percentile ranking among students nationwide who took the same tests.

The analysis found that Black and Hispanic students lost more ground than White and Asian students, and students from lower-income families slid further behind than those from higher-income families, suggesting that learning gaps between those groups have widened. New Jersey districts where most students are Black or Hispanic have been far more likely than other districts to operate remotely this year.

While the findings are consistent with national trends, the report comes with some major caveats.

The researchers agreed to keep the districts that shared their test data anonymous. Josh Boots, Empower K12’s executive director, only would say that 91% of the participants are traditional school districts and 9% are charter schools, and some offered hybrid learning this school year while others were fully remote.

The data included the scores of 18,000 students who took one of two computer-based tests: NWEA’s Measures of Academic Progress or Curriculum Associates’ i-Ready Diagnostic. However, the researchers excluded students who did not take the test at both the start and middle of the year. And because most students took the tests remotely from home, the researchers also removed students who spent an unusually long or short amount of time completing the tests or who guessed answers at an unusual rate.

The researchers were left with only about 8,250 students in their sample. For parts of the study, including the analysis of student growth, the researchers weighted the sample by race and ethnicity, economic disadvantage, special education status, and English proficiency in order to make it more comparable to students statewide.

Kristin Blagg, a senior research associate in the Center on Education Data and Policy at the Urban Institute, said any analysis of student learning during the pandemic is valuable. But she also cautioned against drawing sweeping conclusions from such a limited dataset.

“Any study like this is a pixel in our broader understanding of how we can help students in the long run,” she said.

Districts across the country and in New Jersey already are planning ways to catch up students who have fallen behind.

Sen. Ruiz recently proposed legislation that would require every district to offer some type of summer learning this year. A different bill would let families who believe their children are significantly behind request that they repeat the same grade next school year.

JerseyCAN, which has urged the state to collect more data on student performance during the pandemic, held a press briefing Monday with Sen. Ruiz and Vivian Cox Fraser, president and CEO of the Urban League of Essex County, to call attention to the new study.

Patricia Morgan, JerseyCAN’s executive director, said the state must aggressively address student learning loss by promoting research-based interventions, such as intensive summer learning and tutoring.

“This report needs to be a launching pad for a very robust statewide conversation about our students’ education recovery,” she said.

Weekly COVID-19 tests planned for Newark students and staff upon April school reopening

2021-03-24T16:37:49+00:00

Newark students and teachers who return to classrooms next month will be tested weekly for COVID-19 through the end of the school year, officials said Tuesday.

The Newark school district will use pooled testing, where students and teachers swab their own nostrils to obtain samples that are tested in a batch. Other large districts where students are learning in person, including New York City and Chicago, conduct regular virus testing as a way to catch asymptomatic infections, but Newark appears to be the first large district in New Jersey to adopt universal testing.

The cost of the program, estimated at $2 million, will be covered by funds the Biden administration has dedicated to virus testing in schools as part of the president’s push to reopen school buildings nationwide. Along with nearly 100 other New Jersey districts, Newark school buildings have remained shuttered for more than a year.

The Newark Teachers Union has been urging the district to conduct universal testing when in-person learning resumes April 12, but district officials previously determined that it would be too expensive. Now that the program’s costs are covered, the district will have to work out the complicated logistics, which include obtaining consent for testing from the roughly 40% of district families that plan to send their children back to school.

“Weekly testing of students and staff is one more step as we build confidence in our start of an in-person hybrid instruction,” said David Scutari, executive assistant to the district superintendent, at a school board meeting Tuesday. He added, “There’s a lot of work and training of staff that needs to be done.”

The district will begin piloting the testing program next week at New Jersey Regional Day School, which serves students with disabilities and began in-person classes this month. Testing will expand to all schools in April, when at least 14,500 students are expected to return to classrooms two days a week. Other school employees will also be tested, along with students and teachers.

The testing materials, training, and lab services will be provided by Ginkgo Bioworks, a Boston-based biotechnology company.

Ginkgo provides all the training and testing materials as well as lab and data processing services. The firm’s pooled testing program, Concentric by Ginkgo, began in January and is now used by schools in more than 15 states, the company said. Public schools in Massachusetts and Baltimore have adopted the weekly testing program.

The program works by having all the students and staff members in a classroom conduct nasal swabs, which the company says even kindergarteners are able to do safely. The swaps are placed in a single tube and are tested collectively, with results available within 48 hours. If the test is positive, then the entire class will quarantine and students must get tested individually at a free city-run site, district officials said.

Regular testing can be an effective, though costly, way to limit spread of the coronavirus.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say that in-school testing can reduce the risk of infections when combined with other mitigation strategies such as masking and social distancing, yet the benefits “need to be weighed against the costs, inconvenience, and feasibility.”

Unlike temperature and symptom checks, frequent testing allows schools to identify infected people without symptoms, who may account for at least half of COVID-19 infections, according to research cited by the CDC. Statistical models by the research firm Mathematica suggest that weekly testing of all students and staff members can reduce in-school infections by an estimated 50% in high schools and 35% in primary schools.

However, conducting weekly tests can be demanding. Districts must find test vendors, get regulatory approval, obtain parental consent, and develop protocols for conducting tests, reporting the results, and responding to positive cases.

Ginkgo Bioworks says its program greatly reduces the burden on schools by providing the test kids and handling their analysis.

Newark has taken a number of other steps to prepare for in-person learning. The district set up a vaccination site for teachers, purchased air purifiers for every classroom, and used high-tech equipment to disinfect every building, officials said.

“We are extremely excited to participate in Ginkgo Bioworks’ pooled COVID-19 testing for students because it will provide an added level of confidence to parents, students, staff and the community as we return to in-person instruction,” Superintendent Roger León said in a statement.

N.J. schools will get $636 million to combat learning loss. How should they spend it?

2021-03-23T21:59:43+00:00

As the federal government pumps billions of additional dollars into New Jersey schools, a whopping $636 million is aimed at reversing student learning loss — a huge sum for what many fear is a huge problem.

New Jersey doesn’t have the data to know how much students’ academic progress slowed over the past year of pandemic-disrupted learning, but national test data showed that most students started the school year behind in math and reading.

The learning gaps likely kept growing this school year as the vast majority of New Jersey students still come into classrooms only part time, and some 317,000 students — including those in large urban districts such as Newark, Paterson, and Jersey City — are still fully remote.

“Our educator gut tells us that we need to really plan for extra support,” said Dr. Norma Fernandez, deputy superintendent of the Jersey City school district.

That’s where the federal aid comes in. Congress passed a relief bill in December and a massive stimulus package this month that will funnel billions of dollars into K-12 schools. Together, the two bills provide nearly $4 billion for New Jersey schools — roughly $2,850 per student.

Districts must spend at least 20% of the latest stimulus money on programs to address learning loss, or nearly $498 million across all New Jersey districts, according to estimates by the Congressional Research Service. Another 5% of the state’s stimulus funds, or about $138 million, must also go to learning recovery.

Separately, New Jersey is using $75 million from the previous relief package to fund “learning acceleration” efforts, such as summer programs and tutoring.

How will districts spend this money to catch students up?

Jersey City is looking to recruit college students to help with tutoring. Hamilton Township is training teachers to incorporate reading skills into lessons in every subject. And the Paterson school district has hired extra reading specialists, purchased an online program for struggling students, and will expand its summer programs.

Schools are also spending the money to teach students about mental health and offer counseling, as most educators say students can’t fully focus on academics if they haven’t processed the turmoil of the past year.

“Every student and family was touched by the coronavirus in some way,” said Paterson Superintendent Eileen Shafer. “There’s a lot of trauma our kids have experienced.”

As schools develop learning recovery plans for this spring and beyond, Chalkbeat asked district leaders, researchers, and service providers for their insights. Here’s what they said.

It all comes down to quality.

Efforts to combat learning loss don’t need to be groundbreaking.

The strategies many experts suggest — tutoring, afterschool programs, and summer learning — are familiar to most districts. What matters most is quality.

“The research shows that tutoring can be really effective,” said Carly Robinson, a researcher at Brown University’s Annenberg Institute, “but it has to be done right.”

Tutoring must be “high dosage” to boost student achievement, with multiple 30 to 60-minute sessions each week, according to a guide that Robinson co-authored — part of a series of research briefs meant to inform schools’ recovery efforts. (One meta-analysis found that high-dosage tutoring was 15-20 times more effective than less frequent tutoring.) Tutoring groups must be small, with four students or fewer, and the lessons should reinforce what’s taught in class.

Effective summer programs have some of the same features: daily small-group instruction, high-quality content aligned with the school curriculum, and monitoring to ensure staffers properly teach the material, according to research cited in a National Summer Learning Association guidebook.

Those effective practices are a far cry from what actually happens in some schools. Tutoring can be sporadic, and summer classes often are not demanding or engaging.

More than $55 million of New Jersey’s latest relief funds are reserved for summer and afterschool programs. District could use the money to revamp their offerings — for instance, by hiring outside groups to provide intensive tutoring or purchasing new teaching materials.

But again, quality matters. After Atlanta Public Schools launched a new tutoring program in 2016, researchers found problems with the online curriculum, limited coordination between tutors and teachers, and insufficient instructional time. The program had no measurable effect on student learning.

You can only help students who show up.

Ramping up support programs is a great idea — if students attend.

District leaders across New Jersey say they plan to expand their existing summer and afterschool programs so more students can participate. But in districts such as Newark, summer school is optional except for a limited number of struggling students.

Last year, just 4,000 students — about 11% of district students — attended Newark’s virtual summer programs, Superintendent Roger León said. Participation was a problem even before the pandemic.

“People in our city, when they hear that something is not mandatory, they don’t think they need to go,” León said in 2018 when discussing that summer’s low turnout.

The attendance challenge is widespread. A rigorous study of high-quality summer programs in five cities found limited academic benefits. The reason: 20% of enrolled students never showed up, and those who did missed about a quarter of the sessions. Only the fraction of students who consistently attended saw significant learning gains.

Even getting students to register can be difficult. One study found that students with the greatest academic needs were unlikely to sign up for optional tutoring.

So what can districts do?

Experts suggest scheduling tutoring during the school day. One meta-analysis found that during-school tutoring was about twice as effective as afterschool tutoring.

Mandatory summer school tends to have higher attendance. But voluntary programs can boost turnout by setting clear expectations — for instance, removing students who miss more than three days — and providing incentives, such as field trips and celebrations, for good attendance.

Recruitment is also essential. Dr. Scott Rocco, superintendent of the Hamilton Township school district, said staffers might conduct home visits to explain the importance of summer learning to families. They also hope to make the program so fun that students want to attend.

“You’ve got to figure out a way to make it creative, interesting, and engaging,” he said.

Don’t go it alone.

Throughout the pandemic, local groups have been a lifeline for many students and families.

In Newark, After-School All-Stars New Jersey has offered virtual tutoring since classrooms closed, along with cooking, sewing, and music production classes. The Boys & Girls Club of Newark offers a full-day program that provides supervision while students take remote classes, followed by enrichment activities and homework help.

Now, both groups say they’re eager to assist with recovery efforts. The Newark Boys & Girls Club is developing a tutoring program aimed at reversing learning loss, said CEO Ameer Washington. And as Newark district and charter schools plan to reopen classrooms next month, After-School All-Stars is ready to bring back its programs — if schools allow them, said Executive Director Nicole Harris.

“If they are willing to let external organizations in,” she said, “then we will be there to support students.”

Aaron P. Dworkin, CEO of the National Summer Learning Association, said that because the relief money will flow through districts, they should set clear expectations for partner organizations and make sure everyone is on the same page.

Effective programs that help students rebound from the pandemic are within reach, he added.

“We have the research, we have best practices, we have partners — and now we have money,” he said. “We should be able to do this.”

Newark creates pop-up vaccination site for school employees ahead of April reopening

2021-03-16T21:12:37+00:00

Just over a year after the pandemic began, Ann Jansen got her first dose of relief Tuesday.

The Newark teacher had tried repeatedly to schedule a COVID-19 vaccination online but found no openings. But, beginning this week, a pop-up vaccination site inside a high school gym is offering shots just to school employees — and Jansen was one of the first in line.

“I’m over-the-moon excited,” said Jansen, who teaches at Hawthorne Avenue School. “Now, I can sleep well at night.”

The shot will help her feel safe returning to her classroom next month, when Newark school buildings are slated to reopen after a full year of remote learning. “I teach second grade, so it’s really important for me to be with my kids in person,” she said.

The new vaccination site will start to make good on a promise by Superintendent Roger León that school workers will be able to get at least their first coronavirus vaccine shot before classrooms reopen April 12. About 40% of families said in a recent survey that their children will return to school at least part time when buildings reopen, León said Tuesday.

School nurses helped administer the shots to district employees.

Newark’s vaccination drive follows a push by President Biden to get a shot in the arms of all K-12 teachers and child care workers by the end of March, and a recent move by New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy to make school employees eligible for the vaccine.

Newark officials hope the vaccine will ease the fears of any teachers and other school employees who are still reluctant to return to classrooms. But convincing staffers to get vaccinated may be its own challenge: Only a quarter of district employees said in a survey last month that they were ready to get the vaccine, officials said.

While the district is not requiring employees to be vaccinated before returning to school, officials expect more people to voluntarily register as they see their colleagues receive shots without complications.

“Our goal would be to have all 8,000-plus staff and teachers throughout the whole district vaccinated,” said Dr. Mark Wade, who heads Newark’s health department.

In conjunction with the city, the district has turned the Barringer High School gymnasium into a temporary vaccination site exclusively for teachers and support staff in Newark’s traditional, charter, and private schools, as well as childcare workers. School nurses are administering the first dose of the Moderna vaccine this week, and the second dose four weeks later.

Despite the easy access, only 2,000 of the district’s roughly 8,000 employees said in last month’s survey that they wanted the vaccine, León said. However, he added that more staffers have recently expressed interest and will have an opportunity to register for the next round of shots.

Jada Velez, a district transportation aide, was initially hesitant to get the vaccine because she feared possible side effects. However, she decided to go for it after watching her mother — who also works for the district — get vaccinated without any problems.

“Everyone who’s getting it is reassuring me,” Velez said.

Even as the district tries to boost demand for the vaccine, officials are also watching the supply.

About 2,000 of the district’s roughly 8,000 employees said in a survey last month that they were ready to get the vaccine.

Murphy has repeatedly said the state needs far more doses to immunize the millions of eligible residents, which includes people over 65, those with certain chronic illnesses, and now teachers. To date, about 25% of New Jersey residents have been vaccinated, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.

Dr. Wade said Newark had requested 2,000 vaccine doses for Newark school workers based on the district’s survey. He said he expects the city will receive additional doses as demand increases, and noted that educators who didn’t register for a shot this week can still visit any of the city’s other vaccination sites.

“We know there is still a vaccine shortage, and all of the state’s health departments, the school districts, are lobbying for the same vaccine,” he said. “But so far, we’re on point.”

Kendra Burton, who works in the district’s central office, was among the employees who received a shot Tuesday. She signed up largely to relieve her anxiety about infecting her children — triplets who are in the first grade and have severe asthma.

“Every time I go out I’m in fear of bringing something back to them,” she said. “I feel like with the vaccine, I’m protecting myself a little bit more and I’m protecting my children.”

As Newark schools prepare to reopen, teachers union wants COVID testing for students

2021-02-23T22:18:54+00:00

Testing students for the coronavirus is poised to become the latest flash point as Newark prepares to reopen classrooms this spring.

The district has purchased air purifiers, desktop barriers, and hundreds of thousands of face masks, and is requiring teachers to test negative before returning to school buildings, which have been closed for nearly a year. But with in-person learning scheduled to resume in April, the district still hasn’t decided whether to test students for COVID-19 — a safety measure that has been “under consideration” since the summer.

Universal testing can catch asymptomatic infections and reassure wary teachers and families, yet it’s also costly and logistically complex; most public health experts say it’s beneficial but not essential. But as teachers are starting to get vaccinated for COVID-19, the Newark Teachers Union has made student testing a top priority.

“We believe it’s a prerequisite,” said union President John Abeigon, who is urging the district to test all middle and high school students, who are thought to be more susceptible to infection than younger children. “Our concern is asymptomatic kids giving it to each other and bringing the virus home.”

School districts nationwide have wrestled with whether or not to test students and staffers routinely for COVID-19. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say that in-school testing can reduce the risk of infections when combined with other mitigation strategies such as masking and social distancing, yet the benefits “need to be weighed against the costs, inconvenience, and feasibility.”

Despite the challenges, some districts have embraced testing as a way to ease families’ fears and appease teachers unions. New York City, the nation’s largest district, tests a random sample of 20% of students and employees at each open school every week. Chicago Public Schools agreed to test a subset of students weekly in areas with high infection rates as part of its school reopening deal with the teachers union. Last month, the Massachusetts teachers union applauded the state’s decision to offer universal testing at every public school.

President Joe Biden is looking to ramp up testing as part of his plan to reopen classrooms this spring. And the head of the nation’s second largest teachers union said widespread testing could allow schools to reopen while vaccines are still being administered.

“COVID-19 testing must become a way of life in schools: We need to test regularly and rapidly,” says an op-ed co-authored by American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten and Dr. Rajiv Shah, president of the Rockefeller Foundation, which wants testing to be available at every school.

In New Jersey, some private schools have adopted testing, but few public schools have and the state has not mandated it. The Newark school district has ordered employees, but not students, to get tested before returning. It has not announced plans for routine testing for either group, which experts say is necessary for testing to help reduce infections. (The CDC says it is “not known” whether one-time testing is effective at curbing the virus’ spread.)

In July, Newark said it was considering testing students. And school board members said last month that the district met with a company that offers weekly COVID-19 tests that students self-administer using nasal swabs. The company’s pooled testing, which combines up to 25 test samples in one batch, would enable widespread testing and “allow parents to feel confident in sending their children back to school,” said board member Yambeli Gomez at a January meeting.

However, the district decided not to work with the vendor, Concentric by Ginkgo, a company spokesperson said Monday.

“The district has not made a decision with regards to testing students,” said district spokesperson Nancy Deering.

Other districts have adopted testing as a strategy for reopening schools, especially in communities like Newark where transmission rates remain high. Unlike temperature and symptom checks, frequent testing allows schools to identify infected people without symptoms, who may account for at least half of COVID-19 infections, according to research cited by the CDC.

Statistical models by the research firm Mathematica suggest that weekly testing of all students and staff members can reduce in-school infections by an estimated 50% in high schools and 35% in primary schools. Less frequent or staff-only testing diminishes the effectiveness and might not be a good way to reduce in-school infections, the researchers found.

Testing also has psychological benefits, said Divya Vohra, an epidemiologist and lead author of the Mathematica report, which examined six school districts using rapid-result tests.

“Finding a way to offer regular testing at a school really helped build trust in the community and helped people feel comfortable coming back to school,” she said.

But school-based testing also poses a number of challenges and has some drawbacks.

Costs can be steep, and include test kits, staffing, and protective gear. One district estimated that each rapid test costs $80 when all related expenses are factored in, according to the Mathematica report.

Some districts have turned to local and state agencies for help with funding, used federal pandemic-relief money, or sought private donors. The Biden administration recently directed $650 million for testing in K-8 schools and other facilities and is urging Congress to approve a new stimulus package that includes billions more for testing.

The logistics also can be onerous. Districts must find test vendors, get regulatory approval, obtain parental consent, and develop protocols for conducting tests, reporting the results, and responding to positive cases.

“It’s extremely challenging,” said Mike Magee, CEO of Chiefs for Change, a network of state and local education leaders.

The group recently published a set of planning tools to accompany an 87-page guidebook that walks officials through the complex process of setting up school testing. The Rockefeller Foundation helped fund the guides, as well as the Mathematica report.

Still, Magee said he expects more schools to start routine testing this spring as new federal funding helps lower costs and relieve supply shortages. And testing will need to expand this fall when more students return, limiting social distancing even as few children will be vaccinated.

“You’re going to have to use testing to monitor this situation,” he said, “if you’re going to have any chance of fully reopening schools.”

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N.J. moves to cancel state tests, fund efforts to combat learning loss

2021-02-19T21:12:29+00:00

New Jersey will seek federal permission to scrap its annual standardized tests for a second straight year, Gov. Phil Murphy said Friday.

The decision to ask for a waiver follows intense pressure by the powerful state teachers union and some lawmakers to cancel the federally mandated tests, which they say would unnecessarily burden students and educators already exhausted by the pandemic. The Biden Administration has not indicated whether it will grant waivers, though that hasn’t stopped several states from requesting them.

Even as New Jersey looks to cancel assessments that could have offered a statewide glimpse of student learning loss, officials expect that many students have fallen behind during the nearly yearlong disruption of normal schooling. To that end, the state will provide $105 million in grants to address students’ learning gaps and promote their mental health, officials also said Friday.

“We know our students and educators have had a difficult year,” Murphy said in a statement. “Providing our school communities with increased flexibility and support is essential to move our education system forward.”

The federal government waived testing requirements last spring after the coronavirus shuttered school buildings nationwide. But President Joe Biden and his nominee for education secretary, Miguel Cardona, have not committed to doing the same this year. As a result, New Jersey officials told districts to prepare to give the English and math tests this spring, and just last week set a delayed start date for the tests.

