Coronavirus Updates

Dear Closter Families,

I hope that you have been enjoying summer! It certainly is going by quickly. I remind students to read and practice math to stay sharp for when we return in September! 

As we are one month away from school reopening, I want to provide you with a brief update about our return to school:

• The school will reopen for students on Thursday, September 2, 2021. All students will return to in-person instruction. Principals will send out later in August school-specific information about re-opening.
• Our school reopening committee, with the teacher and parent representatives, has been meeting to review The Road Forward, which provides the guidelines for health and safety guidance for the 2021–2022 school year from the Department of Education and the Department of Health, and to provide input on decisions for our district. 
• Our goal is to provide full-time, in-person instruction consistently throughout the school year. To achieve this goal for the new school year, we will continue to use mitigation strategies to reduce the risk to students and staff from COVID-19. 
• We encourage COVID-19 vaccines for all students over 12 years of age and all staff. At the start of the school year, we will be collecting the vaccination status of students who are over 12 years of age. Any student who does not provide vaccination status information will consider unvaccinated. 
• We will maintain physical distancing of three feet, to the extent possible. Desks will continue to be faced in the same direction and will not be configured in groups.
• As of today, Hillside Elementary School students will have lunch in their classrooms and Tenakill Middle School students will have lunch in the gymnasium with social distance. All students will have outside recess time. 
• We have not yet made any decision regarding our mask protocols for the opening of the school year. The guidance is evolving on mask-wearing. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics are strongly recommending masks, especially in elementary schools where students under 12 are all unvaccinated. The circumstances surrounding the virus and the Delta variant are also evolving. We will continue to monitor the transmission rates for our region and will make a decision about mask-wearing closer to the start of school, based on guidance from the NJDOE and the NJDOH. 
• If unvaccinated students have traveled, they must get tested three to five days after travel, and stay home, and self-quarantine for seven days after domestic travel. Please plan accordingly for return from travel by August 25, 2021, so that unvaccinated students can return to school on September 2, 2021. 

As we return in September, we must work together to do what is best for our students and staff and to keep our schools open! I acknowledge that there are many varied opinions about how best to reopen the school. I ask that we continue to be respectful of each other and work together to keep our community safe from the spread of COVID-19. 

The principals and I will communicate with you again in August with any new information we have. Until then, continue to enjoy summer!

Vincent McHale

Vincent McHale
Superintendent of Schools
(201) 768-3001

Dear Closter Community,

It was one year ago that the Bergen County Executive, James Tedesco, announced that Bergen County Schools would pivot to a fully virtual model for two weeks due to COVID-19. I know I didn’t think that one year later we would still be living in a pandemic. Let us remember the 2.62 million lives lost worldwide to COVID-19. Thankfully, there have been 66.9 million people who have recovered from the virus. With the news of vaccinations being more widely available, there is light at the end of the tunnel and I look forward to the day this pandemic is behind us.

I’d like to share some good news about four of our middle school students. Dhyan Sankar, Jiyun Park, Laura Liu, and Sophie Chen qualified for the chapter invitational round of MathCounts, which took place on February 25, 2021. MathCounts is a competition with four levels of official competition—chapter, chapter invitational, state, and national. At the chapter invitational, Dhyan Sankar qualified for the state-level competition on March 25, 2021. We are so proud of our students and offer our congratulations! Best wishes to Dhyan at the state level!

Our district diversity council met on Thursday, March 4, 2021. The 20 members of the council, including four middle school students, began to identify important issues related to diversity and equity within the district and to identify an action plan for addressing issues. The council worked on identifying what we do exceptionally well to support diversity and inclusion and what we could do better to support it. The council will meet again on Thursday, March 18, 2021, to continue their work by identifying opportunities and resources we should consider that may be helpful to our diversity and inclusion work as well as roadblocks that could prevent our progress. The council will create sub-committees that will continue this work into the next school year, and beyond, as this will be an ongoing process.

Our administrators and parent committees have been working on planning our fourth-grade moving up and eighth-grade graduation ceremonies and events. We are planning for the ceremonies to take place outdoors, with a limited number of tickets for family members to attend. We want these events to take place in person since they are significant events in our student's lives. As the plans become more finalized, we will share that information with parents.

