Today marks the first day that Secaucus public school students have switched to remote learning due to the school closings announced to Friday. Originally, the closure was scheduled to last for one week. However, the number of confirmed cases of the Coronavirus has jumped to 98 just over the course of the last few days. Therefore, Mayor Michael Gonelli and School Superintendent Jennifer Montesano has just announced that the closure will now be extended through April 3, 2020.
So far, the school board's remote learning program seem to be going according to plan. Teachers are successfully giving out assignments, and elementary, middle, and high school students are successfully using Google Classroom to complete and submit those assignments. However, now that the closure has been extended to three weeks, there are additional questions which the school faculty and staff have to tackle such as whether exams should also be administered remotely and how to catch up on work that can't necessarily be done from home. Our community has never had to go through a pandemic like this, so no one has a concrete plan in place yet. But as town officials continue to carefully monitor the situation, this remote learning initiative will be updated accordingly, and parents will be kept abreast of any changes.
In addition to schools, numerous municipal resources are being closed for the week. At the time of this writing, the following locations will be closed though March 20th:
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Public Library and Resource Center |
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Recreation Center |
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EPOS (Exceptional People of Secaucus) |
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Teen Center, Tot Center |
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All Indoor Basketball Courts |
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Ice Rink |
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Animal Shelter (Animals will be continued to be cared for) |
On March 20th, the situation will be reassessed by town officials, and a decision will be made on whether these community resources can be reopened.
