Online-only teaching in Cherry Hill schools this year has presented deep challenges, with technology being one of the thorniest, Farrah Mahan, the school district curriculum director, told Board of Education members Tuesday night.
South Jersey's largest school district is most worried about its youngest students, said Mahan, who also chairs the districtwide Return to School committee.
"Our most fragile learners, our elementary school students, are not meeting with success across the board and we need to make sure that we are adapting and adjusting," Mahan said in her candid view of online instruction on the 15th day of school this year.Â
Mahan acknowledged a huge amount of feedback from parents and a call for more transparency. "We are listening to parents and we are listening to the community and we are listening to our teachers because we are all here for one thing." That one thing, she said, is the best interest of students and staff members.
Members of committees that crafted the back-to-school plan are meeting again to make adjustments. Discussion focuses on screen time, impact and continuity of schedules, work volume and expectations, length of the academic day, balance of synchronous and asynchronous learning, well-being of students and staff and technology needs.
A significant amount of parental feedback has concerned elementary students, and there will be changes in the plan, Mahan said. "As the parent of two elementary school students, I will tell you it pains me when I read some of the emails that we have been receiving because the struggle is real. Home schooling. Having school at home. Trying to work. Balancing it all. Getting on and off of Zoom and Google Meets....I understand."
Hybrid plan still on schedule for November 9
School Superintendent Joseph Meloche said during the presentation that Cherry Hill is prepared to launch its hybrid model — a blend of in-person and online instruction — beginning the week of November 9.
The district had expected to offer the hybrid plan until a week before school opened, when the administration received letters from teachers-union representatives from each of the district's 19 schools expressing concern about safety and preparation to simultaneously offer in-person and online teaching.
Meloche and the board pulled the plug on the hybrid program, announcing that instruction would be virtual until early November. District teachers have been in the classrooms teaching students over the web cameras. In the beginning, teachers were required to wear masks in empty classrooms until the Camden County Health Department said masks were not necessary when only the teacher was in the room.
Parents who made the full-remote choice before the school year will be able to switch to the hybrid plan beginning the week of November 9 if they choose, said Meloche, who added information will be sent out in October.
Student cameras don't always have to be on
"We have experienced some significant technology issues. Some within our control, some not within our control," Mahan said during her presentation. "This is not just a Cherry Hill issue. This is a national issue that everyone is dealing with."
Mahan, who noted that 692 new Chromebooks were distributed to elementary and middle-school teachers in 48 hours at the start of school, said: "We are adapting on the fly. We are making adjustments."
Two policies the district is trying to make clear to teachers cover camera use and attendance.Â
While the district strongly encourages students to keep cameras on during school, it is not mandatory, Mahan said.Â
"We recognize that students should not under any circumstance be penalized if their camera is off or if they step away from the camera or if they are on mute," Mahan explained. "We have students who are coming to us under a variety of circumstances" at home.
Teachers have been told they are not permitted to deduct points or change a grade if a student turns off a camera or goes on mute, she said. "I'd rather have them there present and muted than not at all."
Students also shouldn't lose credit for attendance because of technical problems, Mahan said. "We have been, very candidly, all over the place because sometimes we have it where our network goes down, sometimes we have it where Google goes down, sometimes we have it where Microsoft or Meet is not functioning with our Chromebooks."
"If students are trying to log on and trying to connect we want to make sure that they are given credit for being there," she said, answering a question from a board member.
School district was criticized
Cherry Hill's decision to hold off on hybrid instruction drew hundreds of comments, many of them critical, on different community Facebook pages. Complaints ranged from the last-minute decision and what that inflicted on parents to the level of ventilation in school buildings.
Andrea Pala, whose son is a student at Stockton Elementary, said the district response to concerns of parents wasn't satisfactory. "They weren't listening," she said.
Shortly after school opened, Pala organized a petition campaign to push the district to offer the hybrid plan before the first week in November. She also was involved in a protest demonstration.Â
Pala, who works and could not be at home with her second-grader, got together with other neighborhood parents to form a teaching pod, led by a local mother who is a teacher taking time off.
Before the decision to go all-remote, the group planned around the hybrid schedules and how the pod would work. The 100% remote instruction has turned the teacher leading the pod into more of an IT professional and instructional support person, Pala said.
She said children are still getting together through recess, soccer and birthday parties. Not being in school is an "artificial choice," Pala said.
 'I don't know what I need'
"There is nothing in any of our training that could have prepared us for teaching during a pandemic," Mahan told board members Tuesday night. She said Cherry Hill teachers have risen to the challenge.
Mahan said 562 staff members responded to a recent survey asking about how things are going. One of the most powerful statements, she said, came from a staff member:Â
"We have to do it. I don't know what I need. I don't know what I don't know. I will know soon."