Parents have chosen their children’s learning model for the third trimester. There were about 50 students who will make changes between hybrid and fully virtual learning. The board and the administration are aware that parents of hybrid students want them to be in school five days. We are profoundly aware that this is a difficult situation. However, we are not going to move to increase the number of students in a classroom if we don’t believe that is in the best interest of the health and safety of our students and staff. The Mid-Bergen Health Department directs six-feet of social distance in the classroom, and that is stated in our district plan. Please know that we are working daily to move our district to a full opening and we understand and share your frustration with not having hybrid students in school every day. This isn’t the way we want to deliver instruction and we want the same thing as parents. It would be best if we could make this happen with your cooperation and not by having an adversarial situation. Your cooperation and understanding will allow us the time to work on making it happen.

I would like to share some of the work we are currently doing ahead of any changes in the COVID-19 case rate or the reduction of the six-feet social distance requirement:

• We have been determining ways to have elementary hybrid students attend school three days every week, as one way to increase their in-school learning time. Teachers are providing input on how best to make this happen. We want to ensure that hybrid students would still have their same teacher if this change can be made. 
• We are working on a solution to have all middle school students have core subjects every day. The administrators and teachers are meeting to determine how to make this happen.
• I have been communicating with Assemblywoman Holly Schepisi’s Chief of Staff to urge the New Jersey Department of Health and the New Jersey Department of Education to provide clearer guidance about expanding school openings.
• We have arranged onsite vaccinations for our faculty, staff, and administrators. In addition, the Bergen County Executive arranged for eight employees from our district to be vaccinated this weekend and we are working with Englewood Hospital to arrange vaccination appointments, as well. This will be helpful in having a full return of staff for September 2021.

If you have an interest in the variables at play in our decision-making, please visit my superintendent report from February 25, 2021. This articulates the variables at play in our district that are different than some of the other districts to which some parents are comparing us.   

In the many letters we have received in the past weeks, parents are informing us that other school districts are being more aggressive in increasing to five days of in-person learning. I have spoken with those district’s administrators. They are certainly increasing the amount of time in school, but it is not entirely in the classroom with the teacher. On some days, students will be in a different classroom watching a live stream of the teacher. I would rather have our work focus on increasing facetime with the teacher and we are doing that since we now know how many people have chosen hybrid learning for the third trimester.

Once the third trimester is underway, we will begin planning for the opening of school in September 2021. As we plan, we will reconvene our reopening committee to determine how best to welcome back all students. Our goal is to be back to the more customary model of delivering instruction in classrooms. However, we will still prepare a plan B for any scenarios that would prevent a full return to school.

Lastly, I want to remind our whole community to work together to prevent the spread of COVID-19. In the NJ Department of Health COVID-19 activity level reports for the last three weeks, the Northeast region has shown an increase in case rates. Further, our Closter case numbers have increased dramatically in two weeks. As of our last board meeting, there were a cumulative total of 480 cases in Closter. As of Tuesday, March 9, 2021, there were 31 more cases bringing the total to 511. These 31 cases included students in our district, which prompted an eighth-grade quarantine. Please remember, wear a mask, practice social distancing, wash or sanitize hands, and avoid large group gatherings. We have 66 days left of school and if we can avoid quarantine during that time, it would be best for all!

Sincerely,

Vincent McHale
Superintendent of Schools
(201) 768-3001

The School Building Reopening Committee met on Tuesday, July 14, 2020, to review the Closter Restart and Recovery Plan. Our plan is focused on bringing staff and students safely back to school. The Closter Restart and Recovery Plan was sent today to the interim county executive superintendent for review. We will provide parents with information about the schedule on or before August 7, 2020. Parents will have the choice of having students return to school in a hybrid learning model or remaining in a fully virtual learning model. Here is an explanation of the plan highlights:  

The New Jersey Department of Education guidance document, The Road Back - Restart and Recovery Plan for Education, requires that we must allow for social distancing within the classroom to the maximum extent, with a recommendation of six feet of distance between students. In order for us to do this, we cannot have full classes attending every day. We do not have enough classroom space or staff to accomplish this. I realize this is challenging for working parents, but I encourage them to begin to plan for childcare for some days during the week.

