Pressure increases on Murphy to start N.J. schools remote-only – NJ.com

The mayor of Newark, the Jersey City school board, a South Jersey teachers’ union and the state association of principals and superintendents joined the growing chorus of people and organizations calling on the state to keep public schools closed as the coronavirus crisis continues.

Gov. Phil Murphy declined to comment Friday on whether his administration is rethinking the state’s plan to have more than 2,500 public schools to reopen with at least some in-person classes in late August and early September.

“We literally have no news on education today,” Murphy said at his latest coronavirus press briefing in Trenton.

The state’s nearly 600 school districts have begun submitting reopening plans to the state Department of Education under the state’s reopening guidelines calling for students and teachers wearing masks in socially-distant classrooms.

But pressure has been mounting on the state to reconsider reopening schools. Several teachers’ unions, including large unions in Paterson and Essex County, have called on the governor to start the school year all remote for all of New Jersey’s 1.4 million students because teachers don’t think it’s safe to return to the classroom.

Legislation has also been introduced calling for schools to delay reopening classrooms until at least Oct. 31.

Among other recent developments:

— The New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association, the statewide group representing top public school administrators, said schools are not ready to reopen and the school year should start with virtual learning. “Beginning the school year with statewide remote learning recognizes the critical fact that we simply cannot safeguard our students, our staff and our communities from this highly contagious and lethal virus without the necessary tools to do so,” said Patricia Wright, the group’s executive director.

— Newark Mayor Ras Baraka said Thursday it is too dangerous to reopen schools. He urged parents in the state’s largest school district to sign up for the all-remote learning plan and keep their kids at home if they can even though Newark’s schools plan to reopen. “At this rate, I wouldn’t send anybody to school,” Baraka said.

— The Atlantic County Council of Education Associations, representing 6,500 South Jersey teachers, joined the list of unions calling on Murphy to start the school year without in-person classes. “Major League Baseball made it two days, and schools should look to this as what will happen when schools open. Regardless of the steps taken to mitigate the spread, COVID-19 will spread in schools and communities,” the group said in a letter to Murphy.

—Jersey City’s school board voted unanimously Thursday to submit a reopening plan to the state that would keep schools in one of the state’s largest districts closed. The district wants to start the year remote-only, against the state’s reopening guidelines which call for at least some in-person classes. “I cannot in good faith ask our employees and children to return to a full in person schedule after Labor Day,” said Superintendent Franklin Walker. It is unclear is the state will approve the plan.

Other districts — including Bayonne and Willingboro — say they have also asked the state Department of Education for permission to open with only virtual learning and no in-person classes, against the state guidelines. As of Friday morning, the districts were still waiting for a ruling from state education officials.

Murphy has previously said all schools should offer at least some in-person classes because it is a better education experience than remote learning via assignments and video meetings on laptops at home. He has said he is also concerned that low-income and working parents do not have the childcare, money or time to teach kids at home.

Earlier Friday, a state Assembly Health committee hearing on reopening schools began with Assemblyman Erik Peterson, R-Hunterdon, saying he heard Murphy was preparing to announce New Jersey schools will remain all-virtual until January, then reevaluate the decision month to month.

Other Assembly members at the hearing said they had not been told Murphy was planning to reverse his earlier announcement that public schools would offer some in-person classes. Assemblyman Herb Conaway Jr., chairman of the health committee, said later in the hearing he was told the rumor about Murphy preparing to announce a statewide return to all-remote classes was untrue.

Murphy declined to comment on the topic at his press briefing Friday.

The New Jersey Education Association, a close ally of the Murphy administration and the state’s most powerful teachers’ union, has not formally called for all-remote learning. But union officials have questioned whether all schools can safely reopen by the end of the month.

Earlier this month, Murphy also said every district in New Jersey must offer an all-remote option for parents who do not want to send their children back to school for in-person classes.

NJ Advance Media staff writers Brent Johnson and Joshua Rosario contributed to this report.

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Kelly Heyboer may be reached at kheyboer@njadvancemedia.com.

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