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State Reports Big Drop in All-Remote Learning for NJ Public Schools

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Department of Education data shows continuing trend toward at least some in-person instruction

This story was written and produced by NJ Spotlight. It is being republished under a special NJ News Commons content-sharing agreement related to COVID-19 coverage. To read more, visit njspotlight.com.

Full story link – HERE.

By John Mooney

As a second surge of COVID-19 cases hits the state, New Jersey’s public schools are nevertheless continuing to shift toward at least some in-person instruction, according to the latest breakdown from the state.

The state Department of Education is reporting a significant drop in the last month of districts and other public schools going all-remote, with nearly a third moving instead to a hybrid model that includes both remote and in-person schooling.

Now, more than 500 of the 800 surveyed districts, charter schools and special needs schools are following the hybrid model, the department said.

Find your district or county here.

Here’s the latest breakdown:

  • 97 districts and charter schools are teaching with an all in-person model, up from 87 in mid-October;
  • 513 are using a hybrid model, including both in-person and remote learning, up from 437;
  • 164 are using all-remote instruction, down from 245;
  • 37 are using a combination of remote in some schools and in-person in others.

“We’ve certainly seen the number of hybrid plans increase and the number of remote plans decrease,” said Mike Yaple, the department’s spokesman.

“This is admirable progress toward the return to safe in-person instruction,” he said. “School districts and educators have shown great flexibility and ingenuity in switching from one learning model to another, depending on local circumstances and need. That is at the heart of New Jersey’s approach to reopening, and we expect that dynamic to continue.”

Yaple did not directly address the rising number of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations outside of schools, but said that the state would continue to track the data in providing guidance to schools.

“As with dining, retail and other matters that require in-person interaction, any move toward in-person instruction in schools will be driven by the data,” he said.

 

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Looming Budget Deficit and Reopening Dominate BOE Meeting

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A looming budget deficit and the postponement of a reopening of schools took center stage during Thursday night’s monthly meeting of the Jersey City School Board.

Superintendent Franklin Walker presented his Superintendent’s Report, which dealt mainly with Covid-19’s impact on the district’s current $670 million budget. Walker forecast a $5-$10 million budget surplus due primarily to pandemic-related savings on overtime, on extra compensation and on goods. He said the district remains underfunded compared to New Jersey law, which calls for a $900 million budget for the 2021–22 school year. Instead he said next year the budget will be approximately $750 million and that he expects the district to have a $300 million deficit.

Walker attributed the anticipated $300 million shortfall to several factors including a $30 million cut in state aid. Revenues from the city’s payroll tax will offset some of the deficit. Walker alluded to unspecified cost-saving measures the district could take so as to not have to cut staff. Further information on the budget will be presented at the November school board meeting.

Addressing Walker’s presentation, Trustee Mussab Ali said, “Right now I don’t think it makes sense for us to make a promise like saying there will be no layoffs.” Trustee Marilyn Roman commented that she did not “know how they could possibly run the school district with any fewer people than we currently have in the classrooms” and that the city should be looking to Trenton for help with this area in particular.

Walker also discussed the district’s Covid-19 reopening plan. Given a recent statewide uptick in Covid-19 hospital admissions, given that four Jersey City teachers recently tested positive for the virus, and given difficulty securing enough teachers willing to teach in person for the immediate future, he recommended that all classes remain remote until at least the end of the second marketing period on February 2, 2020. The structure of those classes would not change before then.

There were 16 speakers for the public speaking session.

One parent of a student at PS 3, who opined that the pandemic will take months and months to abate, suggested Jersey City schools adopt a hybrid model. He said private schools have reopened with positive feedback from students and staff. Parent Catalina Perez agreed and brought up the difficulties that remote learning pose for single parents. Perez recommended a hybrid model to help working single parents whose friends and relatives may be able to babysit but don’t have WiFI. Calling upon the board to open the schools as soon as possible, she said the trustees had already had months to prepare. Crystal Thomas also spoke on behalf of parents who need to return to work.

Other parents lobbied for the alternative.

“Nancy,” a parent with students in first and fourth grades, asked the board to continue remote learning as long as necessary. Parent Brigid D’Souza echoed Nancy’s sentiments.  D’Souza also discussed budget matters. She described years of structural deficits, “systematically” underfunded schools and city real estate tax abatement policy that, she said, siphons money away from the schools.