Our plan will use a phase-in approach so that there will be set times, one in October and one in November, at which we will reassess our capacity. Phase I will be from September 8, 2020, through October 16, 2020. We will assess if we can increase classroom occupancy or the length of the instructional day for phase II, which is from October 19, 2020, through November 25, 2020. Phase III will be from November 30, 2020, through January 15, 2021. For each new phase we will reassess and determine any changes that we can implement. 

For phase I, students will return for a single-session day (four hours) on a A/B day schedule. This will allow teachers time to collaboratively plan instruction for both in-person and at-home learning so that there is consistency across the grade level. When students are at-home on the alternating day, the school day will be for four hours also, with some live, synchronous instruction and some work to complete that is assigned and explained by the teachers on the days students are in the classroom.

We will ensure that children in the same family will attend in-person learning on the same day, whether at Hillside Elementary School or Tenakill Middle School. 

We have purchased cloth masks and face shields for all students and staff. All students and staff will have a daily health screening. The school buildings will be cleaned and sanitized daily with frequently touched surfaces like door handles and push-bars cleaned repeatedly throughout the day.

More information will be available by August 7, 2020, when we communicate the finalized plan.

Sincerely,

Vincent McHale
Superintendent of Schools
(201) 768-3001

Dear Parents and Closter Community,

We are in the home-stretch of the school year. Our last school day will be on June 19, 2020. Virtual learning will continue through June 19 and teachers are planning some end-of-year virtual activities for students.

Our virtual fourth-grade moving up ceremony will be on Tuesday, June 16, 2020, at 4:00 p.m. The eighth-grade virtual graduation will be on Thursday, June 18, 2020, at 7:00 p.m.  The latest NJDOE guidance on in-person graduations, released last night, now allows drive-by car parades to take place anytime.  Our moving-up and graduation committees have been planning to have a drive-by parade for graduates and we will announce those plans soon.

The NJDOE will be releasing by the end of June the requirements for reopening school buildings in September. We are not waiting until the end of June to begin making our plans. I have created a Closter School Building Reopening Committee and Sub-Committee. The committee's goal is to create a plan to address: various scenarios for delivering instruction; assessing student progress toward academic standards; keeping staff and students safe and healthy; and what professional development may be needed for staff. Once the NJDOE provides its guidance document, we will then adjust our plan based on their requirements. During the planning, the Closter School Building Reopening Committee will survey parents to gather their input, particularly about preferences for scheduling scenarios due to any mandates that require fewer people to be in the school building. Please know that if there are requirements for reduced building capacity, we may have an A/B day rotating schedule during which only half of the students in a class report to school and the others remain at home for virtual learning. Our district was eligible for a CARES Act grant. We submitted our proposal and received approval to use the funds to provide a summer supplemental instructional program and for the purchase of additional Chromebooks for use by students. We are in the process of planning the instructional program, which we will offer during the summer in a virtual format for students for four weeks (up to three hours per day). The eligibility criteria: students have not successfully met grade-level standards in language arts and/or math, struggled during virtual learning, and teacher recommendation. Students who are eligible for the program will receive notification in June.

Once again, I remind everyone that the 2020 census is underway. Our Census 2020 page has more information about the importance of every Closter resident completing the survey. The amount of federal funding provided to the district is calculated from the census data. They will use that data for the next ten years! Please complete the census if you haven’t already done so.

Please continue to stay safe and healthy.

Sincerely,

Vincent McHale
Superintendent of Schools
(201) 768-3001

• Conversations with the Superintendent - May 12, 2020

Dear Parents and Closter Community,

Over the past month, our school community has participated in a major first: providing online instruction to students in Closter. We were all placed in this situation, in short order.

This has been a monumental shift in how we do our work. Has our process been perfect and stress-free? No! But together – students, parents, teachers, administrators, and board of education – we can smooth whatever bumps we encounter. I want to applaud everyone for their dedication, perseverance, and great care in making the transition to virtual learning happen. It has been nothing short of extraordinary. We will continue to adjust and make improvements to our virtual learning days, for as long as this continues to be the way schools must operate.

Please take a moment to read the continuation of the April 16, 2020, superintendent letter for some of the things we have done in the past month and more.

