Thursday, September 10, 2020

Teaneck Board of Education

10-September -2020
  
On Wednesday-9- September the Teaneck Board of Education held their Workshop meeting for the Month of September. In his Superintendent’s Dr. Christopher Irving had a number of presentations to share with the Trustees.  The first one was recognize Ms. Nicole Copper on her acceptance to attend the Harvard Case Methods Civics Workshop. Ms. Cooper is a   Teaneck High School Social Studies teacher, and was nominated by the Teaneck League of Women Voters and Dr. Marisa King, Teaneck’s Social Studies Supervisor, based on her advocacy to provide opportunities for our high school students to engage in civic education. 
   Also there was a talk by  Ms.Mary Joyce Laqui to update the Trustees on the Beyond Diversity Committee presentation and welcomed feedback from the Board  on the next step  to implement some of the reports recommendations into the Teaneck public School System.
  The main presentation was given by Teaneck High School Athletic Director Mr. David Murphy. This was to present the plan which will allow the resumption of certain Varsity sports for this Fall.  To start with only the Varsity programs will be competed this Fall. Along with that only sports that are played outdoors will be allowed to participate. These sports at Football, Cross-Country, Women’s and Men’s Soccer, and Women’s Tennis.  Women’s Volleyball has been postponed until after the scheduled Winter Sport season. Mr. Murphy outlined the return to play protocol for Teaneck Student Athletes. These protocols are based on the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association guidelines. To start with competition for Women’s tennis may start on Monday-28-September. The football season will be allowed to start their season on Friday-2-October. All other sports may start their seasons on Thursday-1-October.   Some the guidelines are:
- Constant monitoring the heath of  Student-Athletes and all Coaching staff.
- All Students  must register for their sport at http://www.familyid.com/teaneck-high-school 
- Register and complete a covid-19  and receive a negative result.
- Have an update Heath History form along with a physical  and cleared by School Medical staff.
- Complete an updated covid-19 questionnaire.
Then to start practice, and be allowed to compete in games a daily symptom check will be carried out. This will incline a check of temperatures and a visual check to see if symptoms are noticeable.  If a Student or Coach is suspected of having 2 or more symptoms a mandatory covid-19 test is required. Anyone with a positive test must inform the School officials and stay in quarantine for 14 days. Anyone in contact with this person 2 days prior to a positive test also is required to inform the School officials and have a mandatory covid-19 test performed. It will up-to the Local Heath Departments if stopping an entire team from playing is necessary. The protocol for home games will be  to limit the number of spectators in attendance.  Each Student will have a limit of 2 tickets for Family members.  Safe distancing and the wearing of masks in mandatory. There will no concession stands or money collected for tickets. The visiting team must send a list of Players, Staff, and spectators traveling to Teaneck  venues. 
  Dr. Irving then addressed the concern about starting School Sports instead of allowing indoor class studies. His answer was that this will be observed as a real time test of the schools ability to monitor and provided a safe environment for the Students and Staff to work in. He added that testing will begin on Friday-11-September and the cost will be cover by CARES Act.
  During the committee there was a discussion of upgrading the curriculum for all Public Schools.  One of the items on the consent agenda was to approve a new curriculum for the 2020-21 school year. More of the discussion on this subject was to continue the process of adding lessons and material that shows an all inclusive history and achievement of individuals from all races, nationalities, religious, and non-religious, sexual orientation, physical and mental abilities to future curriculum. Another  point of discussion was the opening of the Theodora Smiley Lacey School later in September.  This will be an all kindergarten facility  with nine classrooms for approximately space for 180 Student. The school is named for  Ms.Theodora Smiley Lacey a former Science teacher in Teaneck and was  an activist in the civil rights movement. Ms  Lacey was also instrumental ending discriminatory housing practices in New Jersey. Along with helping to end segregation in Teaneck Public Schools. There is a ceremony tentatively  planned for Thursday-17-September.
  When the meeting move to agenda items it was agreed to move the resolutions from this meeting into a consent agenda to be vote on at the next meeting.  All items from this meeting had the opportunity to be discussed  before being place on the consent agenda. This was the first time the Teaneck Board of Education has used the consent agenda process, and it is hope this will reduce the time taken during the workshop meeting. Items on the consent agenda will  be voted on, for approval at the next Board of Education meeting scheduled for Wednesday-16-September. 
  The next Teaneck Board of Education meeting will be on Wednesday-16-September. This will be a regular meeting and is schedule to start at 8:00p. For more information and access to this and past meeting please visit their website at:  https://www.teaneckschools.org/

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