West Milford updates its Return to School Plan

West Milford Superintendent of Schools Dr. Alex Anemone issued the follow Return to School update on Wednesday, March 10:

Dear West Milford Township School Community,

“We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpon.”

President John F. Kennedy, 1962

Our Return to School Plan, originally crafted in the summer and updated throughout the autumn and winter months, has been edited and revised. We have met with various stakeholder groups and our discussions over the past few weeks have been productive. Parental feedback in our surveys was overwhelmingly supportive of increasing in-person instruction for children. Accordingly, we are ready to move forward with the next phase of our plan.

In order to ensure a smooth transition, we will target multiple grades of students at different intervals of time. We look forward to continuing to serve the community and taking additional steps towards our return to normalcy. The full schedule of events can be found below. Some additional points to consider:

• Throughout the course of the 2020-2021 school year, we have been integrating parental choice for in person or fully virtual instruction in six-week increments. Our next session will be the final one of the 2020-2021 school year.

Notifications, impact

In essence, the choice you make will be for the remainder of the school year. If you wish to have your child return to school for five days per week of in person instruction, please notify your child’s principal via email by the deadline below; please see the charts below for specific information.

• The increase in five days per week instruction for students will compromise our ability to provide for a fully socially distanced environment throughout the course of the school day. To date, we have been able to maintain six feet of distance between students in the classrooms, in the cafeteria, and (with a few exceptions) on the bus.

The expected increase in students attending each day will increase the likelihood that your child may be identified as a close contact of a COVID-19 positive peer. This, in turn, would require a 10-14 day quarantine at home.

• Existing COVID-19 protocols and mitigation strategies (masks, hand-washing, contact tracing, quarantining and isolation, etc.) will continue to be implemented. If you can continue to drive your children to school, it would limit our bus population and reduce the risk of close contact identification and subsequent quarantine while on the bus.

Fully vaccinated individuals are exempt from quarantine requirements for a period of 90 days.

• Wednesdays will remain an early dismissal schedule for students.

• The 100% virtual option will remain in place for the balance of the 2020-2021 school year. Please email your child’s principal if you wish to enter or remain in the 100% virtual cohort. Please be aware that changing from in-person to fully virtual at the K-5 level will involve a change in teacher assignment.

• School Age Child Care (SACC) will remain open for K-5 students. If you wish to change your current SACC enrollment, please contact Michele Watson 973-697-1700 x5054 or email michele.watson@wmtps.org.

• Employee School Age Child Care (E-SACC) will continue for all staff members.

• School lunch configurations will be different at the various school levels. Principals are crafting plans specific to their school buildings. These plans might include (weather permitting) outdoor lunch, eating in classrooms or large common areas, staggered lunch periods, etc. Please be on the lookout for additional communication from your child’s principal.

• Beginning on Monday, April 5, late bus service will be offered at 3:30 for both Macopin and WMHS and at 5:00 for WMHS only.

• Although we are confident that this plan can be implemented safely and effectively, it is always subject to change based on multiple variables, including medical data, executive orders, etc.

In summary and to echo the words of President Kennedy, we seek to open our schools for five days per week of in person instruction not because it is easy but because it is the right thing to do.

Science indicates that schools are not drivers of community transmission. Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases stated that, “It’s less likely for a child to get infected in the school setting than if they were just in the community.”

Thank you for your patience, understanding, and support and if there is anything we can do to help your child, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Alex Anemone, Ed.D.

Superintendent of School