Kristin Hopkins-Clegg, who has two children at PS 5 one with an IEP (individualized education plan), wanted to share positive experiences and provided examples.

Board president Lorenzo Richardson acknowledged the plight of single parents during the pandemic help and assured the public that he will address the matter with Mayor Fulop soon. He said that when the schools open, all students will not be able to return at once.

School Business Administrator Regina Robinson reported that the district received about $8.1 million from the federal CARES Act.

Melissa dos Santos and Elizabeth Iannitelli, who are Social Studies Supervisors in the Curriculum Department, made a presentation on the Armistad Mandate, a 2002 state law “to promote a wider implementation of educational awareness programs regarding the African slave trade, slavery in America, and the many contributions Africans have made to American society,” according to the Armistad Commission’s website. Dos Santos and Iannitelli said the city’s schools are indeed aligned with the mandate.

All of the agenda items to be voted on during the meeting including Walker’s recommendation that district classes remain remote were approved.

The next virtual Jersey City School Board meeting will be held Thursday, November 19, at 6 p.m.

For past coverage of Jersey City School Board meetings, please click here.

 

 

 

 

 

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Editorial: It’s Time to Bite the Bullet on School Reopening

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On Monday night School Superintendent Franklin Walker predicted that Jersey City schools would continue remote learning until February. Walker had previously targeted November for reopening. While some educators and parents are no doubt relieved by the news, we believe that Walker’s recommendation is a cop out.

According to the Jersey Journal, which covered Monday’s caucus meeting and later interviewed Walker, the superintendent explained, “We have had schools (in the state) that have gone to some hybrid structure, and they have had incidents where they had to close down. We certainly had a chance to learn from our neighbors and other areas that started school long before us, and the indication at this point and time is not to put ourselves in that situation.”

At first blush, Walker’s explanation seems to make sense. If school districts nearby have been unable to pull off a return to school, why would Jersey City be able to? Why not err on the side of caution?

Here are five counter arguments the Board of Education should consider:

1. There is evidence that virtual learning is having dire educational impacts. Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser has cited data showing a sharp drop in the number of the youngest students who are meeting literacy benchmarks. According to the Washington Post, D.C. Public Schools released data showing a decline of 22 percentage points in the number of kindergartners meeting literacy goals at the start of the school year compared to a year ago and a nine-percentage-point drop in students through second grade who are meeting these targets. There’s no reason to think that these numbers would be different in Jersey City.

2. Though many large cities in New Jersey are electing to stay with remote learning, other larger cities, including Chicago, Miami-Dade County, Houston, and San Diego are opting to resume classes in some form. New York City, a much larger and more complex school system, has managed to implement a partial reopening.

3. According to an article in The New York Times, experts believe that children are unlikely to stoke coronavirus outbreaks. Infection rates are particularly low at the elementary level. The Times quoted Dr. David Rubin, a pediatrician and infectious disease expert at the University of Pennsylvania. “I think there’s a pretty good base of evidence now that schools can open safely in the presence of strong safety plans and even at higher levels of case incidence than we had suspected,” he said.

4. In an interview on CNN last night, Dr. Anthony Fauci predicted that the U.S. may not return to “normality” until late 2021 or possible early 2022. If Superintendent Walker and the Board of Education are thinking that the situation in February will be substantially different from the situation we confront now, they may be sorely disappointed.

5. Jersey City has a seven day average infection rate of approximately 7.6 cases per 100,000. Chicago and New York, which are both reopening, are at 28.7 and 7.7, respectively.

Restarting classes, even with a hybrid system, is a weighty decision. The health of our children and our families should be paramount. And there is some evidence that communities of color will need more convincing as to the safety of reopening. However, the health calculus must also include the mental health and the education of school children, many of whom come from homes that cannot provide the support they need to learn online.

The superintendent, the Board of Education and the teacher’s union can’t put this decision off forever. One approach would be to start with elementary school students who pose the least risk and may be suffering the most academically. The CDC has published an exhaustive list of strategies to minimize spread. Jersey City should study these options and use its best judgment to choose how it will reopen schools prior to next February. However, simply kicking the can down the road and hoping that the decision will get easier any time soon is a mistake.

