Morris School District: ‘Extremely fragile’ from COVID; board adopts anti-racist policy

The Morris School District board adopted a resolution pledging an 'anti-racist' curriculum, Nov. 9, 2020. Screenshot by Kevin Coughlin
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With COVID-19 infections on the rise again, elementary schools in the Morris School District won’t be resuming full-day schedules anytime soon, Superintendent Mackey Pendergrast said on Monday.

“Every day is extremely fragile,” he said, asserting the regional district has “just barely” been able to staff its 10 buildings during the pandemic.

So far this fall, 35 individuals in the district have tested positive for the coronavirus, Pendergrast said at a virtual school board meeting that also saw members endorse an “anti-racist” curriculum.

Three schools shifted to all-virtual instruction for two-week stints, while other classrooms were told to quarantine at home, Pendergrast recounted. He credited those moves with preventing transmission of the virus within the schools, which serve 5,700 students from Morristown, Morris Township and Morris Plains.

Parents on the Zoom session pressed the superintendent to expand the shortened day at district elementary schools. But COVID-19 cases are increasing statewide and nationally, and Pendergrast said staffing already is precarious.

Morris District Supt. Mackey Pendergrast presents slide touting pre-school, during Zoom presentation, Nov. 9, 2020. Screenshot by Kevin Coughlin

“Just today, seven different teachers had to stay home because they had spouses with the coronavirus,” he said, predicting such situations will multiply in coming weeks.

Some full-time teachers have opted for early retirement or extended leaves rather than risk infection, reported board member Alan Smith.  And substitute teachers are in short supply.

“As we have a fragile environment… now is not the time, in my opinion, to expand to a full day,” Pendergrast said.

The superintendent said he intends to maintain in-person instruction as long as it’s safe and there is sufficient staff.  Morristown High School and the Frelinghuysen Middle School are on hybrid schedules, with students alternating between classroom- and remote learning.

“My goal from the very beginning was to create a system that would last…to make sure two cases doesn’t turn to 20, and 20 doesn’t turn to 40,” Pendergrast explained, comparing himself to a surfer inside the tunnel of an enormous wave.

“I hope we can stay open,” he said.

‘AN ANTI-RACIST AND SOCIAL JUSTICE LENS’

Pendergrast’s coronavirus update followed his hour-long summary of district efforts to improve inclusion and social equity since he was hired in 2015.  Those efforts have been redoubled in the aftermath of George Floyd’s killing by police in May.

Next year also marks the 50th anniversary of the Jenkins decision, a state Supreme Court ruling that created the Morris School District to preserve educational diversity, the board noted Monday in a resolution pledging an “anti-racist” path toward social justice.

That involves striving for a diverse staff and an “anti-racist culture in which all students and staff feel empowered, valued, and successful,” according to the resolution.

Curriculum will be reviewed “through an anti-racist and social justice lens…to reexamine how we frame our nation’s history” and include African American, Black, Latinx, Native American and Asian writers and views.

“Racism is the complete antithesis of democracy. If we have racism, we don’t have full, thriving democracy,” said Pendergrast, a former history teacher.

District surveys suggest students want to engage in “difficult conversations about difficult topics,” he said.

“We can’t say ‘liberty and justice for all’ if we don’t say where we fall short,” Pendergrast said.


DEFINITIONS from the board’s anti-racist resolution:

Systemic racism: Encompasses the history and current reality of institutional racism across all institutions and society. It refers to the history, culture, ideology, and interactions of institutions and policies that perpetuate a system of inequity that is detrimental to communities of color.

Social justice: A concept of fair and just relations between the individual and society as measured by equal access to economic, political and social rights and opportunities for everyone.

Anti-racism: The practice of identifying, challenging, and changing the values, structures, and behaviors that perpetuate systemic racism. Institutional racism: occurs within institutions and organizations, such as schools, that adopt and maintain policies, practices, and procedures that often unintentionally produce inequitable outcomes for people of color and advantages for white people.

Implicit bias: The attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions and decisions in an unconscious manner.

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