Dear Parents/ Guardians,
I hope that you and your loved ones and friends are all weathering the COVID-19 storm in good health and spirits.
As I am sure you are aware, Governor Murphy is requiring NJ schools to draft re-opening plans that offer some measure of in-person programming when we re-open for the 2020-21 school year. The NJDOE has released a document with extensive guidelines for schools to consider to address the health and safety challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic while creating their plans.
All schools are also required to create their plans with input from stakeholders who represent a cross-section of a school’s community: administrators, counselors, teachers, school nurses, facilities managers, Board members, parents, and students. The HPS Re-Opening Committee included representatives from all these stakeholders.
Over the last several weeks, our Re-Opening Committee has used information and best practice recommendations from the NJDOE, ASAH, CDC, and many other sources, including surveys of HPS parents and staff members to guide our thinking while considering options for re-opening in September.
Our first goal, as always, is to maintain the health and safety of our students and staff members while they are at school. At this time, the primary tools for addressing health and safety include social distancing, reducing the amount of time that we are in physical contact with each other, masking, and sanitizing. Our second goal is to provide our students with the best possible, least disruptive HPS school experience that we can safely provide, despite the extraordinary logistical challenges presented by COVID-19.
The fact that we are a small, flexible program gives HPS a distinct advantage over larger schools toward achieving both goals.
We feel that we have arrived at a plan that meets these goals. For the first marking period, the HPS school community will follow the plan below:
We will run full-day schedules (8:50 a.m.- 2:30 p.m.) with one extended elective period on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, but only two of the four student homerooms (to be determined) will be physically present at school these days on a rotating basis. (For example, the Troupe and the Cave may be in on Mondays and Thursdays while the Nest and the Hive are in on Tuesdays and Fridays). Instruction will be virtual and synchronous for students who are not physically present in the building.
On Wednesday, instruction will be virtual and non-synchronous for all staff and students with no one present in the building for the purpose of deep cleaning and sterilization.
We will run a half-day schedule on Wed. (8:50 a.m.-12:30 p.m.) with no elective periods to allow for instructor and counselor office hours and additional academic and counseling support.
The same rotating schedule will apply to students in our 12+ program, with modifications where appropriate.
In addition to offering in-person classes on a rotating basis, this plan provides synchronous virtual instruction four days a week and non-synchronous instruction on Wednesdays for students whose parents choose to keep them at home or have other factors that eliminate in-person learning as an option for them at this time.
Our re-opening plan is not finalized; I imagine you may have questions regarding the many details of the plan. I can assure you that once it is completed, all final details will be communicated clearly to our entire school community in a timely manner. As we all know, the current state of affairs can change at a moment’s notice. Our COVID emergency plan will allow our program to seamlessly shift from reduced capacity to a completely virtual environment should that become necessary.
Thank you for your patience, understanding, and support as we find our way together through the challenges and uncertainties of these historic times.
One final thought: if you and your family are planning to travel out of NJ this summer, please be mindful of our state’s quarantine requirements upon your return as the timing may impact your child’s ability to attend the start of school on September 2, 2020.
Sincerely,
Toby Ray Loyd
Executive Director
