SUMMER REFERENDUM PROJECTS
START TO TAKE SHAPE
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A FEW REMINDERS REGARDING OUR RETURN TO SCHOOL
AFTER SPRING BREAK
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ROCKAWAY BOROUGH SCHOOL DISTRICT
Dear Parents and Guardians,
As all of you are already aware, the district is moving forward after spring break in bringing more students back for in-person instruction. We will combine Cohorts A, B and C into one in-person cohort for the majority of our students accompanied by those students whose families wish to remain virtual. With this change to one single cohort, and to accommodate all the requests for returning students, we will be following the updated CDC and NJDOH guidelines regarding social distancing in that students will be placed at a minimum of 3 feet apart with 6 feet for all adults. We will also apply this revised guidelines on our buses so we can get all those who receive transportation in and out every day and will continue to sit siblings and family members together.
With these new guidelines and more students in the buildings on a daily basis, it is more important than ever to stay true to the basic safety protocols we have been following since September as our combined vigilance and efforts have kept up open and going. Here are a few reminders especially for in-person students and their families prior to our return that hopefully will keep everyone healthy, and safely get us through the 4th marking period and the end of the school year.
- Mask wearing is a must as it protects everyone. Please make sure that your child(ren) has a face covering everyday for school and/or the bus ride.
- Encourage frequent hand-washing throughout out the day and/or the use of hand sanitizer when soap and water are not available as this simple practice like wearing a mask has proved very successful in stopping the transmission of the virus on all levels.
- Practice social distancing whenever possible at home and when out in public like we do at school so it remains a second nature as we will continue to do the same on campus.
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For in-person students, recertify the screening document prior to our return on April 12th and continue to screen your students daily and please do not send them to school if they show the targeted COVID like symptoms. The phrase "When in doubt, stay out" still continues to apply as the likelihood of quarantining may increase with more students in the building and social distancing reduced to 3 feet.
- If your family plans to travel over spring break outside of the immediate region (New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut or Delaware), upon return from your travel, in-person students will have to quarantine for 10 days before returning to school. During that period, students may attend virtually, but please notify your building principal and/or teacher so everyone is aware of your plans. As per the CDC and NJDOH, quarantining applies to everyone even those who have been vaccinated. This is to prevent travelers from spreading variant strains of the virus.
- If students or staff are exposed to someone who tests positive to COVID-19, they will need to quarantine for 14 days as current guidelines do not allow individuals to test out of a direct contact. If individuals exhibit targeted COVID like symptoms as outlined on our screening tool, they may return to school once they no longer show symptoms and receive a negative test result.
Moving forward, we still must be cautious, but that does not mean we cannot be hopeful in successfully bringing students back for in-person instruction. Please, be aware, however, our situation is always fluid and if needed, we will step back or even sideways, if that's what keeps our community healthy and safe. Also, as always, I cannot thank you our families and of course, our staff for everyone's cooperation, support and efforts moving forward to best serve our Rockaway Borough students.
Sincerely yours,
Phyllis Alpaugh
Superintendent
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This issue's FEATURED ARTICLE...
Update on State Testing & Assessments
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One of the most talked about topics this year in New Jersey educational circles pertains to state assessments, specifically the New Jersey Student Learning Assessment or NJSLA. Last year as schools switched abruptly to remote learning, the NJSLA was cancelled as well as a number of other assessments such as the Dynamic Learning Maps (DLM) assessments and ACCESS for ELLs assessments, all of which are required by the United States Department of Education under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).
Back in February the New Jersey Department of Education announced that they would delay the planned start dates of all spring statewide assessments due to the disruption to education brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then the United States Education Department (USED) has provided states a pathway to waive accountability requirements, but while these waivers are being considered on the national level, the state is still moving forward regarding the planning and possible administration of these targeted and annual assessments.
Currently, Rockaway Borough is in the process as per guidance by the NJDOE of setting up our district testing schedule. While the state has moved back the original start date for the actual testing window for the NJSLA Math, ELA and Science from March 15th to May 3rd, our district testing coordinator, Mrs. Argenziano is working with building principals and teachers to establish a revised testing window in case the USED does not accept New Jersey's waiver. This involves not only the establishment of actual testing dates and times, but also the very important task of training and familiarizing all necessary staff regarding the administration of the assessments for both in-person and virtual students, something that is very new to New Jersey educators. In order to make sure that districts are fully trained on all aspects of the testing and its administration, the NJDOE has currently set up a very detailed virtual training platform accompanied by Q&A sessions to educate and train all District Test Coordinators and Technology Coordinators as well as all other interested district and building level administrators who may be involved in their local testing process. Rockaway Borough is and will continue to take advantage of all possible training and preparation opportunities to ensure we are ready if state testing does occur. In the meantime, we will await future guidance from both the state and county, but please be aware as the situation and circumstances may change at any given time. For a tentative idea of when testing may occur in the Borough, please refer to the schedule that can be found under the above calendar tab or take advantage of some general resources and information that can be found on Mrs. Argenziano's Curriculum website under the State Assessment tab.
For those of you unfamiliar with our state's most current assessment protocols, NJSLA is a statewide test administered in New Jersey to students in elementary, middle and high school. Subjects tested include English Language Arts (ELA), Mathematics and Science. Grades 3-8 sit for for ELA and Math tests, while grades 5, 8 and 11 sit for the Science test. The aim of these statewide assessments is to measure the progress of students in meeting the level of set academic standards.
The NJSLA-ELA assesses the proficiency of students in reading and comprehension for their respective grade level material. On the other hand, NJSLA-M (Mathematics test) and NSJLA-S (Science test) seeks to gauge the level of understanding for mathematics and science, in order to reason objectively and solve real-world scenarios on the given exams. Assessing students statewide is nothing new to the Garden State as the NJSLA is just one of many state assessments that New Jersey began administering to students in the 1970s. Numerous revisions to the tests along with name changes have taken place over the years which initially began to test basic skills before they moved to assessing academic standards in the late 90s. Some of the former tests and platforms included the Minimum Basics Skills (MBS) testing program for reading and mathematics, the High School Proficiency Test (HSTP11) and Early Warning Test (EWT), the Elementary School Proficiency Assessment (ESPA), the Grade Eight Proficiency Test (GEPA) and the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA), the New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge (NJ ASK) and most recently the PARCC
(Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Career Assessment). The NJSLA officially became the state assessment of choice for the 2018-19 school year in New Jersey after the PARCC was revoked by a Supreme Court ruling that excluded the state from the interstate consortium that produced and managed PARCC assessments.
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