BACK TO SCHOOL

By Thomas Ellis II

This September 8, 2020 will mark the first day of school in the city of Newark for all students. The only thing is that this year, school will look a lot different because of COVID-19. Many schools are doing remote learning, with some Pre-K schools doing possible in-person service for a limited number of children in the classrooms.

Since March 2020, schools have been closed with children doing home schooling for the last quarter of the year. In the beginning, parents were comfortable teaching from home for the first 2 weeks, but the weeks turned into months, which had some parents upset, because they were not prepared for the long haul.

The summer recess is now over, and next week begins the start of a new chapter in education in Newark and across the country. Charter schools have already started with remote learning for all of their students.

Since COVID-19 hit the US, it has caused many hardships. Many have lost jobs, several have died, and thousands have come down with the virus, which has created a lot of anxiety. Parents of school age children are feeling lost, and not understanding the full scope of reopening from Pre-K to 12.

One of the Pre-K schools that’s looking to provide in-person service with limited capacity is UVSO at their Irvington Avenue and Smith Street locations. They are well prepared to open following the COVID-19 reopening guidelines. People in charge have stated they will have no more than 10 children in a class, Plexi glass at the front desk entrance, and hand sanitizing stations throughout the building. All children will practice social distancing, and they will have several different areas for entrance and exit for the children, with facemasks worn while in school. The building will be cleaned before and after school for safety precautions to protect the children and parents.

All children that will be attending in-person service have to be COVID-19 tested before they can attend school on September 8, with proof from parents that they were tested, and have negative results.

The 6th Precinct hosted its Third Annual Back to School Event on September 1 for children, parents and the community. They gave out bookbags and school supplies. The event also featured food like hotdogs, hamburgers, and refreshments as well as music, the NFD, and Batman for photo ops. Everyone was wearing masks, and this was great to help everyone in the community during these trying times in the middle of the pandemic. In attendance for this event was the 6th Precinct’s new Captain Aloma Wright-Johnson.

Remote learning has become the new norm for many of the 2020 students. They will have to be able to access a computer to log in, and depending on the age of the child, they possibly will need a parent or guardian to assist them with the daily learning process.

New Jersey has stated that all schools will have remote learning availability for the first quarter of the school year which will end in November, but if the virus continues to spread and the numbers increase there is a chance that schools will have remote learning for the remainder of the year.

One of the questions parents have is, “How do I stay at home and teach my child remotely, but I have to be at work in the mornings?” Another question is, “If I don’t have a laptop or Wi-Fi access, how can I do remote learning?” Finally, “If I have three public school age children, and one Pre-K age child, how do I teach each child at the same time?” As you can see, this year’s school reopening will be very different in all phases, and can be very challenging for the teachers, teachers’ assistants, and parents. So, let’s hope that the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic gets under control so that the children can go back to in-person classes and learn the traditional way.

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