Sincerely,

Vincent McHale
Superintendent of Schools
(201) 768-3001

Dear Parents,

I hope that this finds you and your family staying safe and healthy during this spring break. 

The Closter Police Department has asked me to remind parents that social distancing is still in effect. Please do not allow your children to go on playdates or bike riding with children who are not members of your own family. It may seem harmless for friends to hang out together - but it may not be so. This is how the coronavirus can be easily transmitted from one family to another. Please have your children stay at home with your own family and on your own property! 

I encourage you to allow your children to take a break from virtual learning this week. A mental break is definitely needed at this stressful time. However, if you are seeking resources for some academic work this week, there are many activities available on WideOpenSchool. In addition, each weekday, NJTV Learning Live will offer four televised programs for grades three to six. Third-grade instruction begins at 9:00 a.m., fourth-grade programming is at 10:00 a.m., fifth-grade is at 11:00 a.m.; and sixth-grade is at noon. Subjects will include English language arts, math, science, social studies, and a "special" such as art, music, or physical education. You can locate your local channel on NJTV's Where to Watch webpage .

Please stay safe and healthy!

Sincerely,

Vincent McHale
Superintendent of Schools

Dear Parents,

As we complete week two of virtual learning, I would like to advise you that our administrators and staff are working to include more pre-recorded videos of our Closter teachers providing instruction for students. Teachers in grades two through eight will also plan at least one virtual drop-in session using Zoom so students can ask questions and connect with their teacher and classmates. This is a new way of delivering instruction and we ask for your patience as our teachers and administrators make the transition to providing instruction through a virtual platform. 

The New Jersey Department of Education provision for instruction through a virtual platform does not require parental consent. However, we have been careful in our planning for the use of streaming video to ensure online safety for everyone - teachers, students, and parents. To that end, I am asking all parents to please log-into the Genesis Parent Access to indicate that they have read and agree to the following statement:

I understand and agree that the district does not authorize parental participation in online instruction, just as I would not be a participant in my child’s in-school instruction. I shall limit my presence during online instruction to setting up the conferencing equipment for my child at the start of the session and providing my child with assistance to return to the conference if he or she disengages from the instruction. During online instruction, I shall not audio-record or video-record the session and I shall reinforce my child’s obligation to adhere to and comply with all applicable board policies governing the use of technology during remote instruction. 

Upon logging into Genesis, parents of students who receive special services will be asked for consent and acknowledgment for their child to participate in self-contained special education group sessions online and/or online related services. 

To log-in to Genesis Parent Access, please visit the log-in page. Your username is the email address you provided to the district. If you do not remember your password, you may click on "forgot my password." If you require any further assistance, Hillside Elementary School parents may contact Dr. Carmichael by email; and Tenakill Middle School parents may contact Mr. McElroy by email.  

While students are participating in live virtual drop-in sessions with their teacher and classmates, they must adhere to expectations for appropriate online behavior. Please review the following expectations with your child: 

1. Students will not record, take screenshots, or share any part of their “virtual” learning environment without express permission granted by a teacher or administrator.
2. Students will use school-provided learning platforms or school-managed online accounts to share educationally-appropriate material. Sharing inappropriate material, images, links, or videos with any student, parent, or Closter Public School employee shall result in disciplinary action. This includes sharing inappropriate material during live Zoom sessions.
3. Students will be dressed in school-appropriate attire when attending a video classroom.
4. Students will electronically communicate with teachers, administrators, and other students in the following subscribed formats:
   1. Student to Teacher - Schoology messages, Schoology/Google Classroom/Seesaw comments and discussion threads, district-issued email.
   2. Student to Administrator – Schoology messages, district-issued email
   3. Student to Student – responses to Schoology/Google/Seesaw comments and discussion threads

Thank you for your continued support in this new world of online learning. As always, if you have any questions, please email your child's teacher or an administrator (contact information can be found on our  Administration page). 

Sincerely,

Vincent McHale
Superintendent of Schools

Dear Parents,

I hope that this email finds your family healthy and keeping in good spirits during these challenging times. Thank you to everyone who provided feedback in the survey about virtual learning. The information has been helpful and we are adjusting as we move forward.

