Emerson Schools Are Shutting Down: Is it Safe?

    Just when families were growing accustomed to hybrid learning and arranging for early pick-ups, schools shut down. Challenges include decisions about how students will learn and teachers will teach, how to make sure everyone can stay safe, or if what they are doing even fits regulations for their state. Another added challenge is knowing whether or not people follow directions, which can cause many problems for the safety of everyone in the school.  

    So far this year, two of the three schools in Emerson have shut down due to positive cases of Covid-19.   

In the last two weeks, Memorial Elementary and Emerson Junior Senior High School had to shut down for contact tracing. Each school was able to quickly trace it and get the schools back on track. 

“We are fortunate to work very closely with Northwest Bergen Regional Health Commission (NWBRHC) and they have been excellent in being thorough and timely regarding any cases that have come up. Alongside that, students and families have been great in communicating with us,”commented Dr. Gatens, the superintendent of schools. 

 He also said that he hasn’t experienced any difficulties with the practice required for on-site learning and he believes that this school year is going very well so far.

In addition, many other schools in Bergen County have also shut down. This includes schools in Franklin Lakes, Glen Rock, Mahwah, Montvale, Rutherford, Tenafly, Wanaque, and Woodcliff Lake for similar reasons. With so many shutdowns, residents aren’t sure whether sending their children to school is a good idea. 

“I am confident that the school is taking care of my children. I feel that they are keeping in line with experts and cleaning the school as well as reminding the children to keep a social distance,”said parent and resident Cathy Palladino.

Despite the assurance that students are being taken care of when at school, challenges remain. Some parents are still working and unable to supervise or parents can’t pick up or drop off students at certain times since the schedule has changed. Although this might be a problem, it is extremely important for everyone to work together.

    “The entire school community has pulled together to do what we can to open our schools, take care of our students, and move forward together. Much like everyone else, I wish that things were different from a medical perspective, but we are doing the best that we can with what we have, and for that we should all be very proud”, stated Dr. Gatens.