Princeton Public Schools switched to a remote learning system on March 16 to reduce potential spread of COVID-19. This model, which will continue through at least April 17, includes online assignments and attendance forms in order to simulate a school environment.

“From a school perspective, … implementing remote learning [is] the most extreme measure that we could put in place,” said Superintendent Steve Cochrane.

At first, the district was focused on a greater degree of personal hygiene and facility sanitation within schools.

“We started with our physical facilities and [ensured] that we were cleaning our buildings and our buses on a much more rigorous schedule [while] focusing on frequently touched surfaces,” said Cochrane. “We're also working on education and practice regarding respiratory hygiene.”

Despite these preventative measures, the risk of contracting coronavirus remained high enough that the municipality officials decided to close schools for the time being in order to prevent the virus from spreading.

“So the other measure, in addition to cleaning our facilities, and maintaining respiratory hygiene, [is] social distancing,” said Cochrane. “The next form [of social distancing] that we [have implemented is] limiting assemblies and meetings of large groups, and especially groups that would bring in older folks, because [children] are actually the group that is least at risk for the coronavirus.”

Teachers at PHS have been using a variety of platforms to work with their students in order to attempt to replicate physical schooling. Outside of an attendance form on each grade’s Powerschool Learning website, some teachers are moving to platforms that they are more comfortable with.

“There have been a lot of problems. Setting up conference calls can be annoying because some teachers aren't organizing the information required to join them, and Powerschool Learning has been failing to upload assignments because everyone is using it at once,” said Amalia Kutin ’21. “It's been really hectic.”

Because of these technical issues, Powerschool Learning has undergone system maintenance to improve service for students and teachers. Other teachers have switched their instruction onto platforms like Microsoft Teams or Google Classroom to avoid the problems with Powerschool Learning. Anlin Kopf ’21 believes that these initial bumps can be fixed once the school becomes more experienced with remote learning.

“Although there have been a few problems, … I think that the school will be able to fix [them] as time goes on,” said Kopf. “I feel like [remote learning] is a very good [substitute] for [physical] school. [PHS] just [needs] to get used to it.”

Despite these limitations, the district plans to continue remote learning past the minimum two week period and into mid-April due to heightening COVID-19 concerns.

“As we kind of move forward with this, because it's all new territory for us, and there will undoubtedly be some glitches along the way. But we're going to make the very best faith effort we can and we'll figure those things out as we go through,” Cochrane said.