As of this morning, there has been no word of schools reopening next week. Our teachers will continue to deliver virtual learning for students until notified otherwise by the Governor’s office. When I have information about school re-opening, I will let you know immediately. 

I had several inquiries from parents about whether anyone in our school district has COVID-19. To my knowledge, there are no students or employees who have been diagnosed. Moving forward, if there are any cases in our community, the Bergen County Health Department will notify anyone deemed to have had contact with a student or employee found to have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. I would urge you to continue keeping children at home and to practice social-distancing of six feet or more when outside your home. Please visit the link to the CDC website which has information about symptoms and what do if you are sick

Lastly, the New Jersey Department of Education has announced that the New Jersey Student Learning Assessments (formerly known as PARCC) have been cancelled for this year. This reduces some stress for us all! 

Thank you for all you are doing to make the virtual learning days take place. I know it is a challenging time for everyone but Closter is a strong, caring community. Together we will get through this.

Stay healthy and safe!

Regards,

Vincent McHale
Superintendent of Schools

Dear Parents,

It is already the fifth day of virtual learning! Thank you for your patience and support as we transitioned so quickly to online learning. In a matter of one week, we have managed to completely change how school operates. You have had a major role in ensuring that your child is logging on and completing assignments. The administrators, teachers, staff, and I thank you for all that you have done to make this work!  

I am inviting parents, students in grades three through eight, and staff to complete a brief survey today so I may gather feedback on how the first week of virtual learning went. The administrators will review the survey feedback and if adjustments are needed, we will attempt to have them in place for next week. At this time, I have no information about how long schools will remain closed, as this decision will be made by Governor Murphy. When I have more information, I will certainly communicate it to you. 

If you have questions or concerns during the virtual learning days, please email your child's teacher, principal, or me at any time. Together we will get through this crisis.  

My wish is that all of our Closter families remain healthy and safe. Remember to keep a social distance and wash hands often with soap and water!

Regards,

Vincent McHale
Superintendent of Schools

Dear Parents,

Beginning on Monday, March 16, 2020, school buildings will be closed but students will be able to participate in our virtual learning days. By providing online instruction, we can count the days toward the 180-day requirement that schools must be in session. I am confident our faculty will provide students with a positive learning experience. Thank you for your support in this new process!

Students must register their attendance each weekday morning by 10:00 a.m. To do this, each student, or parent of younger students, should visit the school website and click on the daily attendance check-in link. This will open a form that the student will complete. Teachers will post assignments online each weekday by 9:00 a.m. Students may complete the assignments at any time during the day. They are not required to be online at any specific time. We did this so parents would have flexibility in deciding when would be best to complete the school assignments. Here is where students can find daily assignments:

• For students in pre-k and kindergarten, the teacher will send the assignments to the parent’s email address.
• For students in grades first and second, sign-in to Seesaw.
• For students in grade three, sign-in to Google Classroom.
• For students in grades four through eight, sign-in to Schoology.

Yesterday, teachers reviewed the attendance sign-in process with students. Students should be familiar with logging in to the website listed for their grade. However, if your child is unsure of the process, please email your child’s teacher for assistance. Teachers will be available each day for a two-hour block for live assistance. The teachers will communicate with students when the “live assistance” will be each day.  

I have added a section to the Closter Public Schools website home page, labeled Virtual Learning Day. There is a simple, one-page document describing the virtual learning day process. If you have any questions about the process at any time, please email your child’s teacher.

If you have not yet notified the district that your child does not have an internet-connected device (computer, iPad, tablet, laptop, Chromebook, etc.) at home, please contact Vincent Salvati by email. He will plan with you to borrow a device from the district on Monday, March 16, 2020.

If you have any questions or concerns during the virtual learning days, please email your child’s teacher, principal or me. We will not be at school to answer calls, but we will be working daily from home and can respond to email. You can find contact information at the following sites:

• District
• Hillside Elementary School
• Tenakill Middle School

Lastly and most importantly, please understand that the purpose of closing the schools is to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus. You are asked to keep your children home and not to arrange playdates. Students should not be permitted to leave home unaccompanied by a parent. If we make the commitment as a community to limit our social interactions to only those that are essential, we will reduce the possibility of the virus spreading in Closter.   

Sincerely,

Vincent McHale
Superintendent of Schools