By Elizabeth Wulfhorst
With the announcement Monday from Gov. Phil Murphy that all New Jersey schools would remain closed through at least June 30, administrators, faculty and students had to come to terms with the end of in-person classes for this academic year.
“This is a difficult decision and I know that many students, parents, and staff would like to be able to return to school,” Murphy said in a release. “However, I have been unwavering on the message that we need to make decisions based on science, not emotion. And while New Jersey is making great strides in mitigating the spread of COVID-19, science tells us that at this point, we can’t safely re-open our schools.”
While many had been holding out hope for a return to normal for the 2019-2020 school year, administrators have praised their faculty and students for embracing remote learning and accepting the finality of the announcement.
“Despite the shift from physical classes to distance learning, we have been offering our students of all three divisions robust, age-appropriate virtual learning programs that promise to continue their educational growth through daily structured virtual learning opportunities,” said John Griffith, head of school for Ranney School in Tinton Falls, in an email.
In Highlands, Henry Hudson Regional School principal Lenore Kingsmore said she was “beyond proud” of her staff for the way they are adapting to the situation.
“We knew technology was important,” she said, and the school already had resources in place for students years before the shutdown. Each student has their own Chromebook and internet access and teachers have been using the Google Suite of applications, including Google Classroom for collecting and grading classwork, for about five years, Kingsmore said. “We started remote learning the next day” following the initial closure in March.
While Henry Hudson teachers and students have the “knowledge and comfort with the technology,” said Kingsmore, “in my wildest dreams I never thought we’d be doing this. Never.”
Mark DeMareo, the principal at Holy Cross Academy in Rumson, concurred. “This unprecedented situation has presented challenges at every level of education,” he said in an email.
“I take pride in each member of our faculty, who have used every tool at their disposal to reach, inspire, challenge, and support their students through this difficult time. I trust that we will return to our physical building, when permitted, stronger than ever and with a renewed sense of community,” he said.
In Holmdel Township, superintendent of schools Robert McGarry offered cautious optimism in a letter to parents. “We know that whenever our schools do re-open, they will look and operate quite differently than they did before,” McGarry said.
“But by practicing perseverance, patience, empathy, and creativity, we will continue to rise to these challenges,” he added.
The Holmdel Board of Education has even managed to find a little silver lining in the forced closure, moving up the final phase of the Holmdel 2020 construction project, to possibly finish before school resumes in September, said school board president Vicky Flynn in a release.
But while a few may find consolation in the governor’s decision, most students, especially seniors, are not so easily assuaged, considering the announcement effectively canceled spring sports, proms, awards ceremonies and graduations.
Kingsmore said she knows her teachers have the academics covered and she is “much more concerned about the mental health of my students and trying to make them feel they aren’t forgotten.”
She has been holding Google meetings every week with the seventh- through twelfth-grade students just to connect and talk about how they are feeling and what is good, bad or challenging. She met with the seniors Wednesday and knew they would be “crushed” by Murphy’s announcement.
During a previous meeting she discussed with them preliminary plans for graduation if the shutdown continued. A vehicle procession through the school parking lot is planned, with seniors dressed in cap and gown in the passenger seat and Kingsmore, “masked and gloved,” handing out diplomas through the car window; there will be individual photo opportunities in front of the Henry Hudson sign; valedictorian and salutatorian speeches will be taped; and everything will be live-streamed on Facebook. The Highlands Police Department will be on hand to keep everyone safe and socially distanced.
Other schools are working on the possibility of two graduation ceremonies. “We are doing some virtual celebrations for seniors, but hope to do a live commencement in August” for Ranney seniors if guidelines allow, Griffith said.
The article originally appeared in the May 7 – 13, 2020 print edition of The Two River Times.