Meanwhile, groups representing New Jersey teachers, administrators, and parents have urged the state to not just delay but drop the tests. They say the results would be unreliable because students would have to take the tests remotely in the more than 160 districts where classrooms remain closed. They add that teachers and districts already give local assessments to track student progress, and another round of tests would eat up valuable class time.

“A waiver will prevent another disruption that pulls our students away from real learning and will ensure we have more time to focus on meeting their critical immediate needs,” said a statement from Marie Blistan, president of the New Jersey Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union.

But other education advocacy groups have pressed New Jersey to keep the tests, arguing that skipping them two years in a row will diminish the state’s ability to identify and direct resources to districts where students have fallen furthest behind. Several state lawmakers, including Senate Education Chair M. Teresa Ruiz, have proposed legislation that would require the state education department to collect test data from every district in order to quantify the pandemic academic impact.

In a compromise, acting state Education Commissioner Angelica Allen-McMillan said Friday that districts will be required to submit local assessment data and identify student learning gaps when they apply for the new grants.

“Since the start of the pandemic almost a year ago, I have been warning of the devastating learning loss that has impacted our districts,” Sen. Ruiz said in a statement, adding that she does not support the request for a testing waiver but is “encouraged” by the state’s plan to collect district test results. “While the data collected does not provide the same level of detail that a statewide summative assessment would, it can help us address the current need.”

Exactly how many New Jersey students have fallen behind since school buildings closed last March and how much their academic progress has slowed is unclear due to the lack of statewide assessments. Nationwide testing data from the fall showed that, on average, students lost more ground in math than reading, with students of color falling further behind than white students.

On Friday, the state announced several efforts to combat that learning loss.

It will provide $75 million in grants to districts for academic support programs such as one-on-one tutoring, summer school, and teacher training. Another $30 million in grants will fund mental health services for educators and students, many of whom have reported feeling isolated, anxious, or depressed during the pandemic and the prolonged school closures.

The state education department also created an online repository of effective practices that districts across the state have reported for addressing pandemic-related challenges including learning loss and absenteeism.

“This resource will help school districts identify strategies and effectively leverage all of the funding streams we are announcing today,” Allen-McMillan said.

Next fall, the state will provide districts with two diagnostic tests to gauge student learning: Start Strong tests in math, reading, and science, which the state piloted this fall; and an assessment for incoming kindergarteners.

Officials did not say whether the state will require districts to use those assessments. This school year, just over 80 districts administered the optional Start Strong tests. The vast majority of districts gave different tests, making it difficult to measure the pandemic’s toll on students statewide.

For now, Allen-McMillan said the state is “hoping for the best and preparing for the worst” when it comes to receiving a federal testing waiver for this spring’s test, which are given to students in grades 3-8 and some high schoolers. If the state’s request is denied, districts will have through June to administer the tests.

“That gives us flexibility if indeed we are required to administer the spring suite of assessments,” the acting commissioner said.

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Without a clear picture of pandemic learning loss, N.J. looks ahead to academic recovery

2021-02-17T21:31:43+00:00

After nearly a year of remote learning, how far have students in Newark and across New Jersey fallen behind? The answer isn’t clear — and neither is the plan for catching students up.

Nationwide data suggest the pandemic-induced learning loss could be steep. According to one analysis, students across the country began this school year an average of three months behind in math, with students of color further behind than white students. Students could end the year behind by half a grade level or more, according to the analysis by McKinsey & Co.

The picture is blurrier in New Jersey. Officials are bracing for big holes in student learning caused by the chaotic shift to remote learning last March, but they lack statewide assessment data to quantify the gaps.

In Newark, the district has not said how much learning students have lost — possibly because officials don’t have enough data to say for sure. And because schools in that district and more than 170 others remain fully remote, it’s likely students’ learning gaps are growing still.

Now, state and local officials are making plans for expensive remediation programs, such as intensive tutoring and summer school, with the state promising more details soon. But the limited learning loss data means that officials are plotting an academic recovery without a full view of the damage.

“We understand,” said acting state Education Commissioner Dr. Angelica Allen-McMillan to lawmakers last week, “that it is impossible to accelerate learning if you cannot measure it.”

Mounting evidence suggests that students nationwide entered this school year behind the typical academic starting point, particularly in math.

Many parents and educators assume Newark students experienced similar learning loss after classrooms closed last spring, considering that some students went months without being able to access online classes and some teachers only started giving live video lessons this fall. The district made remote learning more rigorous this school year, but also repeatedly postponed in-person learning as coronavirus cases remain high in Newark.

“Kids are very adaptive, but nothing’s ever going to be like when we’re in the classroom,” said fourth-grade teacher Wirmarie Morales. Her students have grown more comfortable with online learning and made academic progress, yet she still feels they would learn more in person. “There’s no way we’re not going to have some loss not having that school setting.”

But exactly how much learning was lost is an open question.

The challenge is that Newark has limited pre-pandemic data to use as a baseline. Like other states, New Jersey canceled its annual standardized tests last spring and could potentially do so again this year. Newark is administering a separate assessment, called MAP Growth, to track students’ progress this year. But because students did not take that test in 2019, it can’t offer a picture of student learning before and after classrooms closed.

The district does have other measures of student performance, such as attendance rates and course grades. But schools have relaxed their attendance and grading policies so much during remote learning that the data provides an incomplete or even skewed picture.

Despite the limited data, Newark is moving forward with plans to combat learning loss. The district has started to roll out some tutoring programs, though officials have not said what the tutoring entails or how many students are served. And the school board last month approved plans to apply for a state grant to offer in-person summer math classes for rising fourth and fifth graders.

“Part of the strategy here is not to assume that there will be loss, but to assume that we actually can do something about it right now,” Superintendent Roger León told the board in December, without going into detail about the district’s plans.

District spokesperson Nancy Deering did not answer questions about how the district is measuring or trying to mitigate learning loss.

The state also is working with limited data. The New Jersey education department created optional diagnostic tests, which 81 districts and eight schools for students with disabilities administered this fall. Still, most districts used different assessments, making it difficult to determine which districts and student populations lost the most ground during remote learning.

A bill, which is in the state Assembly after clearing the Senate, would require the state to collect student achievement data from every district and compile a report quantifying the pandemic’s academic impact. The report would break down outcomes by race, gender, income, and special needs.

“When we get objective, statewide data, we can see as a whole how we’re serving students in New Jersey,” said Patricia Morgan, executive director of JerseyCan, a group that supports student testing. “We really need that statewide data to know where to direct resources.”

Critics say the state should focus on patching up learning gaps. Schools already are assessing student progress and don’t need statewide tests this spring, which would consume instructional time and provide unreliable data because many students would take the tests remotely, say groups representing New Jersey teachers and administrators. Instead, they say what schools need are resources to support struggling students and accelerate learning.

“Now is the time for the New Jersey Department of Education to provide some essential tools and a vision and a plan for moving forward, not leaving every district to reinvent the wheel,” said Patricia Wright, executive director of the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association, at last week’s legislative meeting.

The state says help is on the way.

The Education Department will soon award grants for programs aimed at combating learning loss. However, the $2.5 million grant program will only include 16 districts — or about 2% of the total.

The state is set to receive another $1.2 billion in federal funds for K-12 schools through the stimulus package that Congress passed in December. (President Joe Biden has proposed another package with $130 billion more for schools, which lawmakers still must approve.)

New Jersey officials say they will give the bulk of the $1.2 billion to districts to use for pandemic response and recovery efforts. The state will use a portion of the money to fund research-based programs aimed at addressing learning loss, such as individual tutoring, extended learning time, and teacher training.

“Our understanding from the research and what we’re gleaning from school districts is that every student in the state has lost ground,” acting Education Commissioner Allen-McMillan told lawmakers. “So how can we help everyone move forward?”

Amber Brown, whose daughter is a third grader at Harriet Tubman School, said it’s undeniable that some students have fallen behind.

Brown withdrew from college this school year so she could focus on her daughter’s remote learning. But she notices during online lessons that some of her daughter’s classmates don’t have family members around to answer their questions and help them concentrate.

“When they were in virtual learning, did they understand what they learned?” she said. “We won’t know until they get back in the classroom.”

New Jersey delays state tests, giving officials time to ‘explore all options’

2021-02-12T14:46:45+00:00

New Jersey will delay its state tests for a month, buying education officials time as the Biden administration decides whether to let students skip the tests for a second straight year.

Students will take the annual English, math, and science tests no earlier than April 5 instead of next month as planned, the New Jersey education department said Thursday. The delay will give districts more time to prepare and allow the state to “explore all options,” including changes to how the test scores are used.

The department, which just last month told districts to prepare for spring testing, has not signaled whether it will seek permission from the federal government to suspend the tests.

The delay comes as some state lawmakers and education groups, including the state teachers union, urge New Jersey to request a waiver from the federal government to cancel the standardized tests, which they argue are not useful or appropriate for students to take during the pandemic.

“We are pleased to learn that the New Jersey Department of Education has announced a delay in the implementation of standardized testing this spring,” said a statement Thursday from the state teachers union and groups representing school principals and administrators. “Nonetheless, we remain steadfast in our opposition to any statewide standardized testing this year in light of the conditions our students have faced for the last 11 months.”

Students in grades 3-8 and high school were scheduled to start taking the federally mandated tests on March 15. Students who are still learning English were set to take different tests beginning next week. Because some districts have yet to reopen school buildings, some students across the state were likely to take the tests remotely while others would sit for them in person.

The federal government waived the requirement for students to take the tests last spring after the coronavirus pandemic forced school buildings to close. President Joe Biden’s administration has not indicated whether it will grant exemptions this year, though it has extended the deadline for states to request flexibility in how they use the test results.

Yet some states, including Michigan and New York, have already sought permission to skip the tests entirely, saying that testing some students remotely and others in person would not yield reliable results.

New Jersey education groups have made similar arguments, adding that schools have already given local assessments to track students’ progress this year and that additional tests would squander valuable class time. On Thursday, two Democratic state assembly members said they would introduce a bill requiring New Jersey to request a federal testing waiver.

But other advocates and lawmakers, including state Sen. M. Teresa Ruiz, the influential chair of the senate education committee, are pushing New Jersey to measure the pandemic’s toll on student learning. They say that statewide academic data is crucial for identifying which districts and groups of students have fallen furthest behind and targeting resources accordingly.

“We know that even pre-pandemic there were inequities across our state,” said Patricia Morgan, executive director of JerseyCan, a group that supports test-based accountability. She noted that some research from the fall showed low-income students and students of color had regressed the most. “So measuring and having an understanding of where our students are 11 months into the pandemic is even more critical.”

New Jersey’s acting education commissioner, Dr. Angelica Allen-McMillan, has not given any indication that the state plans to seek a testing waiver.

She told a panel of state lawmakers this week that the state education department is closely monitoring federal guidance around testing, but that the Biden administration has yet to say it will issue testing waivers. She added that the state is creating guidance for districts on strategies for filling in learning gaps created by the pandemic, including tutoring, teacher training, and summer school.

“We understand, however, that it is impossible to accelerate learning if you cannot measure it,” she said Tuesday.

As new coronavirus cases decline, a growing number of New Jersey districts are reopening classrooms. More than 580 districts are now offering some in-person instruction, while 190 remain fully remote, Allen-McMillan said. The monthlong testing delay would give some of the fully remote districts, including Newark, time to reopen school buildings before students sit for the exams.

New Jersey said last month that this year’s state test scores will not be used to determine whether high school seniors can graduate or to evaluate teachers.

In its memo Thursday announcing that it would postpone the test start date, the state education department said it is trying to monitor student learning during the pandemic while also paying attention to students’ social and mental health needs.

“Across the nation, states and schools are working to answer new and evolving questions about how to best provide statewide snapshots of student progress and growth,” the message said, “while prioritizing the health, wellbeing and safety of all students and educators.”

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Newark teachers are likely to start getting vaccinated in February, superintendent says

2021-01-27T18:41:02+00:00

Every Newark schools employee should be able to receive a coronavirus vaccine by April, when schools are slated to reopen, Superintendent Roger León said.

The plan is for teachers and other district staffers who want the vaccine to get the first dose in February and the second in March, León said Tuesday. That would ensure employees have the opportunity to get vaccinated before school buildings are scheduled to reopen on April 12, clearing the way for students to return to classrooms part time after more than a year of remote learning.

“If everyone that wants the vaccine that is an employee is vaccinated, then technically we could have all staff vaccinated by April,” León said at a Saturday board meeting. “That would be the ultimate goal and objective.”

Meanwhile, some schools could resume in-person instruction even before April, the superintendent added. Without providing any details, León said the district is exploring a pilot program that would allow an unspecified number of school buildings to reopen prior to April.

“We’re extremely excited about the potential of this pilot and us actually starting it in the coming weeks,” he told the school board Saturday.

The district’s vaccination timeline will depend on several factors outside its control.

New Jersey has started vaccinating health care workers, nursing home residents, emergency responders, seniors, and people with certain high-risk medical conditions — but not educators. The state’s more than 100,000 public school teachers, along with other essential workers, will be eligible in the next phase of vaccine distribution.

During an interview on CNN Wednesday, Gov. Phil Murphy said that “educators are next up to bat,” but did not say when the next distribution stage will start.

Even after teachers and other school workers are eligible, shots might not be immediately available. Nearly 5 million New Jersey residents are currently eligible for vaccines, yet the federal government has distributed just over 1 million doses to the state, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Murphy, who has repeatedly called on Washington to send more doses, said Wednesday that the Biden administration would be ramping up the state’s allocation.

But New Jersey’s vaccine rollout has also been sluggish. Some residents have reported difficulty signing up for shots and scheduling second doses. So far, the state has administered just over 642,000 doses, trailing behind dozens of other states in the number of shots given per 100,000 residents, according to the CDC’s tally.

Then there is the question of teachers’ willingness to get the vaccine.

The district has not said whether it has surveyed employees about their plans to get vaccinated, nor has it said whether it will mandate vaccinations. However, the Newark Teachers Union informally surveyed members on social media, said union president John Abeigon. About 80% of the roughly 1,000 people who responded said they planned to get the vaccine when it’s available.

“I’m extremely confident” that most members will choose to get vaccinated, Abeigon said. “I have a highly educated, highly skilled professional membership.”

Still, some Newark residents and district employees have expressed doubts about taking the vaccine right away. At a virtual town hall meeting in December, Superintendent León said he hadn’t made up his mind about getting vaccinated.

“I think that because of the role that I play in our community, it’s extremely important that I make a statement about it,” he said during the forum hosted by the Alliance for Newark Public Schools. “I’m still thinking and right now when I’m ready to make that decision, I will make it.”

Vaccinating staff members does not assure a safe school reopening, health experts caution.

While the vaccines are highly effective at protecting people from COVID-19 illness, it is not yet clear whether they prevent transmission. In addition, the vaccines have not been approved for young children.

That means schools must continue all the recommended strategies to mitigate virus spread — mask wearing, social distancing, hand washing, and air ventilation — even after staffers start getting vaccinated. The Newark school district has been stockpiling masks, hand sanitizer, and cleaning supplies and publicizing its safety protocols in anticipation of reopening classrooms, even as reopening has been delayed multiple times this school year.

The other factor affecting when schools reopen is the level of virus spread in the community.

The pandemic has ravaged Newark, which has reported more than 27,000 cases and 816 deaths due to COVID-19. But a recent surge of infections has started to ease, Mayor Ras Baraka said Monday. The city’s test positivity rate on Jan. 15 was just over 13%, he said — a roughly 7 percentage point decrease from the previous week.

“That is a large decrease,” Baraka said. “We want to continue to do what we’re doing.”

New Jersey won’t require tests to graduate or rate teachers on student growth as pandemic rages

2021-01-11T23:37:56+00:00

New Jersey will not require high school seniors to pass any tests in order to graduate this year, and teachers will not be rated on students’ academic growth, Gov. Phil Murphy said Monday, nodding to the ongoing disruption of the still-raging pandemic.

Twelfth graders must still meet credit and attendance requirements in order to earn diplomas this year, but they don’t need to pass exit exams, according to Murphy’s new executive order. And teachers will not be rated on student test scores or other academic measures this year, leaving classroom observations — whether in person or virtual — as the sole measure of teacher effectiveness.

“As we’ve said from moment one, this is not a normal or regular school year,” Murphy said Monday. “We have to be more flexible and more understanding.”

The pandemic forced Murphy to make similar changes last spring after school closures canceled the annual standardized tests that students take. Following the rule change, Newark’s unaudited graduation rate jumped to 81% last school year — the highest it’s been in decades, district officials said.

Ten months into the coronavirus crisis, New Jersey students are learning fully remotely in 337 school districts, while they are coming into classrooms at least a few days a week in 430 other districts.

The evaluation change is likely to come as a relief to many educators, including those in Newark, where the district issued guidelines this fall saying teachers’ ratings would be based partly on students’ improvement on standardized tests. Those “student growth objectives” would have made up 15% of teachers’ overall ratings, which can determine whether they earn tenure or keep their jobs.

Newark teachers raised several objections. They questioned the reliability of online tests that students took from home, and said it was unfair to expect students to make a typical amount of academic progress during remote learning.

Murphy’s decision settles that argument by removing student academic goals from teacher evaluations this year. The Newark Teachers Union welcomed the change, while also asking for greater flexibility around remote teacher observations — a matter the union has been negotiating with the district.

“A good start!” the union posted on Facebook Monday. “But what about more evaluation guidance? Where is the flexibility and understanding when it comes to teachers?”

Murphy’s executive order also eased restrictions on substitute teachers in response to the nationwide teacher shortage wrought by the pandemic. Now, substitute teachers who are still trying to become certified and those who are teaching outside of their areas of certification can remain in their positions longer.

While New Jersey can lower the stakes of testing, it can’t unilaterally cancel the annual tests that students must take under federal law. The incoming Biden administration has yet to make a decision on whether to require testing this spring, even as advocates on both sides of the issue voice their concerns.

New Jersey’s acting education commissioner, Dr. Angelica Allen-McMillan, said Monday that the state is moving forward with plans to administer the tests this spring until federal officials say otherwise.

“If there is a change with the incoming administration,” she added, “we will weigh all of our options at that time.”

Newark schools are ramping up virtual tutoring. Will it be enough to combat pandemic learning loss?

2020-12-15T19:05:48+00:00

As evidence mounts that the pandemic is inflicting academic harm on many students, some Newark schools are turning to a simple yet potentially potent treatment: tutoring.

The city school district plans to train students to tutor their peers, and it recently launched a “homework hotline” where teachers work one-on-one with students over video chat. Some Newark charter schools are also bringing in tutors, including corporate volunteers at one school and AmeriCorps members at another. All the tutoring is happening virtually while classrooms are closed.

But as schools race to offer students extra help, experts caution that only rigorous and frequent tutoring is likely to help reverse the learning loss caused by the pandemic. The patchwork of programs in cities such as Newark points to the need for federally funded and coordinated tutoring that is widespread and intensive enough to steer students back on track, researchers say.

“We can’t expect all these schools to just reinvent the wheel for tutoring with all the coordination, curriculum, training, costs, and expertise it requires,” said Matthew Kraft, a Brown University professor who co-authored a new report calling for a national tutoring program. “We need to support them to do so.”

Data is piling up that shows this spring’s school closures knocked many students off course.

Testing this fall revealed that students started this school year behind, with progress stalling most in math; and students of color lost more ground than white students, according to at least one analysis. Meanwhile, several districts are reporting a surge in students failing their fall classes.

New Jersey, like most states, did not mandate widespread testing this fall to measure academic backsliding. But in anticipation of probable learning loss, the state recently said it would give grants to 16 districts to help students catch up.

As schools consider how best to help students rebound, a large body of evidence suggests that small-group tutoring is one of the most effective ways to boost student learning. England recently launched a national tutoring program to address learning loss, and some states and districts in the United States have funded smaller efforts.

“There are few interventions in education where the evidence is as compelling and overwhelming as it is for the efficacy of tutoring,” said Kraft, who co-authored the paper with Grace Falken calling for a massive, federally funded expansion of tutoring into every public school.

But not all tutoring programs are equal. Kraft said the most effective programs keep student-to-tutor ratios low, schedule several sessions per week, and provide tutors with high-quality training and teaching materials. Tutoring usually works better during the school day because students are more likely to attend and take it seriously, said Kraft, who recommends lengthening the school day by 30 minutes to make time for tutoring.

In Newark, the district is planning a suite of tutoring programs this school year, according to documents and the district website. While still likely to benefit students, the programs might not feature all the hallmarks of effective tutoring, such as well-trained tutors and frequent sessions.

Through the district’s peer tutoring program, students in grades 3-11 will learn to coach their classmates. Teachers are responsible for choosing and training students to become tutors, according to district guidance. The guidance does not say how often tutoring will occur or what curriculum the student tutors will use.

A district spokesperson would not answer questions or provide any information about the tutoring programs, and did not allow a school board member to be interviewed.

The effort was supposed to be up and running by October, but has yet to roll out to all schools.

