When Jewish day and yeshiva high schools reopened their doors to students and faculty at the start of the school year, nearly six months after abruptly shifting to remote learning due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the running debate was: “How long until they close?” With masks, social distancing and many other safety precautions in place, school administrators, teachers and parents hoped that point would be a long way off. Unfortunately, only four weeks in, some schools are already there.
With school emails and WhatsApp groups rapidly sharing details, The Jewish Link reached out to our community schools to find out the most current and accurate information on quarantines and remote learning as the community prepared for Sukkot. At press time, a number of schools had confirmed or suspected COVID-19-positive cases, or direct or possible exposure, prompting these schools to move to remote learning.
The Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy/Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School (Kushner) in Livingston originally sent an email to parents shortly after Rosh Hashanah, after a confirmed COVID-19 case was reported in the greater community. Families who had potential exposure were asked to quarantine at that time. In the ensuing days, possible in-school exposure was reported, forcing the school to pivot to remote learning beginning Tuesday, September 29. All students in the affected grades were told to quarantine for 14 days, and given dates at which their quarantine would end. No in-school transmission was reported.
Nili Yolin, a parent to children in multiple grades at Kushner, including in one of the quarantined grades, commented on Tuesday, “We were notified of a COVID-positive teacher, and the need for kids in certain grades to quarantine, a couple of hours before Yom Kippur…we did what we were told and kept our fourth grader home.”
The Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy (MTA) in NYC recently shifted to all-remote learning. Rabbi Dov Emerson, director of teaching and learning, noted, “We, along with a number of other schools, have pivoted to full remote learning in the days leading up to Sukkot…Our faculty is teaching a combination of synchronous and asynchronous classes so each talmid’s daily schedule includes a mix of live Zoom classes and asynchronous classes, where our faculty prepares discussions and assignments that take place online but are not live.”
Rabbi Joshua Kahn, MTA head of school, added, “While some of our talmidim are in quarantine over the Yomim Noraim and the chagim, it’s very important to us to be there to support them and their families in every way we can.”
Rabbi Pesach Ramon Yeshiva (RPRY), located in Edison, will be shifting to remote learning for grades one through eight after Sukkot. At the recommendation of its medical advisory committee (MAC), the school will close the building after Sukkot for grades one through eight to allow for cases of exposure to come to light. For students and faculty members in those grades, a PCR non-rapid COVID test will be required to be taken no earlier than Thursday, October 15, to enable them to return to the building.
Rabbi Daniel Loew, RPRY head of school, commented, “Recently the MAC weighed the risks and benefits of keeping the school open for in-person instruction after Sukkot, taking into account elevated rates of illness and transmission in the broader community, and the potential for social interactions over the holiday…Students and faculty will get COVID tests, and after presenting the negative results will be able to return for in-person instruction on Tuesday, October 20.”
Rabbi Shlomo Adelman, head of school at Torah Academy of Bergen County (TABC), located in Teaneck, which shifted to remote learning after Yom Kippur, shared, “We made the decision to pivot to remote learning for the four days between Yom Kippur and Sukkot. This was done out of an abundance of caution. While in-person learning is ideal, so is davening b’tzibur on Yom Kippur and sitting with parents and siblings in the sukkah.”
Regarding communal exposure, Rabbi Adelman added, “Because our community is so interconnected, quarantines have obviously had a domino effect on students in different schools. Baruch Hashem, the vast majority of our students have only been quarantined as a precaution, and therefore their parents and siblings were classified as contacts of contacts and did not need to quarantine.”
Bruriah Girls High School and The Jewish Educational Center (JEC) High School, both located in Elizabeth, pivoted to remote learning the day after Yom Kippur, with plans to remain remote at least through the end of Sukkot. “Out of an abundance of caution, we moved to remote learning for our Bruriah and JEC high schools between Yom Kippur and Sukkot, and we are monitoring the situation in all our communities as things develop,” said Rabbi Pinchas Shapiro, executive vice president of The JEC.
Rabbi Joshua Lookstein, head of school at Westchester Day School (WDS) in Mamaroneck, shared, “It is tense, regardless of whether or not there have been any positive cases. We have had several students and teachers out either with symptoms or with family members with symptoms. We are being extra cautious and that comes with a lot of communication and a lot of close analysis… At the moment there are no plans to change [to remote learning], but we are strongly discouraging our families from taking any risks over the chagim.”
Lina Shuster, executive director at Academies at Gerrard Berman Day School (GBDS) in Oakland, which, like other schools, has had some students online since the start of the year, commented, “We have a few families who have chosen the GBDS BaBayit program from the beginning of the year… I know we are exercising on the extreme side of caution, but only through remaining vigilant and upholding our community brit can we sustain in-person learning,” she added.
Rabbi Daniel Price, head of school at Rosenbaum Yeshiva of North Jersey (RYNJ) in River Edge, said his school is prepared to pivot if necessary. “We have put in place many precautionary steps to prevent the spread and further infection in the school. To achieve our goal of staying in school we need the entire community to adhere to the mask-wearing and social-distancing guidelines.”
Tikvah Weiner, head of school at The Idea School in Tenafly, which at press time planned to open in-person after Sukkot, focused on the need for open and transparent communication between schools and families and “an element of trust on all sides.”
“There are definitely challenges with a hybrid educational model where some students are physically in school and others remote and also where a teacher may be remote teaching an in-person class,” she said.
Rabbi Saul Zucker, head of school at Ben Porat Yosef (BPY) in Paramus, stated, “The key to ensuring that we contain the spread of this virus as much as possible and that we are able to keep school open for in-person learning lies in our partnership. We all need to look out for each other.”
Rabbi Chaim Hagler, head of school at Yeshivat Noam in Paramus, which at press time intended to remain in-person after Sukkot, added, “Our educators are teaching to in-person students and those who are learning virtually. Some of our virtual learners are in quarantine and others are Zooming as a precautionary measure… Right now we are taking one day at a time and are hoping to be open for in-person learning after Sukkot.”
SINAI Schools, which is in the unique position of operating in partnership with eight schools across the region, follows the protocols and procedures of each of its partner schools. With Kushner and TABC having moved to remote learning, SINAI has pivoted to remote learning as well.
Rabbi Dr. Yisrael Rothwachs, dean of SINAI Schools, commented, “It is enormously difficult for our educators to teach simultaneously to the students who are physically present in class and to those who are learning remotely from home. In some ways, it is easier to teach an entire class on Zoom than to have your attention divided between the children in the classroom and the children on screens. This is especially true for our students, who have learning disabilities and other special needs.”
Stacy Katzwer, lower school principal at Tenafly Chabad Academy (TCA), noted that it is a challenge to manage Zoom classes for the remote learners, since classes are still structured toward the in-person students. She shared that the school is “discussing the idea of having the day after Sukkot be a Zoom day for the entire elementary school. This way the nurse will be able to follow up on any individuals who may have experienced symptoms over the chag. It will also allow our cleaning crew to adequately sanitize the building after Sukkot, considering that our school is housed in the Chabad of Tenafly and is a shul as well.”
Alex, a currently quarantined Kushner fifth grader, perhaps summed up everyone’s feelings best when he said, “It’s annoying because I can’t go anywhere. But if I have the virus, I can transfer it to people so I need to stay at home to be careful.”
By Jewish Link Staff
