East Rockaway Schools

East Rockaway schools deal with new normal

By Julia Swerdin

The coronavirus pandemic has transformed the way that students attend school. To accommodate distance learning, East Rockaway teachers hosted daily virtual classes, covering material that students had reached at that point into the curriculum. Students were expected to attend virtual class sessions as they would have attended their regularly scheduled classes in school. “I want to begin by commending our students for continuing to be flexible, resilient and successful during our transition from traditional classroom to remote instruction,” East Rockaway High School Principal Richard Schaffer wrote in a letter to the school community. “I would also like to thank our parents and family members that have supported our students in completing assignments and helping them keep track of virtual class sessions.” In place of finals and Regents examinations, high school students were responsible to complete “exit assessments.” According to the school website, the assignments are “performance tasks designed to assess students’ content knowledge and skills.” On June 26, the East Rockaway High School administration held two graduation ceremonies for the class of 2020 seniors on the school’s football field. The ceremonies were divided into two time slots to ensure social distancing and sanitized seats. Each graduate was allowed two household family guests, and up to 150 people attended each ceremony. The district has established committees to plan re-entry into learning for the upcoming school year, some of which include social and emotional health, food service, health and safety, and special education. They have additionally created the East Rockaway Wellness and Support Google Classroom in an effort to organize and share emotional wellness related information, resources and activities. “East Rockaway School District has started a Return to Learn Reentry Plan, where all stakeholders and departments are sharing their processes and procedures for what reentry might look like,” Superintendent Lisa Ruiz said. “This information is available on the district’s website, but we continue to wait for guidance from [State Education Department] and Governor Cuomo on just what guidelines will be in place so that we can finalize our plans and move forward.”

Nicole Alcindor/Herald Top Photo: East Rockaway High School celebrated two socially-distanced graduations on June 26.