 

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Small Parties, Family Gatherings Driving Up COVID-19 Case Count

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With daily diagnoses at levels not seen since early summer, administration says it has to count on honor system to ensure compliance in small groups

This story was written and produced by NJ Spotlight. It is being republished under a special NJ News Commons content-sharing agreement related to COVID-19 coverage. To read more, visit njspotlight.com.

Full story link – HERE.

By Lilo H. Stainton

Gov. Phil Murphy and state public health officials are concerned about a rapid rise in new COVID-19 cases in New Jersey — where daily diagnoses are now at levels not seen since late May — but said the problem is to some degree beyond their control.

Despite the reopening of schools, restaurants and other businesses in recent months, and an outbreak linked to the Orthodox Jewish community in Lakewood, state officials said Monday that much of the coronavirus spread they now see is fueled by small, private house parties and family gatherings.

“While these numbers are a far cry from where we were at our spring peaks, they are also significantly higher than where we were for much of the summer and until just a few weeks ago,” Murphy said at his regular media briefing Monday. “The capacities that we believe are contributing to the bulk of the (new) cases are those gatherings that are beyond our ability to regulate and properly enforce,” he said.

Little things still count big with COVID-19

Murphy and state Department of Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli reiterated the critical importance of basic infection control — washing hands, keeping distance, wearing masks — and urged the public to continue to be vigilant about protecting themselves against the virus, especially as cold weather forces people to spend more time inside, where it can spread more easily.

“It is understandable that residents want life to go back to normal,” Persichilli said, urging the public instead to “double down” on these protections. “The trajectory of the next few months will be determined by all of us now and in the coming weeks (and) our behavior will be critical in shaping how our holidays will be celebrated. Now is not the time to let your guard down. The virus has not stopped circulating,” she said.

New Jersey officials announced another nearly 1,200 COVID-19 diagnoses on Monday, following the addition of almost 1,300 cases on Sunday — the first time since late May that the state has recorded two days in a row with more than 1,000 new cases. Persichilli said daily new cases had remained below 300 or so all summer, but began to tick up rapidly in mid-September — similar to trends nationwide. In all, more than 221,200 state residents have been infected with the virus since March, including at least 14,425 who have died.

What is driving the new cases?

The state has invested heavily in expanding its contact-tracing corps and now has some 1,900 public health officials — nearly double the initial workforce — deployed around the state to track down individuals who test positive for COVID-19, identify who else they may have infected and reach out to those people, warning them to take precautions. New Jersey reports more data from the contact tracers’ work than many other states but has in the past declined to make public information on the places or locations associated with an outbreak.

However on Monday Persichilli shared some of these details, announcing that an analysis of 118 outbreaks tracked between March and October linked 16% of the identified cases to private gatherings — the largest percentage of location-associated cases, other than diagnoses connected to health care facilities, group living settings like nursing homes, and schools. She said 13% of cases were tied to daycare facilities and another 13% occurred among farmworkers.

“While we have seen hotspots in Ocean County (which includes Lakewood) and at our universities, overall we are seeing more widespread cases throughout the state due to community spread and not any single event or reopening step,” Persichilli said. DOH officials declined to say where they obtained the location-related case data.

What’s the state’s response?

Murphy suggested that there was little more the state could do to regulate the private gatherings that appear to be the source of the recent spread. The lockdown New Jersey put in place in March has been gradually eased, starting in late May, and most businesses can now operate at some limited capacity.

The state has also put basic restrictions on private homes, while encouraging residents to opt for outdoor events and wear masks when within 6 feet of one another other. Indoor gatherings, including those at private residences, are now limited to 25 people; funerals, weddings and memorials can include up to 150 people, or 25% of the building’s capacity, whichever is less. But enforcement options are limited, so compliance depends largely on the honor system, officials concede.

Persichilli said her team is closely watching the data reports, including the weekly COVID-19 activity reports that help indicate how rapidly the virus is spreading in six separate regions. Last week the entire map was tinted bright yellow, indicating moderate spread statewide for the first time. “We look at that every week and will continue to look at it,” she said Monday. “If it moves into the red (indicating high spread), what I think we will do is increase testing, contact tracing, isolation and quarantine.”

