PARSIPPANY — Dear Parsippany-Troy Hills School Community,
Thanks so much for a very smooth reopening last week. It was great having everyone back and seeing the buildings back to life again. It was evident that everyone was glad to see friends and colleagues, and the many students that bring meaning to our work.
With schools re-opened, we’ve focused again on keeping our students and staff safe. COVID-19 didn’t go away while we were in Fully Remote status and it is an unfortunate reality that positive cases will continue to occur over the next several months. All of the protocols that were established in our Return to School Plan are still in place and we continually revise procedures as new NJ Department of Health guidelines are released.
With the winter season in full swing, the schools’ HVAC systems continue to play an important part in maintaining fresh air exchange in classrooms. All schools have adequate ventilation, including operational heating and fresh air exchange. Filter changes have been increased to quarterly which is more frequent than the manufacturer recommendations. Temperatures are set to maintain inside air temperatures at 70-72 degrees. Our normal range as specified by State guideline A4097 would be 68-79 degrees for acceptable occupancy temperatures. We never manually shut off any boilers or heating systems during the winter months. Several of our larger schools have automatic temperature setback capabilities, but this only reduces the indoor temperatures by 3-4 degrees and it would occur after normal building occupancy hours. Many staff members choose to open a window to increase fresh airflow in the classroom and this is certainly acceptable.
For those in our school community interested in health data, I encourage you to follow the data posted on the NJ Department of Health website by clicking here. This is updated weekly and breaks out data by region. We will not post a district data table. With more than 40% of our students attending as Fully Remote and health information for these students inconsistently reported, this puts us in the position of presenting incomplete data right from the start. We have reported cases of COVID at each impacted school since September and will continue to do so, as required by Governor Murphy’s Executive Order #192.
Here are a few additional informational points:
- Friday, February 5 will be a ½ Afternoon Inservice Day. Principals will communicate schedules next week.
- A Progress Update on the 2020-21 District Goals was presented to the Board of Education last week and is available on the district website by clicking here.
- An Open Letter to the Community from our Board of Education – “Impact Housing Developments will have on our Schools” – is also posted on the district website and can be viewed here.
- We’re excited that all of our schools have opened their school libraries for book exchange. Many schools are also hosting special literacy activities during the winter months to keep our readers connected to terrific stories.
Thank you for your continued patience and flexibility. We are learning and adapting more and more as the weeks go by. There are great things happening in our schools. I am immensely proud of the teaching and learning occurring in this school community each day.
Sincerely,
Barbara Sargent, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools
