Part 3 of a new series: 'Live and Learn: Education in a COVID-19 World'
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CHERRY HILL, N.J. (KYW Newsradio) -- While some school districts are offering only remote classes, most are using a hybrid model of in-person and online learning. How are things going in school buildings? So far so good, for the most part, say teachers and principals at a pair of South Jersey schools.
Aside from the masks, daily temperature checks and little footprints taped to the floor to promote physical distance, it’s business as usual at Resurrection Elementary in Cherry Hill.
“School ended on a Friday last year, and that Monday we were all on a Zoom call, talking about what we were going to do this year,” Camden Diocese School Superintendent Bill Watson said.
Watson says his team spent the entire summer working to get here. All of his schools have plans tailored to specific needs.
“So it allowed for some nuance and creativity,” he said.
Resurrection Principal Molly Webb says they accounted for everything, including how to handle inevitable positive case at school. Isolate and quarantine those who need it and keep pushing ahead. She’s seeing noticeable changes at school, too.
“The first week we were very silent, because I think people were wondering, ‘Can I talk?’ But now, when I’m walking down the hall or into a classroom, it’s ‘Hi, Mrs. Webb!’ And, you know, they’re comfortable, and yet they’re completely following the protocols,” she said.
Debbie Shoemaker teaches fourth grade and had concerns about returning.
“I’m 60 years old. I’m diabetic. So I’m high risk,” she said.
She says she feels safer at school than just about anywhere else.
“And I think the parents, too. The parents and their students, their families, are committed to keeping us safe as well,” she said.
At Creativity CoLaboratory Charter in Elmer, eighth grade teacher Pamela Matusz Arroliga is also high-risk, and she believes the school is doing everything possible to protect her.
“It literally checks all of the boxes of everything I’ve researched,” she said.
C3 is located on a farm, with buildings scattered over many acres. She says each classroom has proper distancing and ventilation.
“I’m very grateful that I decided to come to this school when all of this happened. So I feel like I’ve got the best job," she said.
Principal Loren Thomas says students operate in cohorts of 12, doing all activities with the same kids everyday.
“We don’t allow mingling. And that’s purely on the advise of the Department of Education. And it’s working,” he said.
If a student tests positive, everyone in the cohort goes all remote.
Francis Fina has son at the charter, and she says the in-person instruction is imperative for him.
“He said, "Mommy, it’s a miracle that C3 became available for me.' I said yes it is and he said, 'That’s why I know I’m going to be successful.'"
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The coronavirus pandemic has altered life in many ways for most of us, including the way students are learning. Over the next few weeks, KYW Newsradio is taking a look at the impact of COVID-19 on education with "Live and Learn: Education in a COVID-19 World."