The DOH dispatched at least 20 additional contact tracers to help officials in Ocean County track and contain the spread in Lakewood and other communities and sent thousands of additional COVID-19 test kits to the area. On Monday, Persichilli said 212 more contact tracers would be dispatched to hard-hit regions in the next two weeks, although additional details were not immediately available.

What about rolling back the reopening?

Murphy faced multiple questions Monday from reporters wondering if he intended to shut down schools, indoor dining or other activities, in response to the rising COVID-19 diagnoses. He called the new case numbers “sobering” with “hot spots … all up and down the state” and said he regularly speaks with industry groups about how to limit exposure but insisted rolling back the economic restart was not necessary.

“We don’t have any evidence per se that indoor dining is contributing to this,” Murphy said, instead urging people to “stay strong” in their ongoing efforts to control the spread of infection. “This is in our midst. And it certainly errs on the side of indoor, private activity,” he said.

 

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‘This Pandemic Has Taken Everything from Us’ — Student Rep’s Plea to State Board

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Incoming senior at second state Board of Education meeting urges help for fellow students

This story was written and produced by NJ Spotlight. It is being republished under a special NJ News Commons content-sharing agreement related to COVID-19 coverage. To read more, visit njspotlight.com.

Full story link – HERE.

By John Mooney

The student representative to the State Board of Education typically gets a few words at the beginning of the monthly meetings, often focusing on a specific issue of interest.

But the start of the board’s virtual meeting yesterday offered a chance for Sabrina Capoli, the newest student member and an incoming senior at Seneca High School in Tabernacle, to touch on a topic on everyone’s mind: reopening schools in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

And she didn’t mince words.

Capoli, also president of her high school’s senior class, spoke of the sacrifices her generation has made over the past six months and the challenges ahead. With the help of the state’s student council association, she conducted her own survey of more than 1,000 middle and high school students across New Jersey — not exactly scientific polling but including some good advice and insights for the adults. And she talked about the mental-health toll on students that everyone will need to pay attention to as schools reopen both in buildings and remotely.

The following is a lightly edited version of her full statement:

“Thank you, Madame President and good morning, everyone.

“The New Jersey Department of Education has been committed to promoting social and emotional learning in schools in the past, but I believe that I speak on behalf of every student in New Jersey when I stress that this commitment is more important now than ever before. This pandemic has taken everything from us. For many of us, this virus has stolen precious moments from our hands that we will never get back.

‘Hard to recover’

“Teachers, staff and administrators, I call upon you to recognize that you may be able to make up for lost time in future years, but we, the students, will not. Proms, musicals, athletic seasons, graduations — gone. This will be hard to recover from in the coming school year. It is difficult to look at this year with an open mind, or heart for that matter.

“For this reason, students will need to ease back into their normal routine, while staff ensures that they are not overwhelmed with the amount of schoolwork. Along with that, many surveyed students requested academic breaks throughout the day to help reduce stress. This could go hand in hand with another type of break: mask breaks. Implementing a designated time where students can be outside without a mask may reduce the chance of those students removing it during the school day, while promoting responsible decision-making.

“Other aspects of responsible decision-making will include practicing good hygiene and social distancing. Posting song lyrics on bathroom walls that take 30 seconds to sing can help students wash their hands effectively, and purchasing decals placed six feet apart for the hallways may help encourage social distancing.

“When we return to school in the fall, this may be the first time some students will have interacted with their peers in almost six months. This separation most likely has stunted the growth students have made in important aspects of social-emotional learning, such as “social skills” and “pro-social behaviors.” In a survey I conducted that reached almost every county in New Jersey, around 79% of students reacted negatively to their online learning experience. Of that 79%, 91% of those students blamed their poor experience on lack of socialization.

“To ensure that students are getting their social “fill,” classroom or small group discussions could be prioritized in class, and even used as a learning tool, similar to a Socratic seminar or a class debate. This collaboration will also help students later in life when they enter the workforce.

‘Helping remote-only students stay connected’

“Sadly, some students, for varying reasons, may not be able to return to in-person education for the 2020-2021 school year. These students must not be forgotten. Live Zoom calls, or daily messages from staff, help foster an inclusive learning atmosphere which will help promote a sense of self-confidence and a feeling of significance for these to completely remote students.