The homework hotline connects students with teachers who are on call from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday. Students can choose a teacher who specializes in the subject they need help with, then join the teacher’s video chat.

One of the hotline workers is Wilmarie Morales, a bilingual teacher at Ridge Street School. Last Wednesday, she met virtually with a Spanish-speaking sixth-grader who recently arrived from Ecuador and needed help understanding his assignments. On Thursday, she assisted a second-grader who logs on almost every afternoon. They worked on science, math, and spelling assignments, and read a book about Santa Claus.

“Some kids, you’re on with them an hour; other kids, you’re on with them 10 minutes,” Morales said. “The kids enjoy it, they like it.”

The hotline, which began Nov. 30, offers individual support. But with only about 20 teachers, the program can only serve a fraction of the district’s more than 36,000 students.

Individual schools also offer virtual afterschool programs that include tutoring. However, school staffers say that getting students to voluntarily attend after a full day of remote learning can be difficult. Yolanda Johnson, a parent advocate whose daughter has attended University High School’s afterschool program, said tutoring should be required.

“It’s critical right now,” she said. “School districts should make it mandatory.”

Beyond tutoring, the district also created math and phonics “bootcamps” this fall, where elementary school teachers gave a series of lessons reviewing essential skills in those subjects. And through a partnership with the Newark Public Library, district teachers will record lessons on different topics that students can watch online. After a delay, the service will launch in January, a library official said.

An AmeriCorps fellow worked with Great Oaks Legacy Charter School students in 2019. During remote learning, the fellows are now tutoring students remotely.

Newark charter schools are also ramping up academic support this fall.

At Philip’s Academy Charter School, volunteers from Prudential Financial tutor struggling students over Zoom each Tuesday through a program called Math Motivators. Teachers also offer small-group tutoring sessions every Saturday. And during two “intervention” periods each week, teachers review topics with small groups of students who need extra help while the rest use online-learning programs.

Principal Yasmeen Sampson said testing this fall showed that about half of students were starting below grade level. That prompted the school to schedule the hour-long intervention periods during the school day so all students have access to tutoring.

“We don’t want students to be excluded from getting what they need,” she said.

Great Oaks Legacy Charter School offers tutoring that closely resembles what some think tanks and lawmakers have proposed.

Through an AmeriCorps fellowship that predated the pandemic, recent college graduates tutor small groups of students during a designated period each day. The full-time tutors also work with struggling students after school and on Saturdays. The school trains the tutors and teachers meet with them regularly to track student progress and plan lessons.

“You really need systems and oversight,” said Dr. Prudence Minton, chief academic officer of the network’s middle school. “That’s been the biggest part of the program.”

Newark schools spend millions on safety supplies while students wait to return

2020-12-03T20:39:01+00:00

Piled high inside Newark’s vacant school buildings are heaps of mostly unused safety supplies.

They include more than 720,000 face coverings, 35,000 desktop barriers, and over 3,000 gallons of hand sanitizer that district officials bought in preparation for students’ return this fall, according to a Chalkbeat analysis of purchase orders from July through October.

Yet despite the huge stockpile of supplies, most students haven’t come back to school. The district twice postponed in-person learning this fall due to an increase in coronavirus cases and concerns about school building ventilation. As a result, the majority of its roughly 36,000 students never returned to classrooms and remain at home, where they’ve been taking classes remotely since March.

Of the $18.3 million in federal pandemic-relief money the district received, it spent at least $3 million on supplies needed for in-person learning, according to the Chalkbeat analysis of district spending records. The spending illustrates the district’s extraordinary effort to safely reopen schools — an effort that has yet to bear fruit as classrooms remain largely empty some three months into the school year.

Newark has put some of the safety supplies to use, including at Thirteenth Avenue School, where students took in-person summer classes.

To be sure, the supplies haven’t all sat unused. A small number of students attended in-person summer school, a limited number of students with disabilities received in-person services this fall, and district employees have continued coming into schools to clean classrooms and distribute grab-and-go lunches.

In addition, a chunk of the emergency funds went toward devices and programs for online learning.

Meanwhile, the district is still holding out hope that students will step back into schools this January — though the alarming statewide surge in coronavirus cases could torpedo those plans. At a school board meeting last month, Superintendent Roger León said if he had previously known how sharply cases would spike this fall, he might have extended remote learning even longer.

“If I would have had the numbers that I have today,” he said, “I would have been pretty hard-pressed to say that we’re returning in January.”

As part of a pandemic-relief package approved in March known as the CARES Act, Congress provided $13.2 billion in aid to schools. The law gave districts wide latitude in how they could spend the money — it could pay for cleaning supplies and laptops, mental-health services and afterschool programs, or even staff salaries.

Newark spent about half of its $18.3 million on supplies and equipment, nearly $6 million on salaries and benefits, and about $3 million on services, according to a spending breakdown that Chalkbeat obtained through a public records request.

Chalkbeat also analyzed purchase orders for about $4.9 million of those expenditures. Roughly $3 million of that amount went toward in-person learning expenses, including:

$846,000 on desktop barriers;
$737,000 on disinfectant wipes, antibacterial cleaning products, portable air purifiers, and other sanitizing supplies;
$368,000 for face coverings, including cloth masks with school logos;
$346,000 on hand sanitizer and dispensers;
$140,000 on signs with safety messages, such as “Wash your hands” and “Please wear a mask”;
$71,000 on classroom materials, including workbooks and teaching tools for students with disabilities;
$48,000 on bus routes.

Despite the emphasis on reopening schools, the district also spent about $1.8 million of the analyzed funds on supplies that could support remote learning. Those included:

$1 million for online math and reading programs;
$596,000 for desktop computers, laptops, related hardware, and technical support;
$111,000 on 650 wireless hotspots;
$73,000 on bags and containers for take-home meals.

The analyzed funds only represent a portion of Newark’s pandemic-related spending. For instance, the district purchased a total of 1,350 hotspots using federal funds, León told the school board. Donors have also given the district hundreds of laptops and hotspots this year.

Still, because of the level of need in Newark, the federal aid has not covered all of the district’s coronavirus costs. District officials have previously said the relief money was not enough to pay for all the devices required for remote learning, and last month León said the district still needs another 2,500 new laptops to replace older models that are prone to malfunctioning.

Newark is not alone in watching pandemic expenses swamp its federal aid.

Education leaders have said for months that the initial round of federal relief wouldn’t be enough for this school year or beyond, and Congress has yet to pass another aid package. And in New Jersey, more than 60% of district superintendents and finance officials said their slice of the CARES Act money was insufficient to cover the full cost of protective equipment, educational technology, and building upgrades, according to a July survey by the New Jersey School Boards Association.

“Congress and the federal government need to partner with the state and school districts in providing additional resources to deliver education safely and effectively during this public health emergency,” said Lawrence Feinsod, the group’s executive director, in a report on reopening schools.

Gov. Phil Murphy has funneled additional federal aid to districts, including about $54 million for devices for online learning and $100 million for school reopening costs. Yet declining tax revenues during the pandemic forced Murphy to scrap a planned funding boost to schools, leaving Newark with $36 million less in state aid than it had counted on this school year.

Meanwhile, pandemic expenses continue to gobble up funds. Newark is spending $7 million in relief money to install new air filters and ventilation systems across the district, an official said last month.

The race to buy laptops and upgrade buildings with the emergency aid points to a deeper problem: chronic underfunding, said Mark Weber, an education policy analyst at New Jersey Policy Perspective, a progressive think tank. Some New Jersey districts with the greatest need receive far less state and local aid than they are due according to the state’s own funding formula.

Newark and other underfunded districts with crumbling school buildings and limited computers had more difficulty reopening schools this fall, Weber said. While many factors contributed to districts’ decision to delay in-person learning — including local infection rates, union pressure, and some families’ fear of students returning to classrooms — funding challenges also played a role, he said.

In an analysis, Weber found that the majority of New Jersey students in “severely underfunded” districts were not given the option of returning to classrooms this fall.

“At least in part, this has to be about funding,” he said. “This sort of chronic inequity that has been going on for years — now it’s finally catching up with us.”

Newark will temporarily close remote learning centers due to COVID-19 spike

2020-11-20T00:43:42+00:00

As coronavirus cases surge, Newark is temporarily shutting down sites where students can take online classes while their parents work.

The free centers provide students with adult supervision, internet access, and meals this fall while Newark’s traditional schools and most charter schools are operating remotely. Now, the sites will close for 10 days starting Nov. 25, according to a letter given to families Thursday.

The temporary shutdown comes as Newark — and much of the country — weathers an alarming rise in COVID-19 cases and deaths. The city’s test-positivity rate reached 19% last week after dipping as low as 3% this summer, Mayor Ras Baraka said. This week, the city has averaged more than 200 new cases per day, Baraka said Wednesday.

The mayor has imposed new restrictions to slow the virus’ spread, including a curfew in certain neighborhoods and an order for non-essential businesses to close by 8 p.m. On Wednesday, he announced an additional measure: an “advisory” asking all non-essential businesses to close completely and residents to remain home from Nov. 25 to Dec. 4.

“It’s getting bad, and we’re going to have to take stronger measures,” he said on Facebook Live. During that 10-day period, he added, “We’re asking everything to be shut down.”

In response to a viewer’s question, Baraka said that the remote learning centers would stay open. However, parents were told Thursday that the sites were included in the citywide shutdown.

“Due to an uptick in COVID-19 cases the Mayor has made the decision to temporary [sic] close all City of Newark offices & programs” during that time period, said the letter from Patrick Council, director of the city’s recreation department.

“We truly apologize in advance for any inconveniences this may cause you,” he added, “but we feel it is in the best interest of your children, you, and the residents of Newark.”

Students who attend traditional or charter schools in Newark could sign up for the remote learning sites, which are based at recreation centers and a public library. The free program has been a lifeline to many working parents that spared them from paying for child care or even leaving their jobs.

Jaz West-Romero is one of those parents. A single parent who works full time, she has sent her six-year-old son Julius to one of the sites since they opened in late September.

“This is obviously going to throw a wrench into my situation,” she said Thursday.

She added that she understands the need to temporarily close the centers as virus cases spike. But she is hoping the temporary closure doesn’t become indefinite.

“I can manage the shutdown until Dec. 4,” she said. “If it goes past Dec. 4, then it’s going to be a problem.”

Waiting to return: How a Newark charter school is hanging on while classrooms are closed

2020-11-18T16:35:42+00:00

Just before 9 a.m. on the first day of school, Principal Cidi Brown took note of the students facing her.

Ranging from third to fifth grade, most wore navy-blue polo shirts emblazoned with the University Heights Charter School logo. Some fidgeted while others sat gravely still. All in all, they looked like children do every September when summer vanishes and homework reappears.

Yet this first-day assembly was different. The principal sat in her office, staring into a computer screen. And her students, seated next to their parents and grandparents, looked back at her from living rooms, kitchens, and bedrooms across Newark.

“Welcome to University Heights in the COVID era,” Brown said over video chat. “This time is unprecedented and I’m going to ask at the onset…” She paused while a few people muted themselves. “I’m going to ask at the onset that you guys be patient with us.”

Cidi Brown, principal of University Heights’ elementary school, welcomed students back to virtual school in September.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. The small charter school network, encompassing three schools in the city’s Central Ward, had planned to reopen classrooms in September. But after coronavirus cases ticked up late in the summer, University Heights’ leadership decided to start classes virtually.

Now, they were pinning their hopes on students returning to classrooms in November — though even that delayed start was clouded by uncertainty.

As the virus surged this fall, schools nationwide were trapped in a similar bind. Officials feared the potential health risks of opening schools and knew many families and teachers might refuse to return. But they also were painfully aware of the limitations of remote learning — students without a quiet place to study, families without internet access, teachers struggling to reach students virtually. Even with improvements to online classes this fall, many educators worried that the longer students remained at home, the further behind they would slip.

On top of all that, University Heights faced an existential threat. The state had placed it on probation the previous year due to poor performance. Now, Brown and a cadre of new leaders were trying to overhaul the troubled network during a pandemic that was testing schools and families like nothing they’d experienced before.

But on that September morning, Brown didn’t dwell on the steep road ahead. She cheerfully introduced herself and her new teachers before dismissing students to their video classes.

Then parents’ anxious questions came flooding in.

Many needed help logging into Zoom, the videoconferencing tool that teachers had used only sporadically last spring. Other families did not have enough computers for their children — or any at all.

“Good morning,” one mother said, explaining that her third-grade twins had to access Zoom on her iPhone. “So how will that work?”

After loaning out its existing laptops, the network had ordered new Chromebooks this summer for each of its roughly 850 students. But due to overwhelming demand nationwide, the laptops weren’t expected to arrive until the end of September.

“Everyone in the country is looking for laptops,” Brown said, “so we’re in line with everyone else.”

About an hour into the meeting, well after classes had started, a child’s voice rang out.

“My mom is not here,” the girl said, explaining that she was in third grade and new to the school. “I don’t know what class am I in.”

She was one of a few students that morning who said they were home alone or with siblings while their parents worked. The school secretary sent the girl the class Zoom link. But 45 minutes later, she returned, explaining that she hadn’t been able to log in.

“I’ve been waiting for a long, long time and I didn’t know what to do,” the girl said, sounding frightened. “I think my class is already over.”

In a soothing voice, Brown explained that her class had not ended.

“You’re going to be fine,” she said. “I promise.”

Teaching from afar

That morning, teacher Kamilia Mackey was seated in her living room — her classroom for the foreseeable future.

Behind her was a poster she decorated, with “Ms. Mackey’s Virtual Class” spelled out in green letters. Nearby was her “fur baby,” Diva, the puppy she purchased to keep her company during quarantine. And in front of her was an open laptop.

Kamilia Mackey teaches third grade at University Heights.

A Newark native, Mackey was beginning her seventh year at University Heights. Yet she still felt jittery: How would she build rapport with students through Zoom?

She tried not to focus on that as she asked her new third graders to share their names and adjectives with the same letter. A curly-haired girl said, “elastic Emilie.”

“You go girl!” Mackey replied over video.

Before she called on the next student, she reminded the class of the new rules. They would become her mantra: “Mute your mics. Turn your cameras on.”

Mackey had watched University Heights stumble. Founded 14 years ago with the help of a local church, the schools’ academic performance withered in recent years. In 2019, fewer than one in four University Heights students met state expectations on the annual English tests, and just one in six did so in math. When state officials visited two of the three campuses that year, they observed disengaged students and substitute teachers leading many classes.

After the network made staffing changes, the state this February allowed the schools to keep operating. But they remain on probation and must make major improvements to stay open.

This summer, the board of trustees chose new leaders to guide that work. They hired Christy Oliver-Hawley, most recently a senior official in the Jersey City school system, to become the network’s chief administrator. And they replaced all three principals, putting Brown in charge of the elementary school.

A veteran educator from South Carolina with experience improving low-performing schools, Brown’s work day stretches from 7:30 a.m. until late in the evening. The pandemic amplified her feeling of urgency.

“COVID kind of just punched everybody in the face,” she said, “and was like, ‘I’m here. You got to get this together.’”

Cidi Brown became principal of University Heights’ elementary school this summer.

Mackey noticed changes under the new leadership. Unlike the spring, when teachers cobbled together virtual lessons, the network this fall put in a place a new online platform, new textbooks, and a set schedule of daily video classes. Suddenly, Mackey felt hopeful.

“I’m excited about virtual learning,” she said after class that first day. “I’m eager to learn these new things.”

But despite her enthusiasm, remote teaching was tough. One morning a couple weeks later, Mackey summoned her students back from a 10-minute break to begin math class.

“Alright boys and girls, brain break is now over,” she said through Zoom. “You should be turning on your video.”

Mackey taught a math lesson on Sept. 24.

Mackey displayed an array of grinning emojis on her screen and asked students to write the rows and columns as a multiplication equation. Most students got to work, jotting answers in their notebooks. But one boy was distracted by siblings, yelling at them to give back his erasers. Another unmuted himself to ask for help: “My question is: What are we doing?” Other students were harder to track — they sat off screen or turned off their cameras.

Mackey asked a boy to write on her shared screen as if it were a whiteboard. But he didn’t know how to use Zoom’s drawing tool, so she scrapped the idea and promised to explain the feature later.

When students held up their notebooks, many of their answers were wrong. Material that rarely caused problems in the classroom was tripping up students remotely.

“I think we’re going to have to take notes on the same information until it starts to stick,” she told the class.

Virtual school was wearing on Mackey. Some students still lacked laptops or Wi-Fi, causing them to miss class. About a third of her students were absent the first day of class; by late October, daily attendance had climbed but still hovered around 85%.

Teaching online wasn’t the same. She couldn’t peer over her students’ shoulders to inspect their work or point to reference charts on the wall. And it was more difficult to forge bonds with children or sense when they were stuck.

“I know if we were in the classroom, I would feel less frustrated,” she said the day after that math lesson. “There’s only so much I can do with the distance in between us.”

Home life, disrupted

When University Heights emptied its school buildings in March, Stacey Ragin braced for her two sons to learn from home for a few weeks.

Those few weeks turned into the rest of the school year. And now here they were, seven months later, starting a new school year with Stacy, her second-grader, on a laptop in the dining room and Nicholas, her third-grader, on Zoom in the attic.

Still, the family was making do. Ragin’s mother, who lives with the family on a quiet block in the South Ward, helped keep an eye on the boys. Stacy was slowly learning to type. And when it was time for class, Nicholas cheerily set off for the “treetop,” their name for the attic, announcing, “OK, I’m going to work.”

Yet there was no denying that remote learning had disrupted Ragin’s life. A parent liaison for a youth development program, she now did work on her phone during the day so Nicholas could use her laptop for class. With everyone online, the family had to upgrade their internet plan. And Ragin was taking work calls on the back deck or in the bathroom to avoid interrupting her sons’ lessons.

“My life is their life now,” Ragin said a few weeks into the school year. “That’s it.”

Stacey Ragin with her sons, Nicholas and Stacy.

On the other end of town, Tracy Miles had made her own concessions to remote learning.

She now spent her days seated a few feet from Makaila, the granddaughter she helps care for, making sure she stays on task during her online lessons. Makaila was new to University Heights and had been placed in Mackey’s class.

A former classroom aide, Miles was impressed by Mackey’s patience and dedication. And Mackey appreciated how Miles occasionally popped on screen to ask questions — something many students were reluctant to do over Zoom.

Yet Miles’ rowhouse in the North Ward was hardly equipped for online learning. The family doesn’t have internet or a computer, so Makaila attended Zoom class on Miles’ phone. And without a printer, Miles was forced to write out Makaila’s homework assignments by hand. After her granddaughter completed them, Miles would snap a photo and send it to Mackey. She just hoped the school’s promised shipment of laptops would arrive soon.

“Patience, that’s all I can say,” she said one afternoon. “If you don’t have patience, it’s not going to work.”

For her part, Makaila didn’t mind remote learning. With her University Heights uniform shirt and thin braids, she could be seen smiling on Zoom, raising her hand, and diligently taking notes with her green pencil. Yet when asked one October afternoon how she’ll feel when she could finally step foot in her school, she didn’t hesitate.

“Happy,” she said. “Because I never met my other teachers.”

When school reopened, she’d be able to see her classroom, walk the hallways, and visit the cafeteria, Makaila said. Best of all, she’d meet new people.

“I never made friends,” she added. “But one day I will.”

Tracy Miles with her granddaughter, Makaila.

Readying to return

That day seemed to be fast approaching.

University Heights had set Nov. 9 as the tentative date to begin “hybrid” learning. Students would come into classrooms two days a week and learn from home three days, while families could continue full-time remote learning if they chose.

In mid-October, the network surveyed families and staffers about their willingness to return to school. Meanwhile, officials got ready for in-person learning: They started installing Plexiglass barriers and hired an extra nurse who would take temperatures when students arrived. Children were already assigned to 10-person cohorts that would venture into school on the same days — principals had made those lists before the first attempted reopening in September.

Oliver-Hawley, the network head who started in July, was leading the charge. A seasoned public-school administrator who grew up in Jersey City and lived in Newark for a decade, she had felt called to take the job leading University Heights despite the formidable task of turning around schools during a pandemic.

“That’s where you find out what you’re made of,” she said.

Now, about a month into the school year, she believed the network’s teachers — many of them newly hired — were delivering quality remote instruction. Yet she still was eager for students to return.

“I know with the numbers we have to be very careful, but we’re just hoping we can get our babies in for hybrid learning as soon as possible,” she said as October began. “There’s nothing like in-person learning.”

Christy Oliver-Hawley is University Heights’ new CEO and head of schools.

At the same time, the network had an online learning breakthrough.

In July, it had paid about $200,000 for Chromebook laptops for all students, which were due to arrive by the start of classes. But, blaming a backlog, the supplier pushed back the arrival date to December. Network officials and their supporters lobbied the supplier, and it agreed to fast track the shipment. Finally, in mid-October, the laptops were ready to distribute.

On a warm autumn afternoon, third-grade families trickled into the elementary school gym to pick up their new devices. Among them was Corey Sweat, who had been holding out for holiday sales to buy a new home computer. Now, she had a Chromebook to bring her daughter.

“I can’t wait to get home,” she said, anticipating her daughter’s excitement. “She’s been saying, ‘Oh mommy, what time are you coming?”

