SOUTH RIVER–Seeking to find out how many students and parents would prefer in-person learning, the South River School District distributed a survey to the community.
“I’d like to begin my report … by following up on the results of the survey that we just put out to the community. We recently asked our families to please inform us if they were looking for a return to school for the fourth marking period in person for a four-day week, or if they were looking to remain virtual for the remainder of the school year,” Superintendent Sylvia Zircher said as she updated the community during the March 22 school board meeting.
By the time the school district closed the survey that was open for about one week, Zircher said it received 1,610 responses and each student got to respond for themselves. The district has about 2,250 enrolled students.
Using presentation slides, Zircher delivered her report updating board members about the district’s survey results, scheduling plans, and vaccination numbers amongst district facility and staff.
Displaying a chart showing each grade level and percentages, Zircher said the highest percentage of requests for in-person instruction is occurring at the pre-K level.
“We have the most amount of requests at the pre-K and the South River Primary School building,” Zircher said. “Second, the elementary school, followed by the middle school and then followed by the high school … [shows] that about 55% or less students are looking to return in-person at the high school.”
Zircher said the district had been opening the high school to any student who has received any failing grades or who has been struggling to meet coursework. The district has been inviting students personally to come back for in-person instruction and many students have taken the district up on that offer.
After returning back from spring break on April 12, Zircher said the district will remain in its current cohort schedule for the week of April 12, and then on April 19 it will go back to a four-day week of in-person learning.
“The task force met [on March 22] before this board meeting. We discussed the return to school for a five-day week and what that could potentially look like,” Zircher said. “Maybe beginning in May, that was the recommendation of the task force that if we consider that, we transition into that five-day-a-week timeline. Looking at May and June, and finishing off the year that way. If all conditions remain the same of course.”
Zircher said she is happy to report that 52 of the district’s teachers and staff members have already received the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine. They are due to receive their second dose in April during the district’s spring break.
“We have another group of teachers who are going to be vaccinated right at our high school on March 23,” Zircher said. “Another group being vaccinated at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital. Robert Wood Johnson set up their program a little bit differently and they sent out a link directly to those individuals to schedule their own test, as it meets their schedule.”
At this point, Zircher said all of the staff have been offered an opportunity, all of the district’s teachers and staff.
“We’ve been able to offer vaccination opportunities to surrounding districts. Therefore, [we are] really just supporting our neighboring communities and helping those educators become vaccinated as well. So [on March 23] vaccination day we will have teachers from surrounding districts joining our teachers and staff as well,” Zircher said. “Also on [March 23], we will be running an antibodies clinic that will be conducted by our current lab who has been doing our COVID testing for the school year, and that test is really for individuals who want to know what types of antibodies they do contain against COVID-19.”
For more information, visit www.srivernj.org and click on the COVID-19 Information tab.
Contact Vashti Harris at [email protected].