“Other helpful resources can include guidance counselor sessions, therapy dog visits (which we have at my school and are awesome) and general awareness encouraged by staff, in terms of mental health and the available resources.

“In order to sustain the mental, social and emotional health of the young people of New Jersey, staff members — the people we rely on for guidance — will need to be proactive. A student’s mental health dictates every action they make, from the moment they wake up to the moment they fall asleep.

“The six-foot divide between us will not divide the students of New Jersey. The bonds we make in school are too strong to let spatial distance separate our hearts. This coming school year will look very different from any other, but I am excited to see where it may take us, students, staff and New Jerseyans alike.

“Thank you.”

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New COVID-19 Front Line? Educators, Health Experts Say It Will Be Schools

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New Jersey lacks adequate guidance for reopening schools in the fall, say those charged with making it happen

This story was written and produced by NJ Spotlight. It is being republished under a special NJ News Commons content-sharing agreement related to COVID-19 coverage. To read more, visit njspotlight.com.

Full story link – HERE.

By Lilo H. Stainton

While families, policy experts and public officials nationwide wrestle with the pros and cons of reopening schools during the pandemic, education and health leaders in New Jersey seem to agree that districts here lack the regulatory guidance and critical resources to safely restart in-person lessons next month.

The state Assembly Education Committee took testimony Monday from school nurses and public health officials who said districts need help developing testing protocols, ensuring contact tracing programs are in place, and securing sufficient personal protective equipment, or PPE, to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

By way of example, one expert said, medical supply distributors don’t recognize schools as health care facilities, making it hard for districts to create the stockpile they need to conduct regular testing or protect nurses who encounter sick students.

Related content: NJ’s Powerful Teachers Union Says Remote Learning This Fall

“We have to acknowledge, the front line of this pandemic is now moving to the schools,” said Dorian Vicente, a middle-school nurse in Morris County and president of the New Jersey State School Nurses Association. “There are still serious concerns to the feasibility of reopening safely and controlling the spread of COVID-19 in schools and school communities.”

At the same time, though, special-education and child-welfare experts warned that remote education — hastily arranged when schools were closed in March — is not effective for some children with disabilities, and those with more significant needs are likely to suffer the most.

Online learning also forces too much responsibility on parents, they said, and exacerbates educational gaps between poor and wealthy children.

“Remote is just not for all learners,” said Teresa Taylor, director of special education in Jackson.

District-by-district planning

New Jersey’s current plan calls for the state’s nearly 600 school districts to reopen on schedule in early September, with safety modifications in place based on pandemic response plans that must be approved in advance. Assemblywoman Pamela Lampitt (D-Camden), the committee chair, said 400 districts have submitted plans for review and many embrace hybrid models that call for groups of students to alternate between in-person and remote learning. Parents also have the option of opting for online education only for their own children.

Lampitt said the committee aimed to ensure that, whatever route they chose, districts plan appropriately.

The panel also advanced three related bills. One would create additional spending flexibility for COVID-related school expenses. Another would enable the state to purchase PPE and other safety materials on behalf of districts. And the third urges the federal government to provide more funding for schools to address the pandemic.

“There’s grave concern,” Lampitt said, describing school-related outbreaks in North Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee “We’ve got real examples where schools have opened and they thought they had dotted their I’s and crossed their T’s. But if there’s anything we can learn from them, (it’s that) there is more that we can do.”

“The bottom line is we need to make sure our schools are safe for our children to return,” Lampitt added. “And we have only a short window of time to get this right.”

Her colleague on the education committee, Assemblywoman Mila Jasey (D-Essex), has introduced a measure that would delay in-person school until the end of October. And a growing chorus of teachers unions and education officials are urging Gov. Phil Murphy to opt for remote-learning only for the rest of 2020.

More than 185,000 New Jerseyans have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since March, including more than 14,000 who have been confirmed to have died as a result.

‘Unusual’ school year

Murphy notes the state’s goals are to protect the health and safety of students, teachers and staff, and to pursue “the best educational outcomes possible,” while acknowledging that in-person learning “dwarfs” what children can learn online. He has also pledged to continue to listen to all sides as the planning process continues.