Later that day came Nitisha Grimes, the parent who had asked during the virtual assembly how her twins would manage virtual school on her iPhone. Now, she cradled her toddler son while a staff member helped her daughter, Nakiayh, try out two Chromebooks — one for her and one for her twin sister, Laniayh. A month into the school year, Grimes felt like her daughters finally were equipped for remote learning.

“Now they’re not going to be behind,” she said.

A staff member helps third-grader Nakiayh Grimes set up her new laptop.

Decision day

As reopening day approached, everyone at University Heights was studying “the numbers.” They weren’t good.

In the spring, the coronavirus had slammed into Newark. With a population that is primarily Black and Hispanic and a poverty rate in 2017 that was nearly three times the state average, the city was especially vulnerable to the virus. At the pandemic’s peak, Newark averaged about 300 new COVID-19 cases per day. By the end of April, more than 400 Newark residents had died.

After strictly enforcing distancing rules, the city managed to tame the virus. On July 16, Mayor Ras Baraka could finally celebrate a day without any new cases or deaths. Yet as summer gave way to fall, the virus launched a new offensive. Just a few days after University Heights handed out laptops, Baraka said the city now was averaging more than 60 new daily cases.

“We are officially in the second wave,” he said during an online briefing on Monday, Oct. 19.

Some limited data has suggested that virus cases have not spiked when classrooms reopen. And in New Jersey, where hundreds of districts began the school year with some in-person learning, just over 20 school-based outbreaks had been reported by mid-October.

But the risk of in-school transmission rises as the virus spreads in the surrounding community, as it was doing in Newark and across New Jersey. Shortly after Baraka gave his briefing that Monday, the Newark school district announced that its more than 60 schools would remain closed through January.

Now, University Heights had to decide whether to proceed with its hybrid plan or pull the plug.

Oliver-Hawley looked at the results of that month’s survey. About 70% of families said they preferred to stay fully remote, and 30% of teachers said they were at high risk for illness and wouldn’t return. Fortunately, most students now had laptops and online textbooks.

Yet she had reason to worry about keeping students home. Researchers project that some students could lose the equivalent of several months of learning due to the school closures. That’s in addition to the social and emotional strain of being separated from peers for the better part of a year.

So she prayed for guidance, then consulted with the board of trustees. On Oct. 21, they made their decision: Classrooms would not reopen the following month. Instead, students would continue learning remotely at least through the new year.

“Of course we were looking forward to seeing our scholars in person,” Oliver-Hawley said afterwards. “But we were also trying as best we could to guarantee their health and safety.”

She added that diagnostic tests showed a slight improvement in student scores this fall.

A University Heights classroom sat empty in late October.

When Stacey Ragin heard the news, she welcomed it.

Yes, remote learning had rearranged her life. But she was pleased with her boys’ online classes and their academic progress. More to the point, the virus had shaken her family. She saw it infect her brother and his wife, and fill her son with dread last spring whenever she left the house. She had watched lines of cars snake around the local funeral parlor and heard the wailing of sirens as ambulances tore through her neighborhood.

“When you see those types of things, it changes everything,” she said.

Tracy Miles also agreed with the decision. She knew people who had died from COVID-19 and was not willing to risk sending her granddaughter back to school until a vaccine was available.

In the meantime, she was happy with the quality of online instruction. Yet technology remained a challenge. The school had given Makaila a laptop, but because the family did not have internet access, the laptop went unused. By mid-November, the school had yet to provide the Wi-Fi hotspot it long ago promised.

“That’s the only thing I’m mad about,” Miles said. “They should get that together.” (The school said it will give Miles a hotspot this week.)

Principal Brown wasn’t surprised that classroom learning had to be postponed, yet again.

She already had plans to keep students motivated, with virtual celebrations of students’ grades and artistic creations scheduled for the coming weeks. The school would also provide tutoring, and perhaps mentoring, to students who needed extra help. Yet she couldn’t ignore the academic and psychological toll that the pandemic was likely to take on all students, including her own.

“It may be years before we get them caught up to where they need to be,” she said earlier this fall. “But we’re going to do our best to give the scholars all we can.”

Mackey was grateful that the leadership had delayed reopening, which signaled to her their concern for everyone’s safety. But still, she worried about her students’ learning. Diagnostic tests had shown that many of her third-graders started the year below grade level, and they continued to pick up new material more slowly online than they would in person.

“It was a sigh of relief,” she said after remote learning was extended. “But I’m still unhappy.”

The Friday morning after the board made its decision, Mackey’s students appeared as usual in her Zoom classroom. As they took turns greeting one another, Mackey asked one girl to shift her camera so it showed her face. After a boy spoke, she reminded him, “OK, mute your mic, baby.”

Then Mackey explained that morning’s game, a scavenger hunt where students would find different colored objects in their homes. The boy who led the game called out colors — pink, blue, white, black — and his classmates held up notebooks, stuffed animals, T-shirts, a phone charger.

The boy was wearing a headset with an attached microphone. As the game ended, he offered an apology.

“I’m sorry for all the noise in my headphones,” he said from what looked like his living room. “Me and my sister are both in class.”

‘COVID is traumatic’: Newark mayor responds to students’ struggles during the pandemic

2020-11-13T19:07:49+00:00

Newark students shared some of the challenges of attending school remotely during a virtual chat with the mayor Thursday, where they discussed the isolation of online learning, the frustration of heavy workloads, and the strain of being a teenager during a global pandemic.

Newark students have been out of classrooms for eight months, and with coronavirus cases surging statewide and in Newark, the district’s tentative plan to resume in-person learning in late January is far from certain. As remote learning drags on, a handful of students at the “Youth Town Hall” raised some of their top priorities: more mental health support, more engaging coursework, and programs to keep students safe when violence erupts in the community.

Weequahic High School student Malayjah Williams told the mayor that remote learning sometimes felt “like a waste of time.”

Mayor Ras Baraka, a former principal of Central High School, intently listened as he cradled his toddler during the event on Instagram Live. Baraka was sympathetic to their concerns, saying schools must help students cope with any trauma caused by COVID-19 and teachers need training on how to provide stimulating lessons over the internet.

“If you thought it was boring in class, it is going to be 10 times more boring at home because you are not engaged,” Baraka said. Teachers need to use technology “and make it exciting and innovative.”

Students recounted what they’re going through as Baraka responded without judgment.

“I feel like it’s a waste of time being in school on a computer because we’re not learning anything,” said Malayjah Williams, a student at Weequahic High School, who asked the mayor how he “plans on helping students who are struggling with their work.”

“A lot of students who were previously doing well are not now,” Baraka acknowledged, adding that teachers need support in using technology to connect with students and keep them invested in school while they’re learning from home. “Kids fail because they’re not engaged, and we have not figured out a way to engage them.”

As some New Jersey schools that had opened for in-person instruction this fall are now shuttering, the mayor said that keeping Newark schools closed remained the safest move. Eventually, the virus will be handled. Technology, however, is here to stay, and adults must “get better at dealing” with it, he said.

He also said Newark had lagged behind some other districts in adopting new technology.

“It is new to us, and it shouldn’t be,” he said. “We have to get better at it.”

Taylor Johnson, a student at Arts High School, asked how the city is addressing the uptick in violent crime during the pandemic.

Taylor Johnson, a student at Arts High School, laid out several concerns. He said there has been “a very bad lack of communication” between some students and teachers during remote learning, which he feared could cause students’ grades to suffer. He also said he heard that the high school football season had been suspended, and as a result some students’ hopes of winning college scholarships could be dashed.

The mayor assured Johnson that the season was not canceled. However, he said the state had been “lackadaisical” about enforcing coronavirus safety rules for youth sports, and that athletes from other parts of the state had infected Newark students during competitions. As a result, the city is requiring Newark student-athletes and coaches to be tested for the virus over a period of two weeks, Baraka said.

“We have to take all precautions that’s necessary or we’re going to feel responsible,” he said. “So we’re not cancelling the season, we’re just making sure everybody gets tested.”

Johnson also asked the mayor about a spike in violence during the pandemic, an alarming trend that has beset cities nationwide. On Sunday, a 17-year-old boy was fatally shot in Newark; another Newark 17-year-old was charged in the killing.

Johnson asked how the city could “help slow down the violence and slow down 18, 17, 16-year-olds being killed in the middle of the street.”

Baraka said the city is still on course to end the year with some of the lowest levels of violence in decades, but that violent crime has increased since the spring. While the city has various initiatives aimed at reducing violence and mediating conflicts, it could use young people’s help in coming up with more solutions, the mayor said.

Two students asked about support for young people dealing with fear and distress related to the pandemic, including students whose family members have fallen ill. The mayor was clear.

“COVID is traumatic,” Baraka said. “Dealing with what we’re dealing with now is a traumatic situation.”

Staff needs the training to help students, and students should recognize that they sometimes need to step away from screens and reflect, the mayor added.

When asked what advice he could give, the mayor was quick with an answer.

“Patience is important,” he said. “And understand that we are all going through this. We have to use this as an opportunity.”

“How do we navigate this moment?” Baraka continued. “We shouldn’t pretend that before Covid everything was perfect. That is just not true. I would say patience, ingenuity, and using what we have.”

The virtual event was viewed live by more than 180 people. Joining Baraka were Newark school board members Dawn Haynes, Hasani Council, and A’Dorian Murray-Thomas, who also leads the Newark-based nonprofit SHE Wins!, which co-sponsored the event with the Brick City Peace Collective.

Newark’s largest charter school switches back to remote learning a week after reopening

2020-10-29T01:05:15+00:00

Just over a week after bringing some students back into classrooms, Newark’s largest charter school network is reverting to fully online learning due to the recent surge in local coronavirus cases.

North Star Academy had resumed in-person classes on Oct. 19, after beginning the year remotely, and about half of the network’s roughly 5,700 students had opted to return to campus part-time. But following a steep rise in virus cases statewide and in Newark, the network told families Tuesday that, effective immediately, all students must go back to virtual learning for at least two weeks.

Now was supposed to be the time when hundreds of New Jersey school districts that have put off in-person learning started to welcome students back into classrooms. Instead, a growing number of districts are choosing to continue remote learning until early next year. Among them are the Newark school system and KIPP New Jersey, the city’s second largest charter school network.

North Star Academy’s 14 Newark schools were among the few in the city that did try opening their doors this fall. For now, though, that short-lived effort has come to a halt. The network is tentatively planning to try in-person learning again on Nov. 10, but that will depend on whether the latest wave of coronavirus infections begins to subside.

“We are committed to the health and safety of our community as our number one concern and hope that the actions being taken across the Newark community to stop the spread of the virus will make an impact,” North Star spokesperson Barbara Martinez said in a statement.

She added that community transmission rates were a “major factor” in the network’s decision to pause in-person learning — and will help determine whether it can resume.

New Jersey has faced an alarming rise in virus cases in recent weeks. Wednesday marked the state’s 11th straight day of more than 1,000 new reported cases — a benchmark the state hasn’t reached since May.

Newark is also battling a virus resurgence, ending a steep decline in cases from their peak this spring. On Sunday, the city’s three-day test positivity rate exceeded 11% — more than double the statewide rate during that period — and an average of 150 new daily cases have been reported this week. In response, the city has started reinstating restrictions on businesses.

The uptick led the Newark school district, which educates more than 36,000 students, to push back the start of in-person learning from November to Jan. 25. On Tuesday, Superintendent Roger León said the current spread of the virus was causing him to question whether classrooms will be able to reopen early next year.

“I’m very concerned about January, today, given these numbers,” he said at a school board meeting.

KIPP New Jersey, which enrolls nearly 4,800 Newark students, also decided this month to keep its classrooms closed through January instead of reopening this fall.

Other Newark charter schools are taking a similarly cautious approach. Great Oaks Legacy, the city’s third largest group of charter schools, started bringing pre-kindergarten students back for in-person classes this week. But all other students will continue with online classes, officials said.

The network has allowed a limited number of students to come into its buildings to do their online work under staff supervision. It will expand these “learning hubs” over the coming months, officials added.

The city of Newark and another charter school operator, the BRICK Education Network, have also opened remote learning centers. While the sites don’t offer in-person instruction, they provide students with a safe work space and Wi-Fi access — and working families with free child care.

While experts continue to debate the health risks of reopening schools during the pandemic, most agree that the risks rise considerably in areas with high rates of community spread, as in Newark. Yet many parents, students, and educators say they are eager to return to classrooms when it’s safe, and are worried about the academic and mental health consequences of prolonged remote learning.

“Finally seeing our students in person last week brought us incredible joy,” said Martinez, the North Star spokesperson, “and we are proud of the amazing work of our teachers and staff to reimagine safe in-person schooling under COVID-19.”

How much online learning is too much? Schools’ shift to live virtual classes sparks pushback

2020-09-15T00:58:13+00:00

Judith Hernandez never thought she’d miss the old remote learning.

When the pandemic confined her four children to their home this spring, their schools in Newark, N.J. distributed paper packets, loaned out laptops, and posted online assignments. Hernandez helped her children complete their work, while their teachers recorded short videos and checked in by phone or text. It wasn’t much, but it was manageable.

Judith Hernandez has four children in Newark schools, including her son, Baii. They now spend most of their day taking online classes, she said.

Six months later, as the new school year starts with classrooms still closed, Hernandez’s children in grades 2-4 spend most of the school day in live video classes. Hernandez, who also has a newborn, scurries between her children, troubleshooting tech problems and urging them to stay focused.

Suddenly, it seems, remote learning has gone from on-your-own to always-on — and some families aren’t pleased.

“It’s supposed to be like normal class but it’s just not the same,” Hernandez said last week as classes started. “This whole computer thing is insane.”

With the coronavirus still untamed, an estimated 85% of school districts nationwide are continuing to offer some remote learning this fall. But, this go-round, many districts are ratcheting up their demands.

Now, some students are expected to attend online classes that approximate a traditional school day, with consecutive periods of live video lessons interspersed with brief “brain breaks.” In Newark, elementary and middle schools must provide 290 to 350 minutes of remote learning each day, according to district guidelines.

Districts made the shift partly out of necessity, having watched many students fall behind during the looser remote learning, and partly due to capacity, with more families now equipped with the devices and Wi-Fi needed for online classes. Districts also faced external pressure. States are now requiring more live remote instruction and families demanded it after some children struggled to complete assignments this spring with little teacher guidance.

But now resistance is beginning to bubble up against the more intensive remote learning, with some families and educators saying districts lurched from too little online instruction last spring to too much this fall. Meanwhile, a handful of districts are limiting live virtual classes due to concerns about screen time and a recognition that some students have jobs and babysitting duties during the day.

For districts trying to strike a balance between structure and flexibility during remote learning, the big question now is: What’s the right amount of live instruction?

“I think there will be a natural trend to see that requiring kids to sit in live Zoom meetings for hours at a time is not sustainable,” said Kerry Rice, a professor of educational technology at Boise State University. “They have to come up with other solutions.”

The shift to ‘synchronous’

In the spring, remote learning was more emergency homeschool than online academy.

Because many families lacked reliable Wi-Fi or laptops, most districts were reluctant to mandate live online lessons. Instead, teachers assigned work and checked in with students, while parents did their best to assist their children.

“I had to sit down with him and show him things I didn’t know,” said Vianna Jaramillo, whose son is in the fourth grade at Newark’s Oliver Street School. “I’m Googling everything and YouTubing videos like, ‘What the hell is this?’”

Vianna Jaramillo said she often had to teach her son how to do his assignments in the spring, when schools offered few live virtual classes.

Newark is taking a very different approach this fall. For instance, middle schools must now provide 100 minutes of remote learning per day in reading and writing, 100 minutes in math, and 60 minutes each in social studies and science, along with 30 minutes of tutoring, according to the district guidelines.

Students can spend some of that time working on their own. But a significant chunk must be devoted to “synchronous” learning: live online classes that can include teacher lessons, class discussions, and small-group sessions. The upshot is that Newark Public Schools students now spend most of the school day in front of their computers, often logged onto the videoconferencing tool Webex.

This fall, “there’s more of a demand for the in-person feel of Webex sessions and live teaching,” said Christopher Canik, a math teacher at Newark Vocational High School where students attend four 80-minute classes per day. “Any time I’m teaching actively, that means I’m going to be on Webex for the entire 80-minute period.”

Districts across the country have made a similar shift. Many are pivoting to a more structured version of remote learning this fall that builds in more time for live online classes, said Alice Opalka, a research analyst at the Center on Reinventing Public Education, which is tracking school reopening plans.

One reason is demand from families for more teacher-led instruction, Opalka said. Another is states reinstating class-time requirements that they suspended this spring. For instance, New Jersey recently issued guidance requiring four hours per day of “active instruction” by teachers, whether students are learning remotely or in person.

In the spring, just one-third of districts required teachers to interact with students remotely, according to a Center on Reinventing Public Education analysis of a nationally representative sample of 477 districts. This fall, 87% of districts are requiring at least some live online instruction, according to the center’s review of more than 100 districts’ reopening plans. (That sample includes the nation’s largest districts but is not nationally representative.)

“Most of the districts we tracked in the spring were not requiring synchronous instruction,” Opalka said. “At this point, the majority of the ones we’re tracking in our bigger-city database are.”

A brewing backlash

After pleading for more live lessons this spring, some families now say schools have overcorrected.

Shanefah Allen said her three children in Newark schools spend most of their day on Webex since classes started Sept. 8. Their teachers are constantly asking students to turn on their cameras, mute their microphones, and pay attention, Allen said. But that’s not easy for many students, including Allen’s fourth-grader who has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

“They can’t just keep sitting in front of a computer all day like they’re at an eight-hour job,” said Allen, who had to switch to the evening shift at her own job at a ShopRite supermarket to supervise her children’s online learning. “They’re getting antsy — they’re kids.”

The pushback to more regimented remote learning is flaring up across the country.

In Chicago, teachers union leaders say the district is trying to squeeze too much online learning into the school day, which they argue is not developmentally appropriate for young students. In Broward County in southeastern Florida, district officials promised to reduce the amount of live instruction in the lower grades after some parents complained about excessive screen time. And in the Memphis region, more than 23,000 people have signed an online petition calling for the Shelby County school district to shorten the virtual school day by three hours.

“You can’t expect kids to sit in front of a computer from 8-3 everyday!” one person wrote on the petition. “That’s ridiculous!!”

Getting the balance right

School districts are in a tough spot.

They don’t want to exhaust students or turn them off from remote learning. But they’re also loath to ease expectations, which could exacerbate the learning loss many students suffered this spring.

District officials in Chicago and Shelby County note that their remote learning plans weave in breaks, physical activity, and off-screen work time along with live lessons. In Newark, the district guidelines advise teachers to limit their live lessons to 30 minutes per subject in elementary school and 40 minutes in high school. They also ask educators to offer “asynchronous” instruction, such as recorded lessons that students can watch if they miss a live class.

“The reality is that instruction is being very much tailored to the individual needs of students,” said Superintendent Roger León.

Some charter schools have also ramped up real-time remote learning this fall.

A student at a KIPP charter school in Newark, where students spent several hours a day in Zoom classes.

KIPP New Jersey, which operates schools in Newark and Camden, experimented with some Zoom classes this spring but mostly relied on recorded lessons and online assignments. Now, students are attending Zoom classes for up to three-and-a-half hours a day in elementary and middle school and up to five hours daily in high school, said Executive Director Joanna Belcher.

Teachers are using tools to make their online classes resemble traditional ones, Belcher said. Zoom’s “breakout rooms” allow students to work in small groups, while certain apps let teachers view and comment on students’ classwork in real time — almost as if they were standing over their students’ shoulders.

“In physical school, we talk about making lessons so engaging that kids are on the edge of their seats,” Belcher said. “We’re still trying to create that on Zoom.”

Other charters have gone a different route, using Zoom classes mainly to reinforce material that students learn independently.

Noble, a Chicago-based network of 17 charter high schools and one middle school, reserves about half of its five-hour remote school day for live sessions. But those are optional and mainly focused on relationship-building and class discussions; students are not penalized if they don’t attend. Teachers present most new material asynchronously, through videos and readings that students access on their own time.

“This came down to equity,” said Noble’s Chief Education Officer Kyle Cole, who explained that some students struggle to attend live online classes due to W-iFi issues or because they must look after younger siblings. “Their ability to be on a computer at a given time every day just couldn’t be guaranteed.”

A lot of schools entered the fall hoping to replicate a traditional classroom experience online, Cole added. But the spring taught his network that some students simply can’t attend online classes on a set schedule.

“I’d imagine that’s going to be true for every school across this country,” he said. “If there isn’t flexibility built into their model, I think they’ll probably end up having to react to that and build it in.”

As families seek help with remote learning, some Newark schools offer an alternative to ‘learning pods’

2020-08-21T16:30:55+00:00

Up until a few days ago, IIdemar Vazquez was feeling desperate.

Her daughter Iliana’s Newark charter school recently announced that it’s starting the year virtually. As a single parent, Vazquez knew she’d have to stay home during the day to help her fourth-grader learn remotely. But when Vazquez requested different hours at the hospital where she works as a medical assistant, her bosses were unsympathetic.

