Additional Information

Medications

  • Contact Mrs. Debbie Gilmore (Health Services Department) to make arrangements for medication pickup at the individual buildings. You can reach Mrs. Gilmore at 856-629-6400 ext. 1003. All medications are being safely stored.

Donations

  • There is going to be more information forthcoming on this topic. Reach out to the individuals organizing the drives if you wish to donate.

SGO's and Marking Period End Dates

  • All schools will coordinate this together and determine appropriate dates and extensions for these activities.

Social Media

  • This Task Force is currently creating a Facebook page as well as this website to keep the community informed. When this is live, we will update the link.

Task Force Membership

  • The Task Force will be adding 2 more parent representatives in addition to Mr. Brian Bovio.
  • Currently we have 2-3 representatives from each of the stakeholder groups within the district.

Answers to Email Questions:

  • The district will be working with TTI to answer any technical questions received.
  • Proposed calendar changes (including revised marking period dates) will be considered by the district's calendar committee and forwarded for approval to the Board of Education at Thursday's meeting. If approved, a revised calendar will be sent out Friday.
  • Cycle 1 classes at WMS will end October 24th. Cycle 2 classes will begin October 25th.
  • Whitehall supplies, materials, and personal belongings have been brought to WMS and have been delivered to their respective classrooms.
  • Reports are available for viewing on the website.
  • Any student absences which occurred on October 6, 2017 through October 17, 2017 will be excused as per the Superintendent.
  • Whitehall students will not need any additional supplies at this time. Donated supplies are available for any Holly Glen or Whitehall student who needs them.
  • TTI is a fully-insured company.
  • Pending TTI’s professional recommendations, issues related to carpeting will be addressed at that time.
  • The Task Force has relayed to Mr. Earling and the BOE requests by some parents to conduct additional testing to obtain a second opinion.
  • With regards to library materials from Holly Glen, the Task Force will relay this question to Holly Glen building administration. They will be sending out a response to parents.
  • At this time, a definitive return date for students and staff to Whitehall has not been established. As remediation work goes on, timelines will be available.
  • The Gloucester County Superintendent and Business Administrator toured WMS and have approved the district plan to relocate Whitehall students and staff to this location.
  • On Tuesday 10/17/16 at 6:00pm, Whitehall parents are invited to tour the classrooms being used for their children at WMS. A parent information packet will be provided at this time. A copy of this packet will also be posted on the website.
  • Parents of walkers should report to Holly Glen as early as 3:35pm to await their child’s arrival. As the bus routes become more established so will the parent pick-up times.
  • All students with IEPs will continue to receive services at their new location.
  • There are plans to conduct air quality testing at the Maple Grove Administration building.
  • While there are no plans to test the football field house at this time, if there are concerns the Superintendent will recommend to the BOE that testing is conducted in this location as well.
  • Please see previous updates for a description of the remediation process.
  • Questions regarding individual HVAC systems will be relayed to TTI.
  • Suggestions to have a “Facilities Page” providing a status update will be discussed and information will be forthcoming.
  • Any teachers who need to submit signed contracts will be provided an appropriate extension on their timelines. Contact your union reps if you are concerned.
  • Many options for rentals in surrounding townships, for example Total Turf, would have costs that would be prohibitive to explore these options. This is due to rental costs, transportation costs and insurance related issues.
  • Details on picture days at the various schools (Radix was the specific question) will be forthcoming once the building principals make a decision.
  • When the isolated room list is made available to the district administration and the task force, we will provide it.
  • If any student left behind any personal items in any of the buildings, the task force will relay this information to the building administration who will then reach out to the parent with an answer as to when those items will be returned.
  • Elementary level Halloween festivities will still take place. Details will be forthcoming.
  • Elementary level special area classes (i.e. Music, Art, Physical Education), as well as TAG classes, will still take place for all grade levels.
  • When students return to school, there may be some areas of the buildings that are still in remediation. Students will be not permitted in those areas and they will be partitioned off from the general population. HVAC systems will be shut off to those areas as well.
  • Aramark maintains the HVAC systems in the district buildings and has maintained them since July 1st, 2017. We have requested they provide us with their maintenance logs. Maintenance logs prior to this time have been requested from the previous contractor.
