As the Cranbury School District prepares for the end of the 2020-21 school year, 80% of district students will participate in in-person instruction.
The district administration announced last month that the Cranbury School would be expanding in-person learning to Wednesdays starting March 24.
Since the presentation by Superintendent Susan Genco and Assistant Principal Michele Waldron on March 15, outlining the increasing of in-person learning at the Cranbury School, parents had been asked being asked by the district administration to select a final learning model for the rest of the 2020-21 school year.
The final selection made for the school will remain in place from April 19 until the end of June.
After the district sent out a surveys to parents to gather the information, the New Jersey Department of Health (NJDOH) had released new guidance on March 23 for schools, which would give the Cranbury School the ability to combine cohorts for pre-K to fifth grade.
“The NJDOH released new guidance in accordance with the CDC recommendations for K-12 strategies. These recommendations include the shift in social distancing requirements from a minimum of 6 feet to 3 feet in certain instances,” Genco said in March 31 letter. “The decrease in social distancing guidelines to 3 feet will enable us to combine all elementary pre-K to fifth grade cohorts beginning April 19.”
According to the district, elementary students will participate in remote learning on Wednesdays from 2-3:15 p.m. until the Cranbury School begins full-day instruction.
However, with the Regional Risk Matrix still having Cranbury in the high risk category, the administration will continue with the recommendation of 6 feet regarding social distancing for middle school students.
“Therefore, it will not be possible to combine middle cohorts given space constraints. Middle school students will attend school three full days every other week with their cohort group,” Genco said. “Beginning April 19, hybrid students must attend school in person on all assigned days unless they are sick or in quarantine and can provide a doctor’s note.”
Additionally, the administration is preparing for the return of full-day in-person learning. The district administration expects to implement the return to a full-day schedule (8:30 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.) on April 29.
“Remote students will follow the full day schedule. We have completed a draft of the full day master schedule for all teachers and are working on scheduling for programs such as Academic Support, Band, ELL, Speech, etc.,” Genco said. “At this time, we are not planning to schedule before or after school classes during the full day learning. All elementary and middle school student schedules will be rebuilt to reflect the full day schedule.”
The Cranbury School is currently on Spring Break, which will end April 11.