“They’re putting the pressure on us,” she said. “Either we find a sitter or we pretty much resign.”

IIdemar Vazquez with her daughter, Iliana.

That’s when Iliana’s school came to the rescue. The BRICK Education Network, which manages the Marion P. Thomas Charter School that Vazquez’s daughter attends, said this week that it will open some classrooms for the children of essential workers and other students who aren’t able to learn from home. The schools will provide adult supervision, along with internet service and meals, so students can do their virtual learning in a safe environment while their parents work. For parents like Vazquez, the arrangement is a lifeline.

“I am a single mother, head of the household,” she said. If she had been forced to leave her job to look after her daughter, “it would be unemployment.”

Across New Jersey, a growing number of school districts have reluctantly decided to hold off on reopening classrooms until the coronavirus is more contained. In Newark, the city’s major charter school networks and the traditional school district — the state’s largest, with more than 36,000 students — made the call this month, pivoting from “hybrid” reopening plans to all-remote learning.

The news was welcomed by many families and educators who worried about the risks of in-person learning during a pandemic. But the abrupt shift to fully virtual learning comes with a cost for working parents who rely on schools not just for the education they provide, but also the child care.

Newark officials are reviewing possible sites where students could do supervised online learning while their parents work, officials said Thursday. But they could not guarantee those sites will be open by the start of the district’s school year on Sept. 8.

That has left parents who don’t have the luxury of working from home — including hospital, supermarket, restaurant, and warehouse employees — scrambling to make other arrangements for their young children. Their options are limited: pay for child care, find friends or relatives who can babysit, or leave their jobs.

“I’m stressing right now to figure out if I’m going to quit my job and sit home until November to make sure my child gets an education,” said Erica Larkins, a retail worker whose son Jay is entering the first grade at Avon Avenue School. If that happens, Larkins asked, “Who’s paying the bills?”

Throughout the country, “learning pods” have sprouted as one solution to the riddle of remote learning. A cross between child care and tutoring, the pods typically involve a group of parents hiring an educator to supervise their children’s home learning.

But private pods are unaffordable for many families. In some cases, parents must shell out thousands of dollars to join. In New Jersey, a new group offering to help parents of color form learning pods says costs will range from $150 to $350 per week, though it’s “exploring” ways to include families who receive child care subsidies.

Some cities and districts have stepped up to offer alternatives for lower-income families. Unlike private pods, the public versions are free and held in communal spaces such as libraries, recreation centers, and schools where students can take their online classes under the watchful eye of trained adults. New York City and Boston are among the cities racing to create these new pop-up child care and remote-learning centers, while school districts from Colorado to Indiana and Tennessee are spearheading similar efforts.

In Newark, Mayor Ras Baraka said during a radio interview Thursday that the city has prepared a list of public spaces where students might be able to do remote learning, such as recreation centers and libraries. Officials still must inspect the sites and establish criteria to determine which parents will be given preference for the limited number of spaces that might become available, he added during the interview on WBGO’s Newark Today.

Jaz West-Romero, a working parent with several children in Newark schools, called into the show to ask whether the sites will be open by the start of school. Newark Superintendent Roger León, who was also on the program, said the district is working hard to assess the possible remote learning sites — but he couldn’t promise West-Romero that the sites would be ready by the time classes begin.

“What I don’t want her doing is thinking this is going to be solved and she can go to work on Sept. 8, then Sept. 8 hits and I don’t want her disappointed,” León said. “But I’m working on trying to figure that out.”

The district and the mayor’s office did not respond to requests for information earlier this week.

Catherine Wilson, the president and CEO of United Way of Greater Newark, said it should not fall solely on the city and school district to solve the challenges created by remote learning. The private sector must also chip in to help families with child care and the technology — including laptops and WiFi — needed for virtual learning, she said.

“We need to come together and start solving for some of those issues,” she said, “because they aren’t going to go away overnight.”

Dominique Lee, CEO of the BRICK Education Network.

So far, just a couple Newark charter school operators have announced plans to offer child care support while in-person classes are suspended. One of them is the BRICK Education Network, which manages Achieve Community Charter School and the three Marion P. Thomas charter schools.

While all students at the schools will begin the year virtually, BRICK will invite a limited number to do their virtual learning at school, officials said. So far, about about 70 students have been selected to attend these “remote learning centers.” The students will be grouped 15 to a classroom, each of which will be overseen by two staff members, including teachers and social workers. The students will work independently on their laptops, attending Zoom classes and completing assignments, while the adults will be available to answer questions but won’t give lessons.

The schools will serve breakfast and lunch in the classrooms, and students will likely have recess. The schools will take the same safety precautions they would have if in-person classes had not been postponed, the officials said. For instance, temperatures will be taken on arrival, students and employees will wear face masks, and students will sit 6 feet apart.

BRICK CEO Dominique Lee called the centers a community-oriented alternative to private learning pods, which will spare some parents from having to choose “between their jobs or providing a safe space for their children.”

“That’s not a choice that any parent should have to make,” he said.

This story has been updated to include information that Newark officials provided on a radio program Thursday evening.

Newark mayor backs ‘tough decision’ to delay in-person learning while acknowledging strain on families

2020-08-18T01:26:46+00:00

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka hailed the district’s announcement Monday that all students will learn remotely this fall, saying the superintendent made a “tough decision,” but the right one, to keep classrooms closed.

But the mayor also acknowledged a hard truth: Many working parents had been counting on their children returning to school. The district’s abrupt decision to cancel in-person classes at least through November means many families will now have to find child care or potentially leave their jobs.

“I don’t want you to think that it was overwhelming that parents decided they should not send their kids to school because it was not,” Baraka said Monday during his daily online briefing. “Matter of fact, it was almost the opposite: Many, many parents wanted to send their kids to school.”

The district has not released the results of surveys asking families and teachers their preferences for the fall, but Baraka said “thousands and thousands of parents” had opted for in-person learning. A primary reason, the mayor suggested, is that “they probably didn’t have any other choice because they have to go to work.”

The district has not announced any plans to help provide child care for working families while students are learning remotely. But Baraka said he would make city buildings available for that purpose if necessary.

Superintendent Roger León made the decision Monday to start fully remote, a reversal from his previous plan to offer both daily in-person and virtual classes when school starts Sept. 8. The announcement followed pressure from Newark teachers to keep classrooms closed, and updated state guidance allowing districts to delay in-person learning if they could not meet certain reopening standards.

Baraka, who had previously advised parents against sending their children back to school while the coronavirus continued to spread in Newark, said that León made the right call.

“It was a tough decision but he made the right one to slow the process down,” Baraka said, adding that the move will give the district more time to plan for a physical reopening and to “perfect” virtual learning.

The district released a detailed reopening plan last month that included a number of safety measures for in-person learning based on state guidelines, including virus testing for teachers, mandatory face masks, and physical distancing inside classrooms. The district also did a trial run with two in-person summer school sites.

Baraka said he did not doubt the quality of the district’s plan or its ability to open schools safely. Rather, he is concerned about the continuing presence of the coronavirus, he said. While infections have declined substantially since their peak in April, the city still has seen 577 new coronavirus cases and 31 deaths since June 30.

“If the state is cautious about allowing people to eat inside of a restaurant, then we have to be cautious about allowing thousands of kids to go into a school building,” the mayor said, referring to New Jersey’s ongoing ban on indoor dining.

Baraka also noted that reopening school buildings might still be a long way off. If the district decides not to launch in-person classes in November, the mayor said, the next opportunity likely won’t come until January or February of next year.

Newark Public Schools drops plan to reopen classrooms, will begin the year virtually

2020-08-17T15:46:08+00:00

The Newark school system is scrapping its plans to reopen in-person classrooms next month and will instead start the school year virtually, officials said Monday.

All students will learn from home through the end of the first marking period on Nov. 17, after which the district will reassess whether it is safe to offer some in-person learning. The announcement is a major reversal for New Jersey’s largest school district, which had planned to offer in-person classes along with remote learning when school begins Sept. 8.

“The COVID-19 pandemic as it stands is still a large public health risk and it will be treated as such,” Newark Board of Education President Josephine Garcia said in a statement, which said the board supports the decision to shift to all-remote learning. “This being said, the public health and safety of our students and staff will continue to be held to the highest standard.”

The announcement comes after many Newark parents and educators expressed concerns about reopening schools during the coronavirus crisis. While virus infections have sharply dropped in Newark since peaking in April, the city has reported more than 500 new cases and 30 deaths since June 30.

On Friday, the Newark Teachers Union urged the district to “hit pause” on its plans to reopen classrooms, citing low morale and high anxiety among staffers. Separately, a group of Newark educators circulated an online petition demanding that schools open virtually; as of Monday, it had garnered nearly 1,800 signatures.

The union’s push for a virtual start came after Newark Mayor Ras Baraka earlier this month advised families not to send their children back to classrooms amid continuing virus infections, and the city’s largest charter school networks announced plans to begin the year remotely.

Last week, Gov. Phil Murphy said districts could postpone in-person learning if they were not ready to safely reopen schools, which prompted a growing number of districts to revise their plans and start virtually.

Superintendent Roger León announced the decision at a private meeting of the district’s school-reopening task force Monday morning, said John Abeigon, president of the Newark Teachers Union and a task force member. León asked the committee to vote on the plan, and the members unanimously agreed to have all students begin the year learning remotely, Abeigon said.

“There were just too many variables outside of our control,” said Abeigon.

The pivot to all-remote learning caught the school board by surprise. While board members had been pushing the district for weeks to delay the start of in-person learning, they only learned that the district has revised its reopening plans after Chalkbeat reported on the change Monday, a board member said.

On Monday afternoon, the district posted a terse online message saying that schools would operate remotely for the first marking period.

“All other related guidance regarding remote instruction remains in full effect,” the message said. “If you have any other questions or concerns, please contact the Principal of your child’s school for further instructions and assistance.”

With in-person learning on hold, schools will now turn their full attention to virtual learning. That posed some steep challenges this spring after schools abruptly closed and students were forced to learn from home.

One major issue was technology: Schools had to quickly loan thousands of laptops to students who needed them to participate in online learning. However, some schools did not have laptops available for every student, forcing some students to share a single computer with siblings or use their cellphones to join video classes and complete assignments.

In June, León said that 4,000 of the loaned laptops needed to be replaced, and the district would have to purchase 10,000 additional laptops in order for every student to receive one. He has not provided a recent update on how many students still need laptops. But Garcia, the school board president, told Chalkbeat that schools will soon do another laptop distribution for families that still need them.

Families also reported a lack of consistency in online instruction this spring. Some teachers held live lessons on video conferencing platforms such as Zoom and Webex, while others mostly posted assignments and checked in with families by phone and email.

This fall, the district will need to set clear expectations for online learning, said Wilhelmina Holder, a Newark education activist and member of the reopening task force. One requirement must be for teachers to hold live virtual classes, she added.

“They could get a robot to post an assignment,” she said. “I’m looking for some engaging lessons where the students and the teachers are actually talking to each other.”

She added that schools must continue to provide students with strong instruction even though they’ll be learning from home for the foreseeable future.

“We can’t lower the standard just because we’re online,” she said. “We still have to have the highest standards and the highest expectations for these children.”

This story has been updated.

Newark Teachers Union urges district to delay in-person learning, adding to growing push for all-remote start

2020-08-16T18:12:34+00:00

The Newark Teachers Union is calling on the city school district to begin the year virtually, joining a rising tide of opposition to in-person learning just weeks before classes are slated to start.

The union’s demand that Newark Superintendent Roger León “hit pause” on reopening classrooms marks a significant reversal for the union, which has until now supported the district’s “hybrid” plan to offer both in-person and at-home learning when school starts Sept. 8.

The about-face comes after the statewide teachers union recently urged Gov. Phil Murphy to order schools to open all-remotely; instead, Murphy gave districts the option to delay classroom instruction if they believe they cannot meet the state’s safety guidelines. It also reflects mounting pressure from Newark educators worried about the health risks of resuming in-person learning during the coronavirus pandemic. A recently posted online petition calling for Newark to begin the year virtually has garnered nearly 1,400 signatures.

“Given the new guidelines, we are strongly urging Supt. León to hit ‘pause’ on a September reopening and use the month to monitor and adjust to the new guidelines,” Newark Teachers Union President John Abeigon said in a message to members Friday.

A district spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment Sunday.

In an interview with Chalkbeat, Abeigon said the union remains confident that Newark schools can safely reopen because the district has “done everything above and beyond” to prepare. However, he said it is not practical to resume in-person learning when so many Newark families and teachers are fearful of returning to classrooms.

“In the last three weeks, morale shot down to the basement and fear shot through the roof,” he said Sunday. “You can’t successfully reopen, no matter how well prepared you are, if the confidence and the trust factor isn’t there.”

Newark families and educators had until Friday to request to learn or teach remotely this school year. In his message, Abeigon urged union members to complete the survey, saying that any “changes to the district’s plan is going to be guided by these results.” Abeigon has repeatedly said he believes that most students will learn remotely this fall, but actual demand for virtual learning will not be clear until the district releases the survey results.

Some of New Jersey’s largest districts — including Camden, Elizabeth, Jersey City, and Paterson — have said they plan to start with all-remote learning, and the list has continued growing after Murphy issued the new guidance. It now includes some Essex County districts, including East Orange and Montclair, as well as Newark’s largest charter school networks. And Newark Mayor Ras Baraka has advised families not to send their children back into classrooms, though he stopped short of urging the district to only allow remote learning.

León has been adamant that any students and employees who choose to return to school will do so safely. The district’s reopening plan includes detailed safety measures, including virus testing for employees, daily temperature and symptom checks of students and staffers, and mandatory face coverings and physical distancing inside classrooms.

“The health and safety of students and staff have been our first priority, and will remain so,” León wrote in the introduction to the reopening plan.

But some parents and teachers have expressed concerns about the plan. Many worry that students will struggle to wear face masks and stay 6 feet apart during daily in-person classes.

Some teachers also were alarmed by comments León made during a recent question-and-answer session. He said teachers are partly responsible for cleaning and sanitizing their own classrooms, and that educators worried about poor ventilation in schools must be “very, very patient.”

Those doubts about the safety of in-person learning prompted the Newark Education Workers caucus to post the online petition last week calling for an all-remote start to the school year. The group, which includes teachers and other advocates focused on social justice, is also demanding that the district provide teachers with N95 masks, hire more custodians, and ensure that every school is equipped with working, high-quality air filtration systems.

“We are calling for immediate remote opening until it’s safe,” said Avram Rips, an early childhood educator in Newark and caucus member who said most of his colleagues share his apprehension about reopening classrooms. “The majority say they are not going to go and they’re really afraid.”

Abeigon, the union president, said teachers should be allowed to give virtual lessons from their classrooms next month while students remain at home. That way, teachers could make sure that the district is taking all the necessary precautions, such as cleaning classrooms and installing barriers on top of desks, before launching in-person learning.

“If teachers are allowed to go in and do virtual teaching, we’ll have hundreds of eye witnesses,” he said. “That goes a long way to building up morale and assuaging the fears of the community.”

As more districts go all-remote, Newark sticks with plan to reopen classrooms

2020-08-15T16:47:50+00:00

Across New Jersey, calls are rising to delay in-person learning and districts are opting to start the school year fully remote. But in Newark, the state’s largest school system remains steadfast in its plan to reopen classrooms in just a few weeks.

Education union leaders and several state lawmakers have demanded that schools begin the year virtually due to the health risks posed by the coronavirus pandemic. And after Gov. Phil Murphy this week relaxed his requirement that every district offer some in-person learning, a growing number of school systems are planning to go all-remote. They include some of the state’s biggest districts, such as Camden, Elizabeth, Jersey City, and Paterson, as well as several in Essex County, including East Orange and Montclair.

The push for an all-online start of the school year has also found support in Newark, where the city’s largest charter school networks are opening virtually and Mayor Ras Baraka advised families against sending their children back to classrooms.

Yet Newark’s traditional school district is moving forward with its plan to offer daily in-person classes to families who want them when school starts Sept. 8. As required by the state, the district also gave families the option of all-remote learning, which they had through Friday to select.

“We are ready to provide you with an incredible experience regardless of what you choose,” Superintendent Roger León told parents during a recent online chat.

Newark’s commitment to in-person learning has been heartening to families who are desperate for their children to return to school. Many parents struggled to balance work and their children’s at-home learning during the months-long school closure this spring, and many students languished academically and emotionally.

“The kids need to be back in school,” said Natasha Arrington, who plans to send her children back in person to Harriet Tubman School next month.

Remote learning was tough for her two children, who had to share a single school-issued laptop this spring. Her daughter, a first-grader, got tired of staring at a screen and her son, who’s in sixth grade, grew despondent after spending months away from his friends. And Arrington, who does housekeeping at a local hospital, can’t afford to stay home this school year.

“Without this job, I have no income to take care of my children,” she said. “I don’t have any kind of rental assistance, so I have to go to work or I’ll be homeless with my kids.”

Other families also struggled with remote learning, and yet they still don’t feel safe sending their children back to school.

This spring, Yoly Vaz tried to help her three children with their assignments when she got home in the mornings from the overnight shift at the warehouse where she works. But her daughter’s preschool did not give her a device for virtual learning, and the laptop the school provided one of her sons was faulty and could not load the required learning apps, she said.

Even so, Vaz plans to keep her children home this fall. She doubts that students who return to classrooms will follow the district’s safety guidelines, such as mandatory face coverings and physical distancing, and she worries that the aging school buildings are not properly ventilated.

“I’d rather them miss the year than get sick and have some type of damage to their respiratory system,” she said.

The decision to keep children home is high-stakes. Unlike some districts, Newark will not let families switch during the year from all-remote to in-person.

“As of right now, whatever you pick will be what you actually will be doing until we get a green light that everyone is required to return back,” León told parents during an online chat. “So we need you to pick wisely.”

But making an informed decision has been difficult amid so much uncertainty, some parents and teachers said.

For instance, the district has said little about what remote learning will look like this fall, including whether all students will receive live instruction over video, which was not the case this spring. The district also has not said how many laptops it’s purchased; in June, officials said an additional 10,000 laptops were needed in order for every student to get one. Other districts, such as Paterson, have had difficulties obtaining the laptops they ordered.

It’s also not entirely clear what students’ daily schedules will be. While León has said students who choose in-person learning will come to school five days a week, individual schools have told families that the number of class days will depend on how many families choose in-person learning.

Meanwhile, some teachers say they’re received confusing or vague responses to their questions.

For instance, during an online question-and-answer session this week, León told teachers that custodians will thoroughly sanitize their rooms each day — but that teachers are also responsible for cleaning their own rooms. He said teachers might have to give in-person and online lessons simultaneously, but didn’t say for sure. And when asked about the limited air circulation in some schools, which many teachers worry could lead to airborne transmission of the virus, León said he’s “asking everyone to be flexible” and “very, very patient.”

Those responses did not sit well with some teachers.

“There’s still a lot of questions that have not been answered in a manner that make a lot of teachers feel safe,” said an educator in a North Ward school who asked to remain anonymous to avoid retaliation from the district.

Like many educators, she’s worried that the district’s new safety guidelines will not be properly implemented. And while she wants to be back in the classroom with her students, she requested to work remotely until she’s confident she can return to work safely.

“I don’t think teachers need to be the sacrificial lambs,” she said. “A lot of people are very nervous and they just feel like, ‘Why not hold off?’”

Newark charter schools join forces to plan for school reopening

2020-08-13T15:52:48+00:00

In normal times, Newark’s 16 charter school networks tend to operate independently of one another. But, like everything else during the coronavirus pandemic, that has changed.

Lately, the city’s charter leaders have been meeting weekly on Zoom to commiserate and share ideas, seek the advice of outside experts, and talk through the greatest leadership challenge of their lives: reopening schools during a pandemic.

“Without a lot of prescriptive guidance from the state, it’s really on the leaders of schools and their communities to make a bunch of tough decisions,” said Kyle Rosenkrans, executive director of the New Jersey Children’s Foundation, a nonprofit that supports Newark charter schools and convened the virtual meetings. “We wanted to ease that process a bit.”

The weekly conversations led to the crafting of a “COVID-19 Compact,” signed by 13 of the charter operators, which lists four commitments the networks say will guide their decision-making as they prepare for an unprecedented school year. The commitments are to prioritize health and safety; make sure all students receive strong instruction, including students with special needs and those learning remotely; share their plans with families and employees and invite feedback; and provide students with the resources they need, including mental-health services, meals, and laptops.

“The assumption is that people should hold them accountable for doing those things,” said Rosenkrans, who has acted as an intermediary between Newark’s charter schools and the traditional school district.

Last month, the New Jersey Children’s Foundation surveyed charter schools — which collectively educate well over a third of Newark’s public-school students — about their reopening plans.

Among the 10 networks that responded, most said that under 10% of teachers had requested to work remotely this fall, according to the foundation. Families’ preferences varied by school: Just 3% of parents at one school opted for all-remote learning, while 60% of parents at another school made that choice. Most schools are planning for a roughly even split of students learning completely virtually and students learning at least part of the time in school, the group said.