  • At WHS, the classrooms currently occupied by WHS staff and students have been relocated for the Holly Glen 4th grade. All affected staff have been informed and students will be directed on where their classes will be held upon return.
  • The bus company is a completely independent contractor within the district. They operate independent of the district. The bus companies were also informed that schools were closed for the week of October 9th. As the district had not made a final determination about school for the week of October 16th, some bus drivers assumed that they would resume routes on Monday October 16th.
  • As for having a mold specialist on the committee, through the NJEA which is the state union representing the teachers and secretaries, we have access to an industrial hygienist and indoor air quality specialist.
  • The district is attempting to get consistency in results, which is why TTI is the only company that was contracted to perform air quality tests.
  • We thank parents for volunteering to help the district clean up, but to ensure safety a professional company will be doing the cleanup. Parents can contact the district if they would like to help in other ways.
  • Students have access to various website links via the district Curriculum Department website (www.monroetwp.k12.nj.us) to help keep students engaged in academic tasks while off from school. This will be at the discretion of the parents and students whether they choose to utilize these resources.
  • The district is looking into how we can keep Holly Glen walkers and transfers protected from the outdoor elements. Information will be forthcoming.
  • Teachers will be informed by their building administrator if their rooms are in need of remediation upon return. They will be permitted to submit a list of items that cannot be replaced to the superintendent's office as stated yesterday.
  • The overall capacity of Radix is 1200 students. Currently Radix has 675 students. Approximately 400 students will be moving to Radix from Holly Glen. In addition, the cafeteria capacity is 380. At no point will any area be over capacity.
  • Due to the volume of emails, the task force will address each one at our daily meeting and respond via the daily update.
  • Through our unions, there is representation from all areas of the district. In addition, there are representatives from each level (Elementary, Middle and High School).
  • Brian Bovio brought in two parents to observe the task force process on October 12 so that others in the community could see how the task force works.
  • The trash that people are seeing being thrown out are mainly things that are being thrown away to make room for the Holly Glen students that will be relocating to these schools.
  • In addition to classrooms, all offices will be checked as well.
  • HVAC system were designed for certain amounts of students in each room. At Radix, even though overall capacity is 1200, that would require at least 35-40 students in each classroom. This could overload the HVAC system which would be poor for air quality.
  • We are investigating rooms of concern that staff/parents have emailed to us.
  • Currently, EMSL is the only lab that TTI uses because they believe consistency in the results is of the utmost importance. As stated earlier, TTI is working on getting expedited results back.
  • There have been many donations so far, however they are scattered in different locations. We will determine the best course of action for organizing everything first, once we know when school is to be reopened.
  • The daily update serves as the official record of the task force meeting.
  • The rooms that are isolated will be re-tested for air quality before being reopened. If their air quality is poor still, it will continue to be isolated and remediated.
  • Cafeteria capacity in Radix will not be a problem. There are enough lunch periods throughout the day to prevent overcrowding.
  • Per Mr. Earling, any Holly Glen student not in attendance on Thursday, October 5th will be excused from school on that date.
  • Per Mr. Earling, any Monroe Township Public Schools student who was not in school on Friday, October 6th will be excused from school on that date.
  • The bus company is preparing for students for their new bus routes for when they come back. Some parents may have already received a phone call with their new bus numbers. Since the bus company is a private contractor and not a district bussing system, they are just catching up to the proposed route changes for the Holly Glen students.
  • The individual building administrators where students will be now relocating to will put together a plan for drop off and pick up of students. When those plans are in place, you will be updated.
  • Mr. Brian Bovio forwarded a letter to Mr. Earling and the Board of Education on October 12 stating that no company that he has an ownership or management role in will be bidding any work to the Monroe Township School District for at least 1 year from the time his service to this task force is completed.
  • At Radix, there was a classroom that had been used as a custodial closet for years. Recently, it had to be converted back to a classroom for Holly Glen student use. As they organized items to be relocated or disposed of, they were left in the Radix vestibule. Among them is this trash can with spray cans in it. While these can do look like white spray paint cans, as you can see from the picture below, these cans are not spray paint.