Coronavirus: NJ senator praises educators facing challenges amid pandemic

As the father of an elementary school teacher and the brother of two siblings who were teachers, state Sen. Patrick J. Diegnan Jr. has always held a special place in his heart for educators.

The former chair of the State Assembly Education Committee said he now has an even greater appreciation for educators statewide, many of who on Monday commenced their third week of distance learning amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“I know firsthand the challenges they are facing at this particular time,” said Diegnan, who counts many teachers among his friends. “I think as much as anybody else – including medical staff, police and emergency personnel – they are really on the forefront of maintaining some normalcy in our society right now.

“If it wasn’t for their teachers being able to interact with them, young people would basically be in a hopelessly terrifying situation. The teachers are really maintaining consistency and opportunity for these young folks.”

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Diegnan praised educators in his legislative district, which includes his hometown of South Plainfield, where he said schools superintendent Noreen Lishak prepared a well-wrought plan for distance learning weeks before Gov. Phil Murphy on March 18 ordered the closing of all public and private schools statewide.

Murphy said last week he won’t revisit the topic of reopening schools again until April 17, the earliest, at which time experts believe the global pandemic will reach its apex in the New York-metropolitan area.

The number of state residents diagnosed with the coronavirus increased to more than 16,600 on Monday with an additional 3,347 positive tests. New Jersey now ranks second in the country in coronavirus cases and third nationally in coronavirus deaths.

Amid the global pandemic, seven states have announced the closing of schools for the remainder of the academic year, while four, including New Jersey, are closed until further notice, according to Education Week.

Diegnan said the possibility exists that New Jersey students may not physically return to school this academic year, adding he fully expects Murphy and the state legislature to waive the state’s 180-day minimum requirement for public schools, a state law that is tied directly to state funding for school districts.

READ:Coronavirus: Remote learning 'exceeding expectations' for Central Jersey schools

“I am as certain as I can be that that mandate will be waived,” Diegnan said. “At this particular point, it’s an artificial stress factor and districts have enough to deal with without worrying about that.

“Let’s hope it doesn’t happen, but there’s a possibility that the kids may not go back to school this year, and the next issue that needs to be addressed is what is the curriculum going to be next September.”

Educators at this juncture, however, are more concerned with the present.

The task at hand

More than 1.4 million public school students in New Jersey’s 600-plus districts are currently engaged in remote instruction with approximately 200,000 teachers, who are navigating uncharted waters with online learning.

The state Department of Education issued guidance for online instruction, but school districts were essentially left to formulate and tailor their own strategies for remote learning.

“Teachers are on the front line and they understand it better than anybody,” Diegnan said. “They know how to address the challenges better than anybody.”

Educators faced a myriad of challenges that varied by school district, some of which were better prepared and equipped for remote learning than others.

According to a state Department of Education survey, nearly 260,000 families were without access to computers, laptops or smartphones, adversely impacting the ability of districts to implement online instruction, relegating those who could not loan technology or arrange for internet connection through hot spots to rely on packets of worksheets for instruction.

“Each district and each community has its own set of challenges and realities, and we will be guided not just by public health needs, but also ensuring the individual needs of those districts are being met,” Murphy said during a press conference earlier this month. “We must take into account the significant educational and socioeconomic impacts which occur when schools are closed for extended periods.”

New Brunswick Public Schools Superintendent Aubrey Johnson, whose student population is 90 percent Hispanic or Latino, said distance learning in the district has been an inspirational success.

READ:Coronavirus a 'whole different ball game' for special education community

“In the midst of unprecedented circumstances, our teachers and support staff are doing remarkable things to ensure that students continue learning,” Johnson said. “We have a large, diverse student population, with a wide range of needs, and our educators’ jobs already are challenging. And now, they’re instructing in a primarily online environment that regularly forces them to improvise and create new instructional techniques on-the-fly. The consistent success they’ve achieved is inspirational.”

Students in New Brunswick, where the district distributed more than 6,600 devices, mostly Chromebooks, some of which students already possessed prior to remote learning, have embraced online education.

More than 86 percent of all district students have been actively engaging with G Suite applications – focused on collaboration and productivity – at an average rate of 26.7 hours per week during regular school hours (7 a.m. to 3 p.m.) and nearly 74 percent of all district students have been actively engaging with G Suite applications at an average rate of eight hours per week during after-school hours (4 p.m. to 11 p.m.).

In the past month, New Brunswick Public Schools has used Google Hangouts more than 18,600 times.

Diegnan said he is concerned for all children with special needs and about students from less affluent school districts falling behind their peers in wealthier communities. Diegnan said he believes districts across the state have done an outstanding job of delivering meals to students who are eligible for free or reduced lunch, but is as concerned for those whose parents must work as he is for those whose parents are suddenly unemployed after losing their jobs during the pandemic.

'We’ve tried to hit everything'

Long before Murphy mandated the closing of schools statewide, Lishak ensured South Plainfield educators and students were prepared for online instruction.

The district surveyed parents to ensure their children possessed the technology and connectivity for online engagement. Teachers lesson-planned for multiple weeks of online instruction and benefited from workshops detailing the use of Google Classroom and Zoom for live-streaming. The district established a technical support line for teachers and parents and teachers were required to maintain the structure of a school day, albeit one abbreviated to four hours. Some teachers have creatively transformed parts of their own homes into virtual classrooms.

“We are treating this as if it’s school and then we are doing everything else we can possibly do to try to support (students) in terms of social-emotional learning,” Lishak said. “They are still getting their specials. They are still getting their guidance one-to-one. They are doing group. We are meeting virtually for clubs. We are doing everything so they don’t feel like they are missing anything.”

Music students step out onto their front steps or into their backyards on Thursday nights to play a particular piece they have been learning online, creating a South Plainfield symphony of sorts. Art students are engaged in projects that will be featured this week in an online gallery. Dance parties are held on Fridays, game nights are held periodically, school nurses conduct online information sessions, and virtual coffee houses take place on Saturdays.

A parent workshop will be held later this week during which moms and dads will be afforded an opportunity to anonymously submit questions that can be answered during a live stream. Guidance counselors are available to students, while mental health and financial resources are available for students and their parents.

“We’ve tried to hit everything as if school was going on,” Lishak said. “Anything we could do to keep as much normalcy as we could.”

Lishak praised parents, as well as teachers district-wide, some of who are parents themselves of school-aged children.

READ:Rutgers students sound off about remote instruction during the coronavirus outbreak

“Our district recognizes the struggles of the parents as we are going through this crisis together,” Lishak said. “They have been more than supportive and understanding as we move forward in this online platform. Parents have been reaching out if they needed some assistance. Everyone has been nothing but positive.

“Our district teachers have been amazing in understanding that this was something that was thrust on them. They were as prepared as they could be and have that added challenge of being online and teaching while they have their own children at home. I’ve told them they need to take into account what’s going on and if you needed to step back and take a break because you need to tend to your own child for 10 to 15 minutes because you are giving them work that they need to do, you are going to have to do that. We all need to adapt to this situation.”

Lishak said educators in South Plainfield are trying to close the gap social distancing created, attempting to ensure students won’t feel a disconnect with their teachers.

“Teachers are using the online platform,” she said, “and still coming up with ideas of other ways they can possibly support their children academically, socially and emotionally.

Email: gtufaro@gannett.com

Greg Tufaro is a national award-winning journalist who has covered scholastic and college sports at MyCentralJersey.com for 30 years. For unlimited access to MyCentralJersey.com, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.