the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, on August 20, 2020 the REA posted a letter on Facebook asking for the postponement of in person learning for Ridgewood Schools due to various health related concerns:
Dear Members of the Ridgewood Board of Education,
On behalf of the 569 members of the Ridgewood Education Association (REA) I am writing to ask you to postpone in-person reopening of the Ridgewood Public Schools. The REA believes that it is unsafe at this time to open our school buildings and we ask that the school year begin in an all virtual format. In doing so we add our voice to that of the New Jersey Association of School Administrators, the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association, the New Jersey State School Nurses Association, the New Jersey Education Association, and the Bergen County Education Association who have all called for a remote start to the school year. We wish this was not the case as no one wants to be back teaching in person more than the District’s teachers. We are also well aware of the hardship this may pose to parents, we are parents too. But the health and safety of staff, students, and the community at large must take precedence and right now the risk is simply too great.
Covid-19 is an airborne virus placing a greater importance on our aging buildings’ HVAC systems. We do not believe all of our buildings have adequate ventilation and the District’s 49 page plan submitted to the State contains only two paragraphs on the subject (RPS, Reopening & Operations Plan 2020-21, p.31). According to Executive Order 175 districts that cannot provide a plan for adequate ventilation may opt to begin the year remotely.
