Gloucester Public School students will all return to remote learning for two weeks after the winter break in a measure designed to help avoid a COVID-19 surge after the holidays.
Students are now either learning virtually or attending school on a hybrid schedule that has them in school for two days each week. The two-week return to remote learning will mean that those on the hybrid schedule will only miss four days of in-person classes.
After hearing from Three Rivers Health District Director Dr. Richard Williams Tuesday night, school division superintendent Walter Clemons recommended the two weeks of remote learning between Jan. 4 and 15. “I’m making the recommendation out of an abundance of caution,” he said.
Gloucester School Board member Anita Parker made the motion based on Clemons’s recommendation and it was seconded by member Brenda Mack. Both women attended the meeting remotely, while the other five members attended the meeting in person at the T.C. Walker Education Center.
After much discussion, the motion passed by a 4-3 vote with board members Troy Andersen and Darren Post and vice chairman Elisa Nelson opposing the measure.
Williams said Gloucester, and other localities in the health district, is seeing a surge in positive COVID-19 cases, likely attributable to the Thanksgiving holiday and related social gatherings. The school division has also seen more positive cases in the last two weeks, but no outbreaks.
According to the school division’s new online COVID-19 Dashboard, 11 school division employees and 17 students have had COVID-19 since March 12. Of the 17 students, seven COVID-19 cases were reported in December alone and six were reported in November. Two of the students reported in November were working fully remotely.
“I want to commend our staff, they’ve done a marvelous job,” Clemons said, and Williams agreed. “I would echo Clemons’s praise for the mitigation efforts. We’ve seen virus transmission in the community, but not in schools.”
For now, the hybrid schedule will continue until the winter break begins Dec. 21. “I see no reason to stop in-person hybrid learning based on community spread at this point,” Williams said.
Williams also said he thought the two weeks of remote learning after winter break was a good idea. He predicted that after the Christmas and New Year’s holidays “we’ll see surge, on surge, on surge” of new COVID-19 cases in the community.
Regarding winter sports, Clemons said he was not recommending the winter sports season be canceled, but did say that the post-holiday two weeks of remote learning would be a “dead period” with no sports practices or contests.
The board also voted 6-1 to eliminate the final exams at Gloucester High School that were scheduled for Jan. 29 and Feb. 1. School division assistant superintendent Chuck Wagner said the hybrid schedule would have GHS students taking all of their final exams on one day.
Wagner recommended that the exams be eliminated this year and that Jan. 29 be a full day for all students rather than an early dismissal day as currently scheduled. Feb. 1 is also currently scheduled as an early dismissal day, but Wagner recommended it be a professional day to let teachers wrap up the first semester.
Instead of exams counting into final semester grades at GHS, Wagner said the first and second quarter grades would each count as 50 percent of the students’ final semester grade.
In response to a question by Post, who opposed the elimination of final exams, Wagner said the current rate of failure is higher this year for students than it was last year.
“A final exam is probably going to do more harm to a student than help,” Wagner said. “A temporary elimination of final exams provides a benefit to students.” He said the elimination would not apply to dual enrollment courses. Wagner also said there could be allowances made for students who want to take final exams.