July 27, 2020
Dear Ramsey and Saddle River Communities:
Public school districts in New Jersey and elsewhere have been under intense pressure to develop plans for reopening, even while guidelines and the public health climate keep changing. Detailed, comprehensive plans are due to the NJ Department of Education in the next week, so we will no doubt be hearing how schools will look in other districts.
Like every student entering every classroom every fall, every one of these plans will be different, and they will all have different merits. It makes little sense to compare our plan with other plans without knowing all the physical restrictions, staff limitations, and thoughts that went into it. In other words, the devil is in the details. For example, some districts are forgoing specials and having the special area teachers teach English Language Arts, Mathematics, etc. Some districts have pledged “live-streaming” with sound and the ability to view the teacher’s screen — but no video or ability to ask questions. Some are not socially distancing 6 feet. Some are not offering childcare even if the students are not in school full time. Faced with more questions than answers, some districts approached all-remote learning as an afterthought and are now faced with the new reality of state guidelines that require that a 100% remote option be available to parents. It must be noted that these state guidelines came without advising (or funding) how to expand the staff to accommodate an in-person/at-home blend PLUS that all-remote population. I am not passing judgment, however, it is important to know exactly the difference between them.
All that being said, I promised you last week that if we have to pivot, we will do that. That promise still stands today!
The Governor released his “guidelines” for 100% remote option last Friday afternoon. As usual, they lacked significant detail. However, we will embrace the latest challenge and power on! I expect many, if not all, districts will have to survey or resurvey their families because previous attempts to forecast the future are now moot. A month ago, we were guessing if parents would send students for a blend of in-person and at-home learning, or come up with another education plan on their own. Now, we need to know if students will show up for the blended model, commit to the full remote model, or make their own plans. Please fill out this survey one time for each child you have in the District. The deadline for responses is Monday, August 3rd.
This information is critical to us now for a few reasons.
- We want Ramsey’s fully remote option to be the best it can be, so we need to know how many resources to dedicate to that model.
- We want Ramsey’s in-person/at-home blend to be the best it can be, and the number of students who will be physically present will drive the details of that model.
Honestly, it is far easier to implement a fully remote learning model for students who are younger versus older. There are fewer teachers for our K-5 students — almost as clear as 1 teacher for 1 class. For Grade 6 and higher, the many course offerings and advancement levels — which make Ramsey’s curriculum terrific — make remote learning much more complicated. That’s a little inside baseball for people wondering why it takes so long to develop complete reopening plans, but it’s necessary for parents to understand why we need accurate information about which students to expect in-person, and which will only connect to us from home.
As much work as we’ve done, there are still so many details to pin down. Last week’s presentation to the Board of Education was a summary of what we knew and what we planned as of that point in time. As we get more information — from the state and our parent survey — we will revise, where possible, to meet our goals of keeping our students and staff safe while continuing learning – the Ramsey way.
I realize that some people like the current plan and some do not. But, I am saddened when I read certain comments in online forums. It is OK to not like the plan. (Quite honestly, I don’t know anyone who does, and that includes me) and, like I stated last week, it just may change. State your opinion and perhaps your rationale, maybe offer solutions that realistically fit within the state guidelines, and realistically consider the quality of the learning experience. But try to leave your emotions out of it and move on. Remember that this is all TEMPORARY. The state has called for flexibility for a reason. We’ll need to keep adjusting to things beyond our control.
What’s NOT temporary is our community. We will still sit near each other at St. Paul’s, cheer the children at Finch Park, clap and hug (hopefully) at a future high school graduation. Words cannot be taken back, so think about their power. Please don’t mislabel our teachers as lazy, or demand that their salaries be reduced because you somehow think their workload has lightened. Please don’t be so misguided as to accuse me of child abuse for requiring students to wear masks. Those false claims have come to my inbox and can be widely seen on social media, and that is disheartening to say the very least. Now more than ever, we need to demonstrate to our children that in a time of turmoil, we can disagree and still come together. It will be so much more beneficial to use our energies to show the Ramsey Strong spirit and help each other. Can you organize a carpool? Can you trade childcare shifts? Remember, our children are watching how we respond in time of a crisis.
The announcement of the Ramsey Restart Plan led to many questions, and some of them recurred enough that we added them to the FAQs section of our website. We recently addressed questions about space: what we can use, what we can’t. While critical information will be sent directly to parents, our Restart website is the best place for parents and other community members to get up-to-date information.
Please join me in continuing to advocate for the best educational experience we can provide every Ram, in whatever circumstances we face together.
Matthew J. Murphy, Ed. D.
Superintendent of Schools
Ramsey Public Schools
Twitter: @drmatthewmurphy
Facebook: @RamseyNJschools
Instagram: @ramseyschooldistrict
