EDISON – Amidst ongoing COVID-19 safety concerns in the community, the Edison Public School District has pushed the date to transition back to its in-person hybrid instructional model to March 1.
“We believe that is the best course of action,” Schools Superintendent Bernard Bragen said, adding the decision was in consultation with the Edison Department of Health and Edison Board of Education (BOE).
The district transitioned to fully remote learning on Dec. 7 due to rising cases of the coronavirus. Hybrid in-person learning began on Oct. 19.
Bragen announced the decision at a BOE meeting on Jan. 26. He sent correspondence to parents and guardians on Jan. 27.
“We don’t do these decisions lightly,” he said.
In a survey for the third marking period – with about 15,000 students responding out of almost 17,000 students – 19.5% of students selected the option for the hybrid in-person model.
“That means more than 80% [of students] are choosing to stay home whether we are open or not,” Bragen said. “That’s a vast majority of our families and to ignore them to come in and make it more difficult for everyone in the hybrid model when there’s still some safety concerns in the community is just not prudent.”
Bragen said as they continue with fully remote learning, the district is providing as much support for students in Zoom environments for the older students and the SeeSaw environments for the younger students.
For more information, visit www.edison.k12.nj.us.