However, those numbers are likely to change after Gov. Phil Murphy announced Wednesday that schools can delay in-person learning if they aren’t prepared to reopen safely. Several of Newark’s largest charter school networks have already said they will begin the school year with all-remote learning, and other schools may follow suit.

“I would think a majority of the Newark charters will reopen remotely,” Rosenkrans said Wednesday. “Whether the number pushes above 75% is an interesting and open question.”

Whatever the schools decide, they have promised to abide by the principles in the reopening compact. Read the full document below.

Charter Reopening and Remote Learning Compact_8_13_20.pdf

Newark Charter Schools Reopening and Remote Learning Compact (PDF)Newark Charter Schools Reopening and Remote Learning Compact (Text)

New Jersey schools can reopen without in-person classes, officials say

2020-08-12T19:16:57+00:00

New Jersey will allow schools to postpone the reopening of classrooms, officials said Wednesday.

Districts that cannot meet the state’s safety guidelines for in-person classes can begin the school year with all-remote learning, but they must submit plans and timelines for eventually bringing students back into schools, Gov. Phil Murphy said at a press conference Wednesday.

“We have the ultimate objective of getting some form of in-person education,” he said, “but do it safely and responsibly and at the right time.”

The decision to let schools start with all-remote learning is a significant departure from Murphy’s push for schools to offer at least some in-person learning, and a concession to teachers unions and many families who argued against reopening classrooms while the coronavirus continues to sicken people nationwide.

The policy change stops short of ordering all schools to open virtually, as the heads of the state’s teachers, principals, and superintendents unions urged Murphy to do in a joint statement issued late Tuesday.

That will leave individual districts to decide whether to risk bringing students and employees back to school. Already, several major charter school networks in Newark and some traditional school districts have announced plans to open virtually, and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka advised against sending students back into classrooms.

The Willingboro school district is western New Jersey is planning for all students to learn remotely until November, Superintendent Neely Hackett said at Wednesday’s press conference. The delayed start of in-person learning will give the district more time to ensure schools are properly ventilated, face masks and laptops are available for every student, and teachers and custodians are trained on the new safety protocols, she said.

“There is still much work that needs to be done to ensure the safety of our students and staff,” she said.

It remains to be seen whether the new guidance will lead to changes in Newark, the state’s largest district, which has said any students who choose to return to schools next month will be able to attend class in person five days a week. (Under the state’s current guidelines, families can also request fully virtual learning; Newark families have through Friday to select that option.)

As recently as Tuesday, Superintendent Roger León told teachers that classrooms are still expected to reopen in a few weeks, even though certain protective equipment, such as plastic barriers that sit atop student desks, have yet to arrive.

“We can’t wait for your return to make an impact on students’ lives,” he said during an online information session with the Newark Teachers Union.

More than 450 Newark residents have been infected and about 30 residents have died since June 30, a sharp decline from the peak in April but a grim reminder that the coronavirus continues to pose potentially fatal risks. The virus is also still spreading statewide, with nearly 500 new infections reported Tuesday, but that is also far below the levels in April when thousands of new daily infections were reported.

Still, some lawmakers and the state’s education labor unions believe that it is not yet safe to resume in-person learning.

“Reopening schools for in-person instruction under the current conditions poses too great a risk to the health of students and schools staff,” said the leaders of the the New Jersey Education Association, the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association, and the New Jersey Association of School Administrators in a lengthy statement Tuesday. “That is why we are calling on Gov. Murphy and the New Jersey Department of Education to direct all New Jersey public schools to open remotely this fall.”

The unions note that districts in other states have reopened only to quickly switch to all-remote learning after outbreaks of the virus. Also, while children are less likely to become seriously ill from COVID-19 and young children appear less likely than adults to spread the virus, recent data shows a sharp increase in infections among children, the statement says.

The unions also cite “inadequate levels of funding, staffing, equipment and facilities” as districts scramble to prepare for in-person classes. On Monday, the Elizabeth school board voted to start the year remotely due to a shortage of teachers willing to return to classrooms; last week, the Jersey City board approved an all-remote reopening plan.

All New Jersey districts should use the remaining time before the new school year to fine-tune their remote learning plans, which could include distributing laptops and training staff to provide virtual special education services, rather than preparing for “the dangerous, uncertain” return to in-person learning, the unions said.

“We remain committed to getting back to in-person instruction as soon as it is safe,” the statement said. “It is not safe yet.”

In Newark, many teachers and parents have expressed doubt that schools can safely reopen. They question whether schools will be able to enforce new safety regulations, such as mandatory face masks and physical distancing, and worry that the district’s older buildings do not allow for adequate air circulation.

However, others say that in-person learning is critical, both for working parents who cannot supervise their children’s learning during the day and students whose academic skills and mental health suffered during several months of mandatory remote learning this spring. They also say some families still do not have laptops for every child or reliable internet connections, which are crucial for virtual learning.

“In order for students, especially our neediest groups, to get the best support,” a Newark educator said in a recent survey, “that needs to be in person.”

College during COVID-19: Here’s what Newark students want you to know

2020-08-07T15:36:26+00:00

For first-year students headed to college this fall, their first semester of higher education is fraught with uncertainty. The usual in-person rituals and rites of passage won’t exist as the threat of COVID-19 upends on-campus learning and activities across the nation.

This could be especially hard for first-generation college students or teens from disinvested communities where the first year of higher education can lay a foundation for future success or become a stumbling block. Now, the coronavirus pandemic has added to those first-year challenges by putting a financial strain on many families and disrupting campus life and classes.

“You had to find a new learning environment because you’re no longer going to a library, you’re no longer studying with friends, and now you’re transitioning to typing on a phone,” said Kamil Vickers, a Newark student who was in the middle of his freshman year when the pandemic shut down his campus. “So trying to get used to that experience was a very humbling experience.”

Chalkbeat Newark brought together college students and a longtime education advocate on Wednesday to share their thoughts at this uncertain moment. The group of five students – in different stages of their college careers – gave advice for how colleges can ease their transitions, shared tips for success, and discussed how their colleges have handled support of Black students in particular as conversations about race in America are at the forefront.

This virtual panel hosted by Chalkbeat Newark acted as a capstone to Chalkbeat’s Ready or Not series, which chronicled the success and struggles of first-year college students in Newark.

Here’s who joined the conversation:

Wilhelmina Holder, Newark parent advocate; co-director, High School Academic Support Program
Rasheed Adewole, a rising senior at Franklin and Marshall College in Pennsylvania; graduate of Marion P. Thomas Charter School
Melanie Gonzalez Castillo, an incoming freshman at Villanova University; graduate of Barringer High School
Devon Christopher Corry, an incoming freshman at Rutgers University-Newark; graduate of University High School
Zaniyyah Jacobs-Wright, an incoming sophomore at Rutgers University-Newark; graduate of Arts High School
Kamil Vickers, a rising sophomore at Villanova University; graduate of KIPP Newark Collegiate Academy

For more from these panelists, watch our conversation in full below.

Thank you to our event sponsor, Prudential Financial.

‘I wouldn’t send anybody to school’: Newark mayor joins growing pushback against in-person learning

2020-08-06T22:00:39+00:00

With Newark schools set to reopen next month, Mayor Ras Baraka is advising families to keep their children out of classrooms while the coronavirus continues to spread.

The Newark school district has given families until Aug. 14 to decide whether their children will stay home for remote learning next month or return to schools, which the district says will follow new safety protocols. But Baraka, who does not have any direct control over schools, suggested this week that families should avoid in-person learning until the virus is more fully contained.

“At this rate, I would advise everybody to keep their children home from school,” the mayor said Monday during his daily address to residents. “At this rate, I wouldn’t send anybody to school.”

The mayor’s comments add to a chorus of voices — educators, parents, and elected officials — who are calling for a delay of in-person learning as the new school year approaches, even as federal officials push for a quick restart. On Monday, a handful of Newarkers joined a nationwide day of action to sound the alarm about the risks of reopening schools.

On Wednesday, Chicago became the latest major school district to announce that school will start fully online — a decision that a growing number of districts have made partly in response to pressure from teachers’ unions and surveys showing many families plan to keep their children home.

Newark has not released data from its surveys of parents and teachers, so it’s unclear how many people are willing to return to classrooms when school starts Sept. 8.

Protestors at a small rally outside Newark Public Schools headquarters Monday called for the district to delay in-person learning until the coronavirus is more fully contained.

But the Newark Teachers Union has projected that only a third of the district’s roughly 36,000 students will learn in person next month. And many individual educators have expressed a desire to stay home, saying they question the efficacy and enforceability of the district’s planned safety measures, such as mandatory face masks and physical distancing.

Still, the union is backing the district’s plan to offer both virtual and in-person learning, unlike other teachers unions in New Jersey and elsewhere that have taken a strong stance against reopening classrooms. This week, the Newark union distributed a new, joint survey with the district asking teachers if they’re willing to return to schools. Only teachers with documented health conditions or approved family or medical leave can request to work remotely, the union said.

Yet even as the union endorses a partial return to in-person learning, its president said he agrees with Baraka’s advice to keep children home.

“If I’m a Newark parent and I have childcare, I’m not sending my kid to school — especially if they have medical issues,” NTU President John Abeigon said Tuesday during an online information session.

At the state level, Gov. Phil Murphy has repeatedly emphasized the importance of in-person learning, both for students who need the structure and support that physical classrooms provide and for working parents who require childcare. Yet widespread concerns about reopening schools led his administration last month to require districts to offer remote learning to families who request it. And with the virus continuing to spread at a high rate in New Jersey, he recently said students who return to school must wear face masks at all times.

In Newark, virus infections have plummeted since peaking in April, yet the outbreak is far from over. The city has seen more than 400 new cases and 26 deaths since June 30, Baraka said Wednesday.

Those numbers have convinced some Newark parents and educators that school buildings should remain closed next month. A few people made that case at a press conference outside Newark Public Schools headquarters Monday, saying they want more information from the district, including details about school ventilation systems and cleaning protocols.

Johnnie Lattner, a co-founder of the PULSE parent-advocacy group who joined the protest, said teachers and parents want more input in the district’s reopening plan.

“They need to start listening,” he said about district officials. “We’re talking about people’s lives here.”

Betty Maloney, who was also at the event, agreed. A retired Newark guidance counselor, she questioned whether the district’s aging buildings will be properly ventilated and will have enough personnel, including nurses. Until the district has provided more assurances to families and employees, classrooms should not reopen, she said.

“It’s putting children at risk,” said Maloney, a member of the Newark Education Workers caucus, an activist group that includes educators and community members. “It’s putting teachers at risk.”

Clarification: This post has been updated to clarify that the event outside Newark Public Schools headquarters on Monday was a press conference.

Newark families can choose whether students attend school in person or remotely

2020-07-31T02:39:39+00:00

Newark families can choose whether their children will attend class in person or remotely when school starts Sept. 8, according to a newly released district plan.

Parents have just over two weeks to make their decision, which may be binding for as long as the district offers both options, according to a letter sent to families Wednesday.

Newark’s reopening roadmap, which the district said is subject to change, describes safety measures schools will put in place to reduce the risk of coronavirus infections among employees and students who opt for in-person learning.

The measures, which are based on state and federal guidelines, include mandatory virus tests for employees, daily symptom and temperature checks for students and staff members, mandatory face masks, and desks spaced 6 feet apart. Students will stay in small groups during the school day and eat bagged lunches at their desks, and no in-person assemblies will be allowed.

“I want to applaud everyone before this school year begins,” Superintendent Roger León said in an introductory note to the plan, released late Wednesday, “because this new normal will not be easy, but will be necessary.”

Newark’s plan for a mix of in-person and virtual learning comes as a growing number of districts nationwide are opting to start the school year fully online, and some New Jersey lawmakers and teachers unions are pushing to keep school buildings closed while the coronavirus continues to spread.

Here are some other highlights from the reopening plan for New Jersey’s largest school district:

All employees must submit negative COVID-19 test results before reporting to work. The district is also considering testing students.
Staff break rooms will be closed and water fountains turned off; staff and students must bring their own water.
Hand sanitizer will be available throughout schools, and custodians will disinfect “high contact surfaces” such as desks, doorknobs, and light switches.
Teachers and students will be expected to help with sanitation: they “shall wipe down any community or high-touch areas after each class.”
Recess times will be staggered and students will remain in small groups.
Physical education classes will focus on “individual pursuits” rather than team sports, and students will not share equipment.
Schools will use various strategies to help students cope with the stress and anxiety caused by the pandemic. Those will include counseling sessions and meditation and mindfulness exercises, “when possible.”
Because students likely lost ground academically during three months of remote learning this spring, the district will offer Saturday school and tutoring sessions to “minimize and mitigate” learning loss.

While the 25-page document provides much information that families and employees have anxiously awaited as the school year approaches, it leaves some questions unanswered.

For instance, it does not specify whether teachers can request to work remotely and, if so, whether they must show that their age or preexisting medical conditions put them at elevated risk of serious illness from COVID-19.

The guidance says families who do not want their children to return to classrooms must sign an all-remote learning consent form by Aug. 14. However, it does not provide details about what remote learning will entail. For instance, it is unclear whether teachers will be required to hold live classes by video or if students will watch pre-recorded lessons and work on virtual assignments independently.

Families who choose remote learning must “follow the established daily learning schedule” and make sure students participate in “mandated educational activities,” the plan says, without providing details.

The reopening plan suggests the district will offer three learning models, including one where students alternate between in-person and remote learning.

The plan suggests that the district will offer three learning models: fully remote, fully in-person, or a mix of both. The third option would have students alternate between in-person and virtual classes each day, but the plan does not say which students would be on an alternating schedule or whether families can select that option. León’s note said schools will share “additional guidance” about scheduling options after principals return in early August.

One reason for the lack of clarity may be that scheduling will largely depend on how many families opt to keep their children home this fall. If many families choose the fully remote option, schools may be able to bring the remaining students into classrooms every day and still maintain social distance. But if more families request in-person learning, schools might need to bring students in on alternating days in order to keep them 6 feet apart.

In a message to members Thursday, the Newark Teachers Union acknowledged that the plan is “broad in places,” adding that “staff members and students will require much more specifics.”

“Each school (under state guidelines) must have their own plans and ‘Pandemic Response Team,’” the message says, “so expect to see much more in the coming weeks.”

The choice of in-person or remote learning may not be entirely up to families. Some students, including those who are medically fragile or immunocompromised, will be advised to stay home, León said recently during an online event with the mayor.

Also, most of the roughly 6,000 students who rely on public transportation because they live 2 miles or more from their school will now learn remotely, according to the Newark Teachers Union. (The plan says the district will still provide school buses to students who require them, typically because they have disabilities. Those students will wear masks on the buses and sit one per row.)

Between students who are recommended to learn remotely and families who choose to, only about one-third of the district’s 38,000 students are expected to attend class in person, according to the union.

“The overwhelming majority will be at home,” NTU President John Abeigon said during an online meeting with members last week. “They will not be in schools.”

It remains to be seen whether the plan will ease the minds of teachers and parents who have raised alarms about reopening schools amid the ongoing pandemic.

For instance, some have questioned whether students will be able to keep on face masks and stay physically separated from their classmates, while others worry that poor air circulation in some schools will increase the risk of airborne infections.

News that the district had to temporarily close an in-person summer school site after an employee tested positive for the virus stoked some people’s fears, while others said the district handled the situation well.

“If we can’t go to a movie cinema or the theater,” one teacher wrote in a Chalkbeat survey, “why are we rushing back to school?”

As Newark prepares to reopen classrooms, teachers are torn about returning

2020-07-30T22:10:38+00:00

As they agonize over the coming school year, Newark teachers are torn between competing concerns: the health risks of returning to school and the academic risks of keeping students at home.

Teachers’ mixed feelings about the fall have been exacerbated by a pitched national debate, where the decision to reopen schools has been wrapped up with questions about coronavirus transmission, student well-being, and the economy. They are also weighing personal factors, such as medical conditions or child care duties, that could make in-person teaching difficult or even dangerous.

Meanwhile, Newark teachers have had scant information to guide their decision-making. While the district released a reopening plan late Wednesday that lets families choose between in-person or remote learning, it says nothing about teachers’ options. That has left many frustrated and conflicted as they prepare to return to work on Sept. 1.

On the one hand, many teachers fear that returning to classrooms during a still-raging pandemic is a recipe for disaster. They question whether schools can enforce social distancing and ensure classrooms are properly cleaned and ventilated.

“It’s an outbreak waiting to happen,” said one teacher in a recent Chalkbeat survey that drew responses from more than 70 Newark educators.

On the other hand, after three months of remote learning this spring — when many students were sidetracked by a lack of technology or responsibilities outside school — some educators are convinced that virtual learning leaves many students far behind.

“Class instruction is best,” said an educator in a separate survey by the Alliance for Newark Public Schools, a coalition of education advocacy groups. “In order for students, especially our neediest groups, to get the best support — that needs to be in person.”

Adding to teachers’ frustration is the lack of clarity about their options. Newark’s reopening plan, which the district said is subject to change, does not specify whether teachers will get to choose between in-person or virtual instruction. It is also unclear whether teachers will have to meet certain criteria to opt for remote work.

In neighboring Jersey City, 39% of educators who responded to a district survey this week said they will request to work remotely due to health concerns, officials told NJ.com. About 13% of respondents said they may seek leave from their jobs.

In Newark, the teachers union has been advising the district on its reopening plan while urging members not to panic about returning to classrooms.

“We all have to calm down,” said Newark Teachers Union President John Abeigon during a virtual meeting last week where teachers asked scores of questions about the approaching school year. While Abeigon expressed confidence in the district’s safety protocols, he said the union will push for all-remote learning if virus infections spike.

Other union leaders have sounded the alarm over reopening schools. The head of New Jersey’s largest teachers union recently said she doubts schools will be ready to safely reopen by September, while unions in Paterson and Essex County have called for the school year to begin with all-remote learning. Outside New Jersey, some teachers unions are joining in a campaign to halt in-person learning “until the scientific data supports it,” while the American Federation of Teachers said this week it would support strikes over teacher safety.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration is prodding districts to reopen classrooms — a demand that Senate Republicans have echoed during coronavirus aid negotiations.

In New Jersey, Democratic lawmakers said Wednesday they will propose legislation requiring districts to keep classes online for the start of the school year. While Gov. Phil Murphy has said families must be allowed to choose all-remote learning, he continues to push districts to offer at least some in-person classes.

“In-person is not only a richer experience, but it is an essential experience with no other alternative” in some communities, Murphy said Wednesday, noting that some working parents cannot supervise their children’s remote learning.

Across the country, a growing number of districts are deciding to start with all-virtual classes. Newark’s plan calls for a mix of in-person and remote learning, but does not say how students and staff members will be sorted into those options. That has left educators grasping for answers.

“Will the district allow teachers to choose if they want to teach remotely?” one teacher wrote in response to Chalkbeat’s survey. “Where’s the teacher’s voice in all the planning?”

Many educators said their age or underlying medical conditions put them at high risk of becoming seriously ill from COVID-19. Those who are parents wonder what will happen if they are called back to the classroom while their children’s schools remain online.

Echoing some families, other teachers questioned whether students will be able to stay 6 feet apart or keep on their face masks all day, especially in sweltering classrooms that lack air conditioning. Still others worried that limited air circulation in their schools will increase the risk of airborne infections.

“Ventilation is nonexistent in our school,” one teacher wrote.

Kathleen Singh, a performance art teacher at University High School, has been ruminating on the health risks of returning to school. While she will do so if required, she said, she would feel safer working from home.

“I miss my students, I really do,” she told Chalkbeat. “But I also want to be safe, and I have to think about my health and the health of my family.”

Michael Dixon, a math coach at Ivy Hill Elementary, taught lessons on Zoom this spring during remote learning.

In recent days, the Newark Teachers Union has tried to assuage members’ fears while tentatively backing the district’s plans.

Staffers who are “not able or willing” to return to classrooms won’t have to, Abeigon said during Friday’s online meeting. Those who do return must test negative for the coronavirus and follow safety protocols outlined in the district’s reopening guidelines.

Responding to a common concern among teachers that classrooms will be too crowded to keep students safely distanced, Abeigon said the “overwhelming majority” of the district’s roughly 38,000 students will learn online rather than in schools.

“Trust me, you’ll be able to hear an echo,” he said.

However, the district has not released survey data on parents’ preferences and families have until Aug. 14 to request fully online learning, making it unclear how many students will stay home.

Still, the prospect that many students will continue learning remotely this fall is itself troubling to some educators.

While distance learning carries fewer health risks, it could cause academic and psychological harm to students. Research suggests that prolonged classroom closures will stall or even reverse many students’ academic growth, with low-income students and those with disabilities expected to suffer the most significant learning loss. Many students will also miss out on the social interactions, safe learning environment, and healthy meals that they rely on schools to provide.

Newark has not shared data on student attendance or academic achievement during remote learning this spring. But teachers say a sizable number of students did not attend virtual classes or complete assignments.

“There have been students who have completely fallen off the face of the earth and I can’t get in touch with [them],” one teacher wrote in the Alliance for Newark Public Schools survey. “I am very worried what will happen with these students [if] distance learning were to continue.”

For some students, technology was a major obstacle: While schools loaned out thousands of laptops, the district did not have enough devices to provide one to every student.

