These N.J. parents are pushing for virtual learning in September – NJ.com

Parents who want to make virtual learning a permanent reality in New Jersey schools are seeking support this weekend at a popular balloon festival.

Their group, New Jersey Parents for Personal Choice, is asking Gov. Phil Murphy to reverse course and allow virtual learning, which was in place starting in March 2020 and throughout the 2020-21 school year due to the coronavirus pandemic, to resume when classes return in September.

Karen Strauss, a co-founder, said that while the pandemic was the impetus for virtual learning in New Jersey, some parents found that it worked better for their children and would prefer having that option even if COVID-19 was no longer a concern.

“So many parents found that their children are excelling,” said Strauss, a mother of three from Bridgewater who is planning to homeschool her 5-year-old son rather than send him to in-person kindergarten.

“We want this long-term. Times are changing. It’s no longer one size fits all. If it’s working, why would we take it away,” she added.

New Jersey Parents for Personal Choice has set up a booth at the 38th annual New Jersey Lottery Festival of Ballooning in Readington Township. Supporters are touting a petition, with 726 signatures as of Sunday morning, calling on Murphy to permit virtual learning when the 2021-22 school year begins.

The group, though, faces an uphill battle. Murphy has said that students and teachers will be required to return to classrooms, but has not ruled out allowing virtual learning to resume if the pandemic worsens.

In terms of allowing virtual learning long-term, beyond the pandemic, Strauss said it has yet to find a state lawmaker willing to introduce a bill amending the state law that prohibits schools from providing remote instruction except under limited circumstances. Homeschooling is allowed as an alternative under the law.

Strauss said her youngest child, 5, who is too young to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, has asthma. She, her husband and their two older children are continuing to wear masks in public as part of their effort to keep him safe, she added.

“I think every parent has a right to choose,” she said.

Neither New Jersey’s largest teachers’ union, nor a statewide association of school superintendents, was willing to endorse a continuation of virtual learning when contacted by NJ Advance Media.

Steve Baker, a spokesperson for the New Jersey Education Association, said the union is focusing on making sure that school buildings will be “safe” when students return.

Teachers in Paterson have repeatedly raised objections to building conditions, while school administrators in the state’s third-largest city maintain that the classrooms are ready for use.

“When our school buildings are safe, in-person instruction with their peers and educators is the best educational option for students, with very rare exceptions. Districts have always had to deal with the specific health needs of individual students and no doubt will continue to do so. Our focus now is to make sure that buildings are safe and that we are able to fully resume the in-person instruction that so many students, families and educators really missed over the last year and a half,” Baker said.

Richard Bozza, executive director of the New Jersey Association of School Administrators, said Murphy made the right call on withdrawing support for virtual learning.

“Everybody has agreed that the best place for kids to be is back in the classrooms,” Bozza said.

The results of an optional exam offered to 90,000 New Jersey students last fall suggest that approximately 1 in 3 may need “strong support” academically due to lost, in-person classroom time, according to state data released in March.

Strauss said that virtual learning has worked well in other states and that the pandemic has demonstrated that longtime practices, in a wide range of fields, can continue to thrive under different circumstances.

“People are afraid of change. This is the way it’s been, so this is what they expect,” Strauss said.

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Rob Jennings may be reached at rjennings@njadvancemedia.com.