“Let’s all accept this is not going to be a normal year,” Murphy said in late July. “This is going to be unusual no matter how we slice it.”

Another critical feature of the state’s plan is flexibility, Murphy has said, which he said will enable districts to create more equitable options for students and staff. The state Department of Education has issued a 104-page reopening plan that outlines minimal standards and references expert guidance from other state and federal agencies, but leaves many decisions up to the individual districts. That was followed at the end of last week by an FAQ document with more than two dozen questions and a checklist for districts to follow as they proceed with reopening.

But stakeholders testifying Monday suggested these documents were not sufficient. Vicente, with the school nurses association, said that in addition to PPE supplies, districts need access to infection control expertise, localized data on coronavirus transmission, and assistance with contact tracing, which the state plan calls for them to do in conjunction with local health departments. And they need better guidance from state overseers, she and others stressed.

“Frankly, during this past spring, schools and local health departments were essentially forced to make decisions in a vacuum without any set guidance from our state [education] department. No one wishes to be in that position in September,” said Megan Avallon, president of the New Jersey Association of County and City Health Officials, and director of the Westfield Regional Health Department. “Unfortunately the local public health infrastructure is underfunded and under-resourced,” she added, which exacerbates the challenges.

Eileen Gaven, a school nurse in Middletown, said her community offered an example of how schools compound the spread of the novel virus. A massive house party in the Monmouth County community led to 68 positive COVID-19 tests results, she said, and contacts with those teens and young adults  have caused her district to face a “continuous cycles” of staff and student quarantines in pre-season fall sports programs and in-person, summer classes for 175 students with disabilities.

“It doesn’t matter where the outbreak started in Middletown, our schools have felt the ripple effect,” Gaven said. “Imagine what will happen in three weeks when we go from 175 (students) in our district (facilities) to 10,000,” she asked.

Some needs unmet with remote learning

Advocates for students with disabilities said that while protecting public health is essential, online learning does not allow the districts to fully meet all needs for some students with disabilities. Social and behavioral issues are hard to address remotely, said Taylor from Jackson, and some students are developing new needs after being isolated for so long.

Others raised concerns about the impact of remote learning on working parents.

Barbara Gantwerk with the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association was among those who urged the state to consider giving in-person education priority to certain students with disabilities, when classrooms are safe. But she said schools need better direction from the state on how to provide services for these children, especially those that require help with feeding tubes, catheters or other medical devices, and they need sufficient staff to make in-person learning safe.

“To me, this is not an issue that should be done school-by-school. This is an issue we should have (statewide) health protocols,” she said.

The DOE did not respond Tuesday to a request for comment on the need for additional direction. A spokesperson for the Department of Health said that agency is working on its own guidance document for schools in conjunction with the education department.

 

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As Key Coronavirus Stat Rises, NJ Limits Indoor Gatherings

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Gov. Phil Murphy points finger at massive house parties as reason for growing coronavirus infection rate

This story was written and produced by NJ Spotlight. It is being republished under a special NJ News Commons content-sharing agreement related to COVID-19 coverage. To read more, visit njspotlight.com.

Full story link – HERE.

By Lilo H. Stainton

Concern about the rising spread of COVID-19 in New Jersey has led state officials to reinstate earlier limits on indoor gatherings, reducing the cap to 25 people from the 100-person maximum established in June.

Other restrictions are under consideration as well, they warned, if trends don’t improve.

Gov. Phil Murphy said that while some data continues to head in the right direction — hospitalizations and ventilator use are still on the decline, for example — New Jersey is experiencing what he has called a troubling rise in its RT, or rate of transmission. On Monday Murphy said the rate, which indicates how many people are likely to be infected by a single person, now stands at 1.48, roughly twice the level it was in early June.

As a result, Murphy signed an executive order limiting indoor gatherings to a maximum of 25 people, or 25% of capacity, whichever is less; events were previously capped at 100 people or 25% of capacity. The governor said weddings, funerals, religious services and political activities are exempt from the latest change, allowing them to include up to 100 participants.

“I’m exercising this option not out of joy, but out of necessity,” Murphy said. “To be clear, this caps indoor house parties at 25 people, period,” he said.

