Dear Parents / Guardians,
It has been nearly three school weeks since Governor Murphy’s Executive Order mandated that all NJ schools become distance learning environments. It has been a monumental task for NJ schools to make these change literally overnight, even for schools like HPS that had the technical architecture necessary to succeed already in place. On the one hand, we can take comfort in the fact that this is a temporary situation. On the other, we do not know how much longer the distance learning model will be in play. In the meantime, there are a few ways that you can help our staff provide the best experience for your child.
1. Please do not contact the teaching staff between the hours of 8:00 a.m.and 2:30 p.m. This is when our virtual classes are session. I have instructed our teachers to keep their focus on providing instruction during this time period. Just like a typical school day, our teachers are available to discuss your child’s academic program between 2:30 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.
2. Please encourage your child to practice independence and self-advocacy by asking for help if they are struggling with academic assignments. Our teachers and teaching assistants are ready and willing to help your child any way that they can.
3. Please direct questions or concerns of a personal or social/emotional/behavioral nature to our counseling staff.
4. Providing virtual instruction and support has proven to be enormously time-intensive for our teachers and our counseling staff. Please help your children to understand and respect our staff’s personal time. They are not available to answer questions or provide instruction in the evenings or on weekends.
Thank you so much for all of the affirmation and wonderful support that we’ve received from so many of you. We will continue to explore and assess the most creative effective ways to provide virtual instruction and support to your children. Please contact me with any questions that you may have regarding this message. I wish you and your family and friends peace, safety and good health.
Yours truly,
Toby Ray Loyd
Executive Director
