At the Wayne Township Board of Education meeting on October 29, superintendent Dr. Mark Toback and assistant superintendent Mrs. Donna Reichman presented a proposal for Phase 2 of the district’s school reopening plan. After eight consecutive weeks of open schools with Phase I cohort/social distancing measures, the administration believes that the in-person learning environment is safe enough for Wayne schools to increase instructional time.

Phase 2 reintroduces Wednesday as an in-person learning day at all Wayne schools. High schools will return to the traditional rotating block schedule, but continue using the hybrid bell schedule (school hours remain 7:20-12:03). Also at the high school level, the Board of Education is considering potentially merging the three cohorts to two. 

However, just last week, Wayne schools experienced an outbreak of COVID-19 cases from high school students who had attended Halloween parties. As a result, all schools switched to virtual instruction and all sports/activities were suspended for the week of November 9-13. While the administration intends on resuming in-person instruction during the week of November 16-20, the future of the district’s learning model remains unclear. COVID-19 cases statewide are proliferating, which may further complicate the status of the Phase 2 plan.