“Families with more than one child at my school were provided with a single Chromebook to share among the children,” another teacher wrote, adding, “Many families do not have internet access.”

Even for students who could log on, the consensus among many teachers was that remote learning simply can’t compare to classrooms.

“I think kids learn best in the classroom with a teacher and a community of learners,” said Denise Rawding, a math coach at Roberto Clemente Elementary School who holds a doctorate in educational leadership.

She worries about students who won’t be able to participate in online learning, either because they lack home technology or their parents work during the day. In the spring, only a third to half of her 40 third-grade students attended her video classes on any given day, she said, adding that she recorded videos for students who missed her live lessons.

While she knows in-person learning poses some risks and won’t be anything like normal this fall, she still intends to return to school.

“There’s nothing that would hold me back from going in,” she said. “I will be there.”

From ‘I really can’t risk it’ to ‘I need help’: Newark parents weigh whether to send their children back to school

2020-07-24T16:36:55+00:00

While policymakers debate whether and how to reopen schools, millions of parents are grappling with their own wrenching decision: If classrooms do reopen, will they send their children?

In Newark, the district plans to offer in-person learning this fall, but families can request that their children continue learning remotely. The number of families who opt for online-only learning will have big consequences: It will determine how much space is available in classrooms for social distancing and how many teachers the district must bring into school buildings.

Unlike some districts, Newark has not released data on parents’ preferences for the fall. But recent surveys and interviews with parents offer a window into how some are deciding what is the best — and safest — way for their children to learn during the coronavirus pandemic.

Some families who are planning to send their children back to school say that remote learning isn’t effective or isn’t feasible because the parents must return to work. Parents who expect to keep their children out of school say they’re worried about the health risks of in-person learning and skeptical of new safety protocols.

“It will be virtually impossible to keep all the children and staff safe,” said Samantha Hollins, one of roughly 50 Newark parents who responded to Chalkbeat’s online questionnaire.

Hollins said she doubts that students will keep their distance from one another or that the “prehistoric” school buildings will be properly ventilated. She worries that one of her four school-age children could become infected and spread the virus to their 71-year-old grandmother, who lives with the family.

So, despite the difficulties of virtual learning, she expects to keep her children home this fall.

“Better safe than sorry,” she said in an interview, echoing the parents who took Chalkbeat’s survey and overwhelmingly said they would request online learning. “I really can’t risk it.”

The Alliance for Newark Public Schools issued the district a report card based on the results of an online survey that garnered roughly 1,500 responses from Newark parents, students, educators, and community members.

More than 400 Newark parents and guardians responded to a separate survey conducted by the Alliance for Newark Public Schools, a coalition of education advocacy groups. (The coalition used the responses to create a “community report card” that graded the district’s response to the pandemic; the district received mostly B+’s and one A-.)

Taken together, the two online surveys shed light on Newark families’ thinking about the coming school year, which is scheduled to begin Sept. 8.

In both, a number of parents questioned whether Newark schools will be able to enforce the district’s new safety guidelines, such as requiring students to wear face masks and stay 6 feet apart.

“[My] son who has autism won’t understand social distancing or he won’t wear a mask for long,” one parent wrote in the Alliance survey, which was open from late May through July.

The risk that children will become seriously ill from the coronavirus is relatively small. But new evidence suggests that children ages 10 and older can spread the virus just as easily as adults. That is deeply concerning to families with members who are especially vulnerable to COVID-19 because of their age or underlying health conditions, leading some parents to say they won’t consider in-person learning until a vaccine is available.

“If the virus [is] still destroying lives and families, I prefer distance learning!” one person said in the Alliance survey, whose results were shared with Chalkbeat.

“I will be requesting online learning,” a different parent said in Chalkbeat’s survey. “Not only because we don’t feel it is safe for our children to return, but I have many kids that have respiratory problems and we will not put them in harm’s way.”

Several state and national polls have found that most parents are wary of reopening schools during the pandemic. Black and Hispanic parents appear particularly concerned about the risks of in-person learning, which could reflect the coronavirus’ disproportionate impact on those groups.

In Newark, where the coronavirus has caused more than 600 deaths, most families are acutely aware of the danger it poses. And yet, many parents say they will send their children back to school this fall.

For some, it’s a matter of necessity. “Who is going to watch my kids when I have to work?” one father wrote to Chalkbeat, adding that he is “100% sending them back.”

Other parents seemed to have reached their limit after four months of quarantining with their children.

“I need help,” said a parent of five young children, including two with special needs, in the Alliance survey. “I’m so overwhelm[ed].”

For other families, their experience after the state shuttered schools in March left them disillusioned with remote learning. While many parents praised teachers who worked around the clock to stay virtually connected with students, some said others teachers did not communicate as frequently or offer live video lessons.

“Some teachers have gone above and beyond while others are riding out doing absolutely nothing,” one parent wrote in the Alliance survey. “I should be reinforcing what is being taught not having to completely teach lesson plans.”

A number of parents complained about trying to explain unfamiliar academic concepts to their children — “The last time I was in elementary school was in the 90’s. I learned the same material, but it was taught differently” — or having to supervise their children’s learning while holding down a job.

“I am not a teacher and find it really frustrating to combine work and teaching and making sure assignments are done,” another parent said. “When I am not there, they don’t work.”

Many more parents said they did not have reliable internet access at home or enough working computers for all of their children: “I need a Chromebook for each of my sons. They were primarily working with cell phones and then we borrowed a Chromebook for them to share,” one wrote.

Other parents said their children with disabilities did not get the services or modified teaching materials they are legally entitled to. Still others worried about the social-emotional strain on children as they witness the destruction caused by the pandemic and remain physically separated from teachers and classmates.

“Kids have had their world turned upside down,” one person wrote. “They miss their friends and the stability their school culture provides.”

Anna Da Silva is one of the parents who hopes to send her child back to a classroom this September.

Her four-year-old daughter thrived in her East Ward preschool: “She progressed so much — I can’t even put into words how much,” Da Silva said in an interview with Chalkbeat.

But when school went online, her daughter was reluctant to participate in Zoom lessons and rarely spoke. Knowing that young children are less likely to contract or spread the virus, Da Silva is more concerned about the developmental consequences of remote learning than the health risks of in-person learning.

“I think it’s extremely important that she is around kids,” she said. “Just staying home, they’ll fall behind.”

At an online forum Wednesday held by the Alliance for Newark Public Schools, Superintendent Roger León said he will give families more information about their fall options on Aug. 7. In the meantime, parents who want to request online-only learning can start reaching out to their schools, he added.

For now, many families are wrestling with a high-stakes decision that has no right answer.

“I want my children to be safe but I dislike online learning,” one parent said in the Alliance survey. “I’m at a crossroads.”

Newark summer school site was temporarily closed due to coronavirus case

2020-07-21T18:04:39+00:00

Newark temporarily shut down a summer school site earlier this month after an employee tested positive for the coronavirus, according to parents and a union official.

The employee works at First Avenue School, one of two pilot sites where the Newark school district is enforcing new safety measures as it resumes in-person learning nearly four months after classrooms closed nationwide due to the pandemic.

But the incident appears to have exposed a gap in those protocols: The employee was allowed to start working at the summer program before receiving her COVID-19 test results, according to the Newark Teachers Union. She received the positive test result after working in the building July 6, the first day of summer school, the union said.

The school was shut down for disinfecting the next day. A review of surveillance footage at the school showed that the employee did not interact with any teachers or students, the union said. Once the building was cleaned and families and staffers were informed of the incident, the site was reopened the same week, parents and the union said.

The temporary shutdown highlights the inevitable challenges that will arise as Newark and districts across the country start to reopen school buildings even as the virus continues to spread in many communities. The incident also shows that the district is prepared to respond immediately if anyone at a school is infected with the virus, said Newark Teachers Union President John Abeigon.

“She was quarantined, the building was shut down, everything was explained to the parents and the staff,” he said. “The protocols worked.”

Abeigon said the employee at First Avenue School had taken the test at least a week prior to working at the summer program, but a delay at the testing site held up her results. Now, employees will not be allowed to work inside reopened schools until their test results come back negative, he said.

“From now on, it’s not enough to document that you’ve been tested; you have to have a letter stating that you’re negative,” he said. “We caught the issue and corrected it.”

The majority of Newark students are taking online classes this summer. The district limited the in-person classes to a small number of teachers and families who volunteered to participate, including about 60 students at First Avenue.

In a statement, spokesperson Nancy Deering said the district is “proud of its students, parents, and staff” at the two in-person summer sites.

“While we are in unchartered waters, protocols are in place to make the return to in-person instruction a healthy and safe experience as this one in Newark,” she said.

The incident underscores a point some medical experts make about the risks of reopening schools amid the pandemic: While evidence suggests that younger children are less likely to spread the virus than adults or become seriously ill from COVID-19, schools also create opportunities for adults to transmit the virus to one another. And many teachers and other school employees are older adults or have underlying health conditions that put them at higher risk of falling seriously ill if they are infected.

“The greatest risk to teachers is not children — it’s other adults,” said Dr. Kenneth Alexander, chief of infectious disease at Nemours Children’s Hospital in Orlando, in an interview earlier this month. (Last week, a large new study was published showing that children ages 10 to 19 appear to spread the virus at least as well as adults do.)

Students at Newark’s in-person summer school sites undergo daily symptom screenings and temperature checks before entering.

To mitigate those risks, Newark has put in place strict safety protocols at the in-person summer programs — the first district schools to reopen classrooms since they were closed in mid-March. All staff members are tested for the virus, students undergo a multi-step entry process that includes a symptom check and hand sanitizing, and everyone is instructed to wear a mask and keep their distance from others inside the schools.

“The health and safety of all of our students and staff is in fact the top priority,” Superintendent Roger León said last week, adding that the idea behind the in-person summer school sites was “to begin small, assess it, monitor it” before reopening classrooms district-wide in September.

On Monday, several parents and employees at First Avenue School said they felt confident in the safety measures the district has established, which are based on state guidelines. They added that the district responded swiftly and appropriately when the employee tested positive for the virus.

“They got everybody out fast,” said Bionett Roman, whose third-grader attends the summer program. “If they keep doing the safety measures, I think it’s fine.”

Karen, the mother of a fourth-grader at the site who declined to give her last name, said she was not alarmed by the temporary shutdown, which she expects might happen again as more people return to schools.

“It’s going to happen even when they open schools in September,” she said. “It’s a possibility you’re going to have to close schools back down again.”

But other Newark parents and teachers have expressed fear and even anger as the district begins reopening schools. Dozens of people who responded to a Chalkbeat survey about returning to classrooms during the pandemic said they believe it is too risky and that it will be hard for schools to enforce the new safety measures, which include requiring students to wear masks and stay 6 feet apart.

The temporary shutdown of First Avenue School “gave everyone pause,” said an educator at a different school who asked to remain anonymous to avoid retaliation. While it wasn’t surprising that someone had tested positive for the virus, what most concerned her is that the district did not provide information about the incident to staffers at other schools.

“The teachers haven’t heard anything official — it’s all unofficial that we’ve heard through colleagues,” she said. “It’s not like there was a statement: ‘This is what happened, this is what we did, so we can put your mind at ease.’”

The educator said she wants to hear more from the district about how it will handle similar situations this September if thousands more students and staffers return to schools. She’s also waiting to learn whether teachers will be able to request to work remotely this fall, which she hopes to do because she helps care for her father, who has cancer and is at elevated risk of becoming severely ill from COVID-19.

“Hopefully that wouldn’t cost me my job,” she said. “But my family’s health is more important than any job.”

Newark eyes mix of in-person and online learning but families will have ‘ultimate choice’

2020-07-17T22:22:59+00:00

Newark is planning for a mix of in-person and virtual learning this fall, though parents will have the final say on whether their children return to classrooms, Superintendent Roger León said.

The Newark school district has not unveiled its plans for the coming school year, which must be submitted to the state next month. But they will likely involve a “hybrid” of in-person and online learning, León said Thursday during an interview on WBGO’s “Newark Today” radio program.

He also nodded to the fact that many parents and educators remain fearful of reopening classrooms during the pandemic no matter how many safety measures are put in place. No families will be forced to send their children back into school buildings, León said, suggesting they can opt for fully online classes.

“They will have the ultimate choice of saying what is in the best interest of their children, whether it’s in person or virtual,” he said. “My job is to make sure that they have an incredible teacher in front of them, whether it’s in person or on the computer screen.”

School districts nationwide are grappling with whether and how to safely reopen classrooms as coronavirus cases surge across the country. In New Jersey, where new infections and deaths have leveled off but the transmission rate has crept up, Gov. Phil Murphy has pushed for students to return to classrooms at least part-time in September. But he recently cautioned that classrooms can’t reopen if new outbreaks emerge.

A key factor guiding districts’ decision-making for the fall is how contained — or out of control — the virus is in their communities. As local infection rates soar, districts in California, Indiana, Arizona, and other states have said that the school year will start with all virtual classes.

Once a coronavirus hotspot, New Jersey is one of the few states where several important metrics — including daily new cases and the infection rate — are trending down. Some experts say the average daily infection rate, which measures the percentage of people who test positive for the virus, must drop below 5% to control the virus’ spread. New Jersey’s current average positivity rate is 1.4%.

In Newark, which has been hard hit by the virus, the rate is closer to 5%, down from a peak of 69%, officials said Thursday. The city’s daily number of new coronavirus cases and deaths has also fallen dramatically from their peak in April. On Thursday, Newark recorded its first day with no new deaths or cases.

Those positive trends bode well for the reopening of Newark schools, said Mayor Ras Baraka, who joined León on the radio along with Dr. Mark Wade, director of the city health department. But Baraka warned that Newark cannot reopen classrooms if the virus flares up again.

“If we start reaching numbers that are just too high for us to manage, then we just have to abort the whole thing,” he said.

Dr. Wade echoed the mayor’s cautious optimism. However, he went a step further by suggesting that even under the current conditions students should plan to spend more time learning at home than school.

“I would agree it has to be virtual as well as in person,” he said. “In the early stages, more virtual than in person.”

León did not say how much time students will spend each week learning remotely versus in person. But school space will limit what’s possible: Classrooms can only hold about 10 students in order to comply with health guidelines that students stay 6 feet apart, he said. The class-size restrictions likely mean students will only be able to come into school a few days a week.

John Abeigon, president of the Newark Teachers Union, estimated that students will only be able learn in classrooms about 25% of the time this school year.

“We just don’t have the space to ensure the safety of staff and students,” he said in an email.

In order to enable more in-person learning, Abeigon said the city could turn available private spaces into makeshift classrooms. Those could include local churches, libraries, and performance centers with spare rooms.

“Anything that expands the instructional square footage should be taken into consideration by our leaders,” he said, “and it has to be done now.”

The district has started to test out safety measures for in-person learning. It piloted two summer school sites this month where students and teachers come into classrooms wearing masks and staying physically distanced.

“Part of our strategy was to begin small, assess it, monitor it,” León said Thursday, “always making sure that the health and safety of the students and staff is first and foremost.”

But a big question remains: Will the new safety protocols be enough to win over wary parents and teachers? Some families and educators opted into the in-person summer school program, suggesting they were persuaded by the district’s safety plan. But others are more skeptical.

Andria Belcher, whose children attend Hawthorne Avenue School, said she is undecided about reopening classrooms. She questioned whether students will wear masks for the full school day or refrain from getting closer than 6 feet to their friends and teachers.

“I have to hear a real plan on how they’re going to go forward protecting these kids before mine can go back,” she said.

Mayor Baraka acknowledged such fears Thursday, saying some parents will be “scared to death” about sending their children to school until they learn more about the new safety measures. He called the in-person pilot program “excellent,” but said the district needs to share its full reopening plans with families.

“They need to see what’s going on,” he said, “and hear from the superintendent and see what his plans are.”

New Jersey families were promised $416 per child in coronavirus food benefits. Some are still waiting.

2020-07-17T13:48:48+00:00

Even as child hunger surges during the pandemic, some New Jersey families are still waiting for emergency food assistance that Congress approved months ago.

The program, which Congress established in March, is meant to make up for meals that students missed after schools closed nationwide this spring. In New Jersey, the Pandemic-Electronic Benefit Transfer program is supposed to provide $416 in food benefits to every child who qualified for subsidized school meals.

But bureaucratic delays in New Jersey have held up the money, which is expected to help feed more than 500,000 children. After promising to distribute the benefits in June, the state only began making payments this month, officials said.

The wait continues for many Newark families, including some of the roughly 30,000 students in traditional Newark public schools who are entitled to the emergency food money. Several families told Chalkbeat this week that they still haven’t received the aid, even as parents in some Newark charter schools and other nearby districts said their payments already arrived.

Neoshi Baker has been trying to track down the food benefits for her two children, who attend Newark Public Schools.

The delay has made it even harder for parents like Neoshi Baker to keep food on the table. With her 12- and 13-year-old children home around the clock, the family is flying through gallons of water, cartons of milk, and boxes of cereal each week. “You can’t be mad at the kids because they’re stuck in the house,” she said. “All they can do is eat.”

Baker’s remote job in medical billing makes it difficult to pick up the grab-and-go meals that Newark schools serve during work hours. So she’s tried to stock up on groceries by buying in bulk. And she’s repeatedly called her children’s school and emailed the state in a fruitless attempt to track down the promised food benefits.

“My kids need this,” said Baker, whose children attend Ridge Street School. “I need help.”

The long wait for benefits comes amid a spike in child hunger due to the pandemic, as parents lose jobs, food prices soar, and schools serve far fewer meals than when buildings were open. One recent analysis projected that as many as one in five New Jersey children will not have enough to eat this year — a 75% increase from 2018. And even more families could struggle to afford food if the state lifts its temporary freeze on evictions, said Adele LaTourette, director of the advocacy group Hunger Free New Jersey.

“The word ‘tsunami’ comes up in every call” with food pantries, she said. “They’re expecting lines and lines of people.”

The Pandemic-EBT program is meant to help feed children by providing food benefits to eligible families for the period when school buildings were closed due to the coronavirus. Families can use the money to buy food at grocery stores, bodegas, or certain online retailers such as Amazon and Walmart.

After New Jersey’s plan to provide the benefits was approved in early May, the state said families would receive $416.10 for each eligible child “no later than June.” But on June 30, the state Department of Human Services said the payments would now arrive in July.

An agency spokesperson said Thursday that the families of 150,000 children have received the money on the electronic cards that recipients of NJ SNAP, the state’s food stamp program, use to buy food. Those payments were made July 8, the spokesman said. Families who weren’t already enrolled in SNAP were due to receive cards in the mail beginning this past Monday, he added.

Yet many Newark families still appear to be waiting for the payment cards. In a poll posted on a local Facebook group Wednesday, more than 120 people who identified as parents of students in Newark’s traditional or charter schools said they had not received the cards. Only six self-identified parents said they had received them.

In interviews with Chalkbeat, several parents said their payments have not arrived. That includes parents with SNAP cards, who said they have not seen the money the state says was added last week.

“I don’t know anyone in this area who has received theirs — including myself,” said Yolanda Stokes, whose son attends University High School.

Stokes, who is awaiting the food stipend for her son, said she scours the local newspapers for deals and shops at wholesale stores such as Restaurant Depot and Costco to find affordable food. She also keeps a bin of extra food in her house to share with neighbors who are struggling to make ends meet amid the economic fallout of the pandemic.

“A lot of people have used some of their rent money to purchase food,” Stokes said, adding that some families worry about losing their homes when the state allows evictions to resume. “That’s how they’ve been surviving.”

The state human services department attributed the delay partly to school districts, saying some needed more time to submit information verifying that students qualified for free or reduced-price lunch.

“Benefits are being processed as quickly as possible based on the department receiving the necessary information from school districts,” said spokesperson Tom Hester.

However, a Newark Public Schools spokesperson said the district submitted the requested information in May. Newark officials have been urging the state to process the payments, according to Jaz West-Romero, a Newark parent and activist who said she spoke with district leaders this week.

Meanwhile, the state has been stretched thin by the pandemic. In April, the human services department requested a federal waiver from certain oversight rules related to the food stamps program, which it manages. The agency said the health crisis had left it with fewer workers and limited access to its databases, even as food stamp applications increased sixfold.

Shanaya Thomas is “penny-pinching” to provide meals for her family while she awaits the food benefits for her two teenage children.

The emergency food-assistance program created additional challenges, which many states have faced. The agency had to coordinate with the state’s education and agriculture departments to determine families’ eligibility, which involved collecting subsidized meal rosters from every school district.

“We have three different departments that had to come together to get these numbers,” said LaTourette, the anti-hunger advocate. “Getting a fine-tuned number in a quick way is not only challenging, but virtually impossible.”

While they await help from the state, parents like Shanaya Thomas are making do the best they can.

Despite her fear of contracting the virus, Thomas crosses the city on public buses searching for the best food prices — “penny-pinching” to provide meals for her family, as she puts it. With two teenage children in Newark schools, she is expecting $832 in emergency food aid. Yet as of Thursday, she said, her benefits card still was missing the money the state said it sent parents last week.

“What is taking you all so long?” she said. “We need it for our kids.”

