COVID Staff, Student Absences Move Sparta Schools To Virtual

SPARTA, NJ — With 34 teachers absent and a lack of substitutes to fill their spots, plus excessive student absences because of COVID, the Sparta Township Public Schools have temporarily become virtual, likely through Jan. 18.

The school district is one of three countywide that has started with remote schooling, Hopatcong announcing its transition earlier in the week, with hopes to be back in person on Monday.

RELATED: COVID Staff Absences Force Hopatcong Schools Virtual

Lenape Valley Regional High School in Byram posted on its website the district also moved its classes to an online format through Jan. 14, posting the schedule for Thursday and Friday - and then the week beginning Jan. 10 - in an alert message on the school’s website, the goal return date the same as Sparta’s.

In a letter to families on Tuesday, Sparta Superintendent Matthew L. Beck said the percentage of teaching staff absences at 34 that day, ranged between 19 to 33 percent in each of the district’s schools, which factored in with the student absences, a figure he didn’t disclose in his letter.

For the week ending Dec. 31, the last date showing on the district's COVID dashboard, there were 67 students districtwide who tested positive for COVID and 26 employees.

Initially, Beck said when he sent letters to families on Jan. 2 “the absentee data I possessed showed that we could safely open our schools and provide all of our students with effective programming,” he wrote.

“From the time I sent that letter through the time I am sending this letter, the data has changed dramatically as the number of staff and student absences significantly increased,” he continued.

“Unfortunately, the number of student and staff absences has become excessive to the point that we can no longer carry on effective programming for our students quarantined at home as well as our students in school,” Beck wrote, with a series of meetings with the district’s administrative teams and Return to School Committee, also leading to the decision.

Sparta's Emergency Virtual Learning Plan kicked in, with special guidelines for each of the schools that includes a combination of “live, virtual, direct instruction,” in combination with “virtual student Academic Assistance Hours.”

Hotspots are being provided or broadband internet, for students who have connectivity issues, as well as Chromebooks or laptops for those who need equipment, as part of the plan at all grade levels.

Students also need to abide by a “Virtual Code of Conduct,” that requires them to be on time for Google Meets, stay focused in virtual class, follow their school’s dress code and overall “remain respectful, collaborative and academically appropriate at all times during virtual class.”

The district says it was making accommodations for special education programs, as well as meal and technology pick-up arrangements.

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