Knocking ‘knuckleheads’

Murphy has railed against reports of massive house parties — including events in Jackson and on Long Beach Island now linked to nearly 100 COVID-19 cases — which he said endanger police tasked with breaking them up and exacerbate community spread of the novel coronavirus. He blamed the new indoor-gathering limits on the actions of a few “knuckleheads” in private homes, but also reiterated the need for businesses to play within the current rules, which allow for dining outdoors or inside if two of the four walls can open entirely. Full indoor dining, once slated to reopen in early July, remains on pause.

“The only way we can get to where we want to be with indoor activities is if everyone plays by the rules and no one tries to make end-runs around them,” the governor said. “This is not a game. This is about public health and safety.”

More than 182,600 New Jerseyans have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since March, including roughly 14,000 — and likely close to 16,000 — individuals who have died from the disease. “Everyone needs to get it together, folks, and fast. This is not past us yet,” Murphy said.

“I know we all want life to return to normal, but COVID-19 is still circulating and now is not the time to be complacent,” said state Department of Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli. She reminded the public to limit the time spent with those outside their household, maintain at least two arms-length of space, chose outdoor activities, always wear a mask when possible and wash their hands repeatedly. Mask use is required outside when individuals cannot maintain at least 6 feet of distance.

Growing pressure to reopen

Murphy has faced growing pressure from business groups, Republican officials and even members of his Democratic Party to reopen additional aspects of the economy, including restaurants, many of which have suffered significant economic losses under the months-long closure prompted by the pandemic. There is also pressure from some officials, like President Donald Trump, to reopen schools in roughly five weeks, something Murphy has generally supported. But the move is prompting a rising tide of questions about safety and logistics.

On Monday Murphy said he would also issue an order clarifying the state’s guidelines about the use of face coverings in school. Essentially, they will be required at all times — except during meals or water breaks — unless the student has disabilities or health issues that prevent mask wearing. “We know that face coverings work, and we will now ensure everyone in school buildings will wear one,” Murphy said.

In order to continue reopening the state’s economic sector, a process originally outlined in April, Murphy said Monday that he’d like to see a faster turnaround time on coronavirus test results, which now take close to a week, and better participation in the state’s online screening process for travelers from state’s with high levels of coronavirus.

In June New Jersey joined New York and Connecticut to order out-of-state visitors — or local residents returning — from states with a certain level of COVID-19 transmission — to quarantine for 14 days; at least three-dozen states are now affected. The three states also created an online form to help identify and track travelers, but in New Jersey participation has depended on individual cooperation.

Persichilli said Monday that fewer than one in 10 of the travelers who should be filling out the online form detailing their quarantine plans are currently participating. Uptake is “not as high as we wanted it to be,” Persichilli added, “so we’re working on the public awareness aspects of that.”

In addition, doing away with other restrictions would require that the RT decline and remain under 1 for close to a week, Murphy said, and the positivity rate — or percentage of positive tests, now at 1.88 — to stick to its current low range.

“If the rate of transmission remains in this neighborhood (of 1.48) for a prolonged period of time, my guess is that leaves us to take more action” to roll back or further delay reopening, he said. “I can’t tell you today what that action would be,” he added, but he said it would likely initially involve more aggressive enforcement of the current restrictions.

 

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Murphy Offers ‘Virtual-Only’ Option for 2020 School Reopening

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Governor yields to pressure from all sides, steps back from requirement that students, teachers must attend in-class instruction some of the time

This story was written and produced by NJ Spotlight. It is being republished under a special NJ News Commons content-sharing agreement related to COVID-19 coverage. To read more, visit njspotlight.com.

Full story link – HERE.

By John Mooney

New Jersey’s attempts to come up with a plan for reopening its schools in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic has been a frenetic whirlwind.

And we’re still six weeks out.

Facing pressures from all sides, Gov. Phil Murphy on Monday created a bit of a stir and said families that want to sit out the physical reopening of schools now will have a choice to stay with virtual instruction after all.

He didn’t say much beyond that, saying state guidelines were forthcoming and leaving open many questions about exactly how his announcement would work.

“The details will be coming out later this week, but we wanted everyone to know now that we will allow for this step,” Murphy said at his daily media briefing.

The latest announcement from Murphy of a “virtual-only” option for families came suddenly, as concerns were mounting about how to address those who may not feel comfortable going back to school, even with all the precautions of screening, masks and distancing.