Newark schools reopening: What do you think about returning to classrooms?

2020-07-15T21:44:09+00:00

Across the country, a debate is raging about whether it’s safe to reopen schools this fall amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

In New Jersey, Gov. Phil Murphy has insisted that most students will return to classrooms at least part time this school year. But recently he said that could change if infections surge.

In Newark, Superintendent Roger León has promised that classrooms will be safe for students and teachers as schools follow the latest health guidelines. The district has even started testing out the new safety measures at two summer school sites, where students and staffers are wearing face masks and desks are spaced 6 feet apart.

Meanwhile, some parents and teachers have said they’re worried about the health risks of in-person learning and plan to opt for virtual classes this fall.

Chalkbeat wants to hear from parents, students, and school staff: Do you think it’s safe to reopen school buildings? Share your thoughts and questions below.

Can Newark reopen schools safely? Summer pilot program offers a trial run.

2020-07-14T23:16:18+00:00

Even as a national debate rages about whether it will be safe to reopen schools this fall amid surging coronavirus cases in most states, some districts aren’t waiting for answers — they’re trying in-person learning now.

One of those districts is Newark, where a small number of students and teachers returned to classrooms last week for summer school after spending about a third of this past school year learning remotely. Newark had recorded more than 8,000 coronavirus infections and 636 deaths as of Tuesday, but like the rest of New Jersey, its number of daily new cases has declined since peaking in April.

The in-person pilot at two elementary schools is designed to test out safety measures — from morning temperature checks to face mask requirements to spread-apart desks — while giving the district an opportunity to make necessary adjustments before thousands more students and staffers are expected to return in September.

Just as important, the summer school programs at Thirteenth Avenue and First Avenue schools might assuage the fears of people who seriously question whether brick-and-mortar schools can operate safely during the ongoing pandemic. If the pilot avoids virus outbreaks, the district will be able to point to local examples of safe in-person learning, which might be more compelling to families and educators than scientific studies or official assurances.

“When we all come back together, now there’s going to be word of mouth. ‘What was it like? How was it? How did the kids do?’” said LaShanda Gilliam, a vice principal at Thirteenth Avenue School who runs the summer program. “And all of us who were here can attest to that. We can talk about it.”

“That makes me feel a little more confident that our families will be at ease,” she added, “and that other students will be at ease.”

Newark’s five-week summer programs began July 6, with all students attending virtual classes except for a few dozen who opted for in-person sessions at the pilot schools. Those two sites, which are following safety guidelines the state issued last month for in-person summer programs, offer a glimpse of what schools might look like this fall if some amount of in-person learning resumes, as state and local officials insist will happen.

At Thirteenth Avenue School, the 37 first-through-eighth graders whose families agreed to in-person summer classes start lining up outside the school at 8:30 a.m., Gilliam explained. A security guard makes sure they stand on freshly painted lines spaced six feet apart, per federal health recommendations.

Students then go through a four-step entry process, Gilliam said. First, they answer questions to check for COVID-19 symptoms. Next, school nurses or other staffers take their temperature using no-touch thermometers. Third, students step onto a shoe-sanitizing device. Finally, they apply hand sanitizer. Only then can they enter the building.

Students at First Avenue School’s summer program go through a multi-step entry process that includes a temperature check, shoe sanitizing, and hand sanitizing.

Before teachers open their classrooms, they check for a note affirming that custodians disinfected their rooms the previous day, Gilliam said. Then students can enter and eat bagged breakfasts at their desks. (They’re given to-go lunches when they leave at noon.)

Inside classrooms, the floors are lined with blue tape to ensure desks sit six feet apart. The distancing requirements only allow for up to about 10 students per room, but the limited number of students in the summer program has kept class sizes to about six students, Gilliam said.

During class, students and teachers must wear face masks, which the school gives to anyone who needs one. The district also provided each teacher a cleaning kit with hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes and spray, and extra masks.

Each student’s desk is topped by a three-sided barrier, about a foot high with a clear window in the front, which adds another layer of protection against airborne transmission of the virus. The barriers and physical distancing allow students to take off their masks for brief breaks, Gilliam said.

Students’ supplies are kept in separate bags to prevent sharing of materials — and, potentially, the virus. They work on laptops that are disinfected every day rather than using books or paper packets, which would be difficult or impossible to clean.

Even with the intricate safety protocols, Gilliam said that in-person learning offers advantages over virtual lessons.

“You get to see the teacher model the lesson right then and there and answer any questions right then and there,” she said. “And it’s still a little bit of socialization, even though it’s not like it used to be.”

Newark’s experiment with in-person learning comes as schools face immense pressure to reopen this fall — from some working parents, experts worried about the academic and psychological effects of prolonged remote learning, and the Trump administration, which has threatened to withhold federal funding if school buildings stay shuttered.

But many teachers and some parents have expressed alarm at reopening schools while infection rates rise in many parts of the country, leading some districts, including those in the Los Angeles, Phoenix and Nashville areas, to reverse course and keep classes online when the new school year starts.

Amid the ongoing debate, some districts have quietly reopened classrooms for summer school. That has not always gone smoothly. Summer programs in Connecticut and Iowa were suspended after individuals tested positive for COVID-19 or recorded elevated temperatures, a symptom of the illness. And in Detroit, dozens of protestors — including teachers — blocked buses from picking up students for summer school Monday, citing fears about the health risks of in-person classes.

Class sizes are small and students are spread far apart at Thirteenth Avenue School’s summer program.

Newark has taken pains to avoid such a backlash. Unlike in Detroit, where a couple thousand students opted for in-person summer school, only a few dozen students were given that option in Newark in an effort to keep the pilot program small and manageable. And, crucially, the in-person experiment has the support of the Newark Teachers Union, whose president said he proposed the idea to the district as a way to work out any kinks before schools reopen on a wider scale.

“You make a mistake now, you affect one teacher and maybe five or six kids in a classroom,” said NTU President John Abeigon, adding that it’s easier to isolate and contain infections among small numbers of people. “You make that same mistake in September with 38,000 kids and 3,800 instructional personnel, that’s major — there could be major ramifications.”

The Newark school district originally said all programs this summer would be virtual. But after the state announced last month that summer programs could take place in person if they met new safety standards, the district decided to pilot the two in-person sites while the majority of students took online classes.

Teachers and families at First Avenue and Thirteenth Avenue schools (and a few others that send students to those sites during the summer) were given the choice between in-person and online programs. During virtual meetings, Superintendent Roger León explained the safety protocols at the in-person sites.

That was enough to persuade Alimata Bila to send her six-year-old daughter, Grace, to Thirteenth Avenue’s in-person program.

“I said, OK, she has stayed home long enough, since March. I want her to go out and be with other kids and have fun,” said Bila, who has been working from home the past several months while caring for her one-year-old son and trying to supervise her daughter’s virtual lessons.

“Learning from home is not the same thing as coming to school every day, getting to interact with other kids and the teacher,” she said. “Those teachers went to school and received training for that — I did not.”

It remains to be seen whether the pilot programs will convince skeptics that in-person learning can proceed safely this fall. Some Newark parents and educators have already suggested they will choose to continue with remote learning, which Gov. Phil Murphy said is their right.

Still, the pilot is already providing valuable data “to inform future decision-making and help us continue to ensure the safety of every child and staff member,” Superintendent León said in a statement.

Gilliam agreed, calling the pilot “great practice” for the fall. She added that it’s lessened the burden on working parents who struggled with remote learning this spring.

“I felt like I could sense the desperation of the parents,” she said. Now, “seeing them so happy, so eager, I just feel like that’s really the point of this school.”

N.J. schools will reopen this year with masks and other safety measures in place

2020-06-26T17:06:29+00:00

After months of remote learning, New Jersey students will return to classrooms at least part-time this fall, state officials said Friday. But the schools they return to will be transformed, with students urged to wear masks and stay six feet apart from their peers, according to long-awaited state guidelines released Friday.

The 104-page guidelines set some minimum safety standards for reopening schools during the coronavirus pandemic, such as screening students and employees for virus symptoms, cleaning and disinfecting surfaces, and requiring teachers and “strongly” encouraging students to wear face coverings. They also suggest other steps schools might take to reduce the risk of infections, including keeping students in small groups, serving meals in classrooms, staggering recess times, and spacing students apart on buses.

But the guidance, which district leaders have been clamoring for as they tentatively plan for the fall, gives the state’s more than 600 districts flexibility in how they meet the safety requirements.

It will fall on each district to work through a thicket of logistical details, such as how to reconfigure classrooms and retool schedules to allow for social distancing. Districts will need to plan for some continued remote learning because the distancing requirements might prevent entire classes from attending school at the same time, and some medically vulnerable students and educators may not be able to come into school at all.

And districts must be ready to quickly close down schools if the virus flares up again this year, as health experts warn it might.

“As we cannot predict the future, districts must be prepared for the possibility that public health could require another switch to all-remote learning at any time,” Gov. Phil Murphy said Friday.

Schools will face a host of other challenges. Those include how to pay for masks and cleaning supplies, how to ensure all students have internet and computer access on days when they must work remotely, and how to convince families and employees that it is safe to return to school amid a potentially fatal virus that does not yet have a vaccine or reliable treatment.

“The return to school will pose challenges,” Murphy said in a statement, “but we are confident that New Jersey’s school districts can move forward in a way that best serves the needs of their district while also achieving a safe environment for students and staff.”

Murphy ordered all schools to shut down in March as the virus whipped through New Jersey, where it has infected more than 170,000 residents and caused more than 13,000 deaths. As the state’s near-lockdown helped contain the virus and slow its spread, Murphy has started to roll back the restrictions.

Allowing students to return to school buildings this fall after three months of remote learning last school year is a major milestone in the state’s reopening, as many parents cannot fully return to work while their children are home. But it’s also rife with risks and logistical complexities.

For instance, schools will have to devise ways to screen hundreds of students and staffers as they enter the building each morning. They will have to rearrange classrooms and mark up hallways to ensure students stay several feet apart, while overhauling their recess, meal, and physical education procedures. And they will need to ensure all students are able to learn remotely if necessary — a major undertaking in a state where an estimated 90,000 student this spring lacked home internet or computer access, according to state officials.

All these changes will not come cheaply. One analysis estimated that the average district may need to spend an additional $490 per student on safety equipment, cleaning supplies, and additional custodians and nurses. At the same time, as the state reels from the economic fallout of the pandemic, Murphy had to scrap state aid increases that he previously said districts would receive next school year. And while Congress has allocated $310 million in coronavirus relief aid through the CARES Act for New Jersey schools, some experts say that money is unlikely to cover the full costs.

“The amount of resources that districts would truly need to catch kids up from having missed this much school is pretty enormous,” said Danielle Farrie, research director at the Newark-based Education Law Center. “It seems unlikely that the limited CARES funding is going to make a difference.”

To craft the guidelines, the state education department consulted health department officials, local superintendents, and dozens of education and community groups, state officials said.

Each district’s reopening plan will be reviewed to ensure it adheres to the guidelines, officials said. Districts must share their plans with the public at least four weeks before the school year starts.

In Newark, home to the state’s largest school system, the district has already assembled a reopening task force that offered dozens of recommendations related to school operations, teaching, remote learning, and ways to support staff members and students. And even before the state issued its guidance, Newark officials indicated that students will have to wear masks and may need to attend school in shifts or on alternating days.

Big hurdles remain in Newark, including limited access to technology among many families. The district will need to purchase about 10,000 additional laptops in order for every student to have one, as the state guidelines recommend.

And many families remain wary of the health risks of in-person learning. More than 80% of Newark parents say they are concerned about their children returning to school, according to a recent poll of 416 Newark adults.

“To ensure that parents send their children to school and that kids don’t fall behind in their education, we must do everything we can to prioritize safety and restore confidence among parents,” said Shennell McCloud, executive director of Project Ready, the Newark advocacy group that commissioned the online poll.

Newark braces for budget crunch when schools reopen amid coronavirus

2020-06-25T22:55:38+00:00

School districts are already feeling the pain as the pandemic batters New Jersey’s economy, yet they are bracing for even more hurt this fall if state aid gets slashed while expenses swell.

Newark, home to the state’s largest school system, is a prime example of the vise tightening around district budgets. Last month, a projected $10 billion revenue shortfall forced Gov. Phil Murphy to scrap the funding boost he had promised districts, leaving Newark with $36 million less than it was banking on for the coming school year. This month, the state delayed its monthly aid payment to districts, forcing Newark to take out a $25 million loan to pay its bills.

Newark also has yet to receive its slice of the $310 million in coronavirus relief money that Congress approved for New Jersey schools three months ago. And it has been waiting weeks for the state to issue guidance for reopening schools in September, which will help districts plan for pandemic-related costs such as masks, laptops, and sanitizing supplies.

A full picture of the pandemic’s financial fallout won’t emerge until the fall when the state budget is finalized and school reopening costs are tallied. But Newark officials have already had to make some tough choices, including whether to cut coaches’ stipends or classroom aides’ paychecks.

“My decisions are very, very difficult,” Superintendent Roger León told the school board last month. “There isn’t an endless pit of money.”

Even before the pandemic struck, Newark faced a budget squeeze. It receives significantly less aid than it is owed according to the state’s school-funding formula, and with rising teacher salaries and plans to open two new schools this fall, it had to raise taxes and reduce spending on supplies and services by nearly $20 million to balance its budget for the 2020-21 school year.

The district’s portion of a $336 million increase in state aid that Murphy proposed in February was keeping it in the black. But last month, Murphy scaled back the increase as part of a suite of cost savings in response to the pandemic, which decimated the state’s tax revenues. Now, Newark’s proposed state aid bump for next school year has shrunk from $53 million to $17 million.

Even that diminished amount is contingent on funding sources Murphy is seeking, such as massive borrowing and additional federal relief money. If those plans don’t materialize, state aid for schools could shrink even further, said Richard Bozza, executive director of the New Jersey Association of School Administrators.

“There’s no guarantee that it won’t be reduced again because of the hole in the state’s budget,” he said.

Then there’s the looming question of what it will cost school districts to safely reopen buildings during a pandemic. The Murphy administration is expected to issue reopening guidelines Friday. Districts are already planning to purchase masks, thermometers, hand sanitizer, and extra cleaning equipment; restrictions on classroom and school bus capacity are likely to add additional costs. One analysis estimates that the average district will spend an extra $490 per student on pandemic-related safety expenses this school year.

The actual cost will likely be much higher. Districts may need to hire additional teachers and aides to catch up students who fell behind during several months of remote learning. And León has said Newark would need to buy another 10,000 laptops in order for every student to have a device — a move that may be necessary if a second wave of the virus forces school buildings to shutter again this year.

Those costs could easily exceed the $19.3 million that Newark expects to receive through the federal coronavirus relief package, known as the CARES Act, said Danielle Farrie, research director at the Newark-based Education Law Center.

“The amount of resources that districts would truly need to catch kids up from having missed this much school is pretty enormous,” she said. “It seems unlikely that the limited CARES funding is going to make a difference.”

For now, the Newark school district is trying to cut costs where it can. The district does not plan to pay stipends to 68 coaches for the spring when the pandemic brought sports to a halt, León said last month. And it is exploring whether it has the authority to avoid paying consultants and bus companies for the three months when school buildings were closed, an official said this week.

Vendors and coaches point to a state law passed in April that says districts must continue to pay employees and service providers even when schools close due to a public health crisis. “The law was passed that they are obligated to pay us,” said the owner of a bus operator who requested anonymity in order to avoid jeopardizing the company’s contract with the district.

“The law is so clear: You have to pay them; it’s not optional,” said John Abeigon, president of the Newark Teachers Union. The union will raise the issue with the state education commissioner and the governor if coaches do not receive their stipends, he added.

During a heated exchange last month when a board member questioned him on the matter, León said it would be foolish to pay people for services they did not provide during the school shutdown. He added that he had used the district’s limited funds to keep hundreds of classroom aides on the payroll, sparing them from losing their jobs during the pandemic.

“I have to choose: Do I pay the bus company that isn’t picking up any kids? Do I pay those consultants who are not doing any consulting?” he said. “Or do I make sure that 800 people aren’t on the unemployment line?”

Budget cuts and half-filled classrooms: Newark’s largest charter school network is bracing for a challenging year

2020-06-18T20:09:16+00:00

With fears of a possible coronavirus resurgence this fall, Newark’s largest charter school network is planning for a new school year unlike any other.

North Star Academy’s more than 6,000 K-12 students might have to take all their classes online or come to school on alternating days Monday through Thursday with no live classes — online or in person — on Fridays, officials said at a board meeting this week. And rather than switching classes every period, high schoolers might be stuck in one classroom with the same classmates all day.

Whenever the network’s 14 schools do reopen, classrooms will likely remain half-empty to allow for social distancing, students will need to wear masks, and temperatures will be taken upon arrival, the officials said. The added costs of such safety measures combined with an expected slash in state aid has North Star officials bracing for deep spending cuts, including the elimination of staff bonuses, field trips, and new capital projects.

North Star’s reopening options and anticipated budget cuts are likely a preview of what’s in store for many schools this fall, traditional and charter. The network’s intense planning process and its continued uncertainty about what to expect also offer a window into how complicated — and potentially risky — it will be to reopen schools when there’s a highly contagious virus but no vaccine or reliable treatments.

“We’ve been working on this for over two months at this point and we still have not arrived at a definitive answer,” said Juliana Worrell, Uncommon Schools’ chief schools officer for grades K-8, at Monday’s board meeting. “Every day almost something’s changing that’s impacting the work.”

Uncommon Schools, which is North Star’s parent organization, manages charter schools in Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey that enroll roughly 20,000 students. Uncommon officials turned to a range of sources to inform their reopening plans. They sought the advice of epidemiologists and other school districts, reviewed consultants’ recommendations, and studied countries in Europe and Asia that reopened their schools as the pandemic subsided.

One source they couldn’t consult is the New Jersey education department, which has yet to issue reopening guidance after schools statewide were ordered shut in March. Uncommon officials told their board of trustees Monday that they planned for various scenarios, including the state requiring schools to offer in-person classes this fall even if school leaders feel underprepared.

“They could say, ‘We need schools open, ready or not’ — which would be a disaster, but it’s not like there haven’t been some disastrous things done already,” said Paul Bambrick-Santoyo, Uncommon’s chief schools officer for high schools. “So we’re planning for all outcomes right now.”

Paul Bambrick-Santoyo, Uncommon’s chief schools officer for high schools, presented possible scenarios for the fall at a board meeting this week.

The network planned for multiple scenarios this fall, including all classes remaining online, school buildings fully reopening with enhanced safety measures, and school buildings reopening at 50% capacity, which officials said appears most likely.

Uncommon is considering a number of options if schools must operate at half capacity, according to information shared at the board meeting. One is to keep general-education students learning remotely while targeted groups of students who would benefit most from in-person lessons — such as students with disabilities or those who struggle academically — return to classrooms.

Another option is to divide students into small groups that come to school at different times or on different days. For instance, one group of third-graders might take in-person classes Mondays and Wednesdays and do online work at home on Tuesdays and Thursdays. A second group would have the opposite schedule. There would be no live lessons on Fridays, which would give teachers time to plan and attend virtual training sessions, officials said.

High schools present a thornier logistical challenge because students in the same grade have different schedules depending on the classes they choose. One solution is to create “squads” of students who signed up for mostly the same classes. For instance, North Star’s Washington Park High School might have 30 different squads, half of which would come into school each day, said Bambrick-Santoyo. Each squad would stay in the same classroom all day while teachers rotate in order to reduce student mingling — and the potential spread of the virus.

But even with that arrangement, “there are so many variables to figure out,” said Bambrick-Santoyo, adding that a class of 120 seniors could have 60 different schedules.

Guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that students remain 6 feet apart. But Uncommon officials said even with 15 students in a classroom instead of the usual 30, it would be difficult to spread students that far apart. However, based on data from other countries, they believe it will be safe to move students slightly closer together so long as they wear masks, the officials said.

The network also plans to hold lessons throughout their buildings in order to bring the maximum number of students into school each day while still maintaining safe distances. However, the challenge is finding enough educators to teach the small, separated groups.

“We can’t have kids in every corner without a staff member to teach them,” Bambrick-Santoyo said.

Uncommon Schools officials expect to receive less state funding this school year, which will force the network to reduce spending.

The safety measures will introduce new expenses such as face masks, cleaning supplies, and student laptops. At the same time, North Star is anticipating a 5% cut in state funding, though Gov. Phil Murphy is not expected to submit a revised budget plan until late August.

“We’ll have less money from the state to fund the school next year,” North Star board member Ravi Bellur said Monday, “and the school will have to spend a great deal more to serve its students.”

To account for the shortfall, Uncommon will eliminate staff bonus pay and freeze salaries, while North Star will scale back its after-school programs, make fewer building repairs, and eliminate some positions, according to a slide presented at Monday’s board meeting.

A North Star board member asked whether traditional public schools are also expecting a reduction in state aid. Christine Carvalho, Uncommon’s director of financial management, said that all New Jersey schools are waiting for Murphy’s updated budget — and most are likely girding for cuts.

“I have to imagine that they’re taking similar measures and reducing costs across the board,” she said.