PASCACK VALLEY REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT—Pascack Valley and Pascack Hills high schools will operate in a hybrid fashion for the remainder of the school year.
District trustees heard out many parents pushing for a return to classes, but at a special meeting May 13 they then declined to return to five days per week of in-person schooling.
The officials said the logistics were too difficult, and should someone in then contract Covid-19 over the final weeks of the school year, that school must immediately be shut down and contact tracing begun. That would put some seniors’ attendance at prom and graduation at risk, and they weren’t willing to take the chance.
Administrators said “dozens” of senior students could end up missing major senior events if they needed to quarantine following an exposure.
Pascack Hills receives students from Montvale and Woodcliff Lake and Pascack Valley receives students from River Vale and Hillsdale.
At the meeting, administrators said anyone who is within 6 feet of a Covid-positive person for 15 minutes is considered exposed and would need to quarantine for up to two weeks.
Gov. Phil Murphy recently loosened pandemic restrictions and allowed schools to cut the required social distance between students to 3 feet, and urged a return to school full-time.
Most parents calling to comment on reopening said they preferred students to return to high school full-time despite the public safety risks. One parent even said the need to quarantine after a Covid exposure was voluntary.
That comment did not draw a response from the superintendent or board members.
Previously, the board has insisted on students identified as being exposed to quarantine for up to 14 days, depending on individual circumstances.
Superintendent P. Erik Gundersen, who departs June 30 for the top administrative job at Suffern Central School District, noted that if the district gets even one positive case school will need to shut down and go all-remote for a period.
He said those exposed would need to be quarantined. “Benefits don’t outweigh the potential risks,” he said.
“Everything might be perfectly fine but we don’t know for certain.”
Gundersen said students who had been vaccinated will be able to return to school full-time and parents will receive a letter soon with details.
Most trustees seemed to agree that the risks of Covid-19 exposure outweighed any potential benefits of all high school students returning for a month of in-person learning.
Trustee Joseph Blundo said returning to school was “high risk in terms of exposure” if all students came back to school and that might impact senior events. He said he would keep an “open mind” to all parent concerns and comments.
Board President Tammy Molinelli began the meeting noting there “seems to be a lot of misunderstanding within the community and in the faculty” about the decision to not fully reopen the regional high schools.
Molinelli said trustees “recognize passion with which parents are advocating for their children to embrace their senior year.”
She noted that 63% of Pascack Valley students and 50% of Pascack Hills were attending hybrid classes since September 2020. The rest were attending classes remotely.
Trustee Kelly Blundy said though the board “should have addressed this a while ago” and noted the state’s rules for schools from the state department of health for reopening schools were “confusing.”
She said the state required the district to quarantine those exposed within 6 feet of a Covid-positive person while now allowing students within 3 feet of each other.
She said much burden falls on school nurses to contact trace if a Covid case occurs.
Many parents calling said that schools should use the remaining school year and prioritize education over senior year events. Several chastised administrators and trustees for focusing too much on senior events over education.
One parent noted that the attention focused on changing high school mascots and proms showed the board’s “completely out of line” priorities.
Following nine months of debate and dissension, the board approved a switch to Pascack Hills Broncos and Pascack Valley Panthers a few months ago, replacing the Cowboy and Indian mascots, which were deemed non-inclusive and offensive.
Danielle Wilmer of Montvale said the board should have had the reopening conversation months ago as other schools had already opened full time. “Focus on the priorities and get these kids back in school,” she told trustees.
Gundersen said based on a question posed to parents following Murphy’s call for schools to reopen fully, it appeared 553 students would come back full-time to Pascack Hills and 821 students would come back full-time to Pascack Valley. He said the district was dealing with bus routes, arranging classroom furniture, and overflow classroom space if needed.
He said quarantine rules, which require exposed students to quarantine up to 14 days, were “one of the biggest issues” in weighing whether to reopen schools completely.
Added Molinelli, “Significantly more kids in a much smaller space, that creates more risk.”