No time for full reopening?

Murphy’s statement came after the head of the state’s powerful teachers union last week said she doubted there is enough time for a full reopening anyway. And Murphy himself  said an initiative to close the digital divide has already left hundreds of thousands of students behind.

The swirl of developments — all in late July — has left superintendents and others with their heads spinning as they prepare their districts’ reopening plans, which are  due in the next two weeks.

At least that’s the current timetable.

Brick-and-mortar instruction

Murphy had said that all districts would have to have at least some in-person instruction, leaving to districts how to design that but promoting there would likely be at least a couple of days a week of remote or virtual instruction.

But the questions grew about whether that meant all families had to participate in in-school instruction. The state has been unclear in its guidance so far, with some hearing that families may even have to withdraw their children from the school system altogether.

The state’s 104-page package for reopening schools currently does not include any provisions for parent choice, only a handful in the country without such provisions, according to one study by Johns Hopkins University.

Reacting to the news on Monday, some superintendents and other school advocates welcomed the opportunity for as much flexibility as possible. A letter to the governor signed by scores of superintendents had asked for a remote option and clarification from the state.

“We were heartened that Gov. Murphy was responsive to the voices in the field and has moved forward on clarifying a remote option for parents which will assist all of us in our planning for reopening,” said David Aderhold, the West Windsor-Plainsboro superintendent who has been outspoken in calling for better guidance from the state.

“There was great advocacy for this option,” Aderhold said in an email. “We appreciate the willingness of the governor and his administration to listen and consider issues faced by school districts across the state.”

No details yet

The department said guidance would be coming by the end of the week, although it provided no details at all about what would be covered.

A host of questions arise: Will those insisting on virtual instruction be put at any disadvantage or a possible advantage? Could it be a fluid decision to be made by parents or for a set time? What about busing; is that a separate choice?

“Districts and parents need reliable assurances from the Department of Education that it counts for enrollment and attendance purposes, and that we’re not just relying on some informal nonbinding guidance,” said school board attorney David Rubin, whose Metuchen law firm represents more than 50 districts.

“Will students whose families have opted to keep them home for the school day be permitted to take part in on-campus extracurricular activities or sports, perhaps displacing students who’ve committed to be fully present?”

Murphy on Monday would not take further questions on the issue, but acknowledged there will be many to come.

“There are a lot of moving parts to this,” Murphy said. “We want to get it right. We want to do it responsibly.”

 

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Murphy to Use $54M in Federal Aid to Help Bridge Digital Divide in State’s Schools

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But Department of Education says the full cost of equipping schools, families for remote instruction is likely close to $115 million

This story was written and produced by NJ Spotlight. It is being republished under a special NJ News Commons content-sharing agreement related to COVID-19 coverage. To read more, visit njspotlight.com.

Full story link – HERE.

By John Mooney

Hosted at an elementary school in one of the poorest cities in the state, Gov. Phil Murphy last week presented a plan that he said would help close the gaping digital divide for New Jersey public education in this COVID-19 pandemic world.

His plans only confirm just how gaping a divide it is.

Murphy traveled on Thursday to Irvington’s Madison Avenue School to announce a plan to target $54 million in existing federal aid to help buy the thousands of Chromebooks, laptops, Wi-Fi hotspots and other tools for schools and families in need if remote instruction is again to be a big part of the mix in the fall, as expected.

He said 4,800 students in Irvington alone — more than half the district — were left out of full use of remote instruction in the spring due to technology needs and in peril for the same for the fall.

“It is an untenable divide,” Murphy said Thursday. “It is not a cost we can ignore, we must address this now.”

It was an inevitable acknowledgment from the governor that whatever schools look like in September, computers for remote instruction have become the new paper-and-pencil of basic school supplies — and tens of thousands of New Jersey kids are without them.

DOE has more work to do

But despite the promise to fully close the gap, this looks to be only the start. The state Department of Education on Friday said that the full need is likely close to $115 million, and Murphy himself said as many as 230,000 students — a fifth of the state’s public school enrollment — were without the needed devices and connectivity this spring.

That’s even more than previously reported, when officials in May said about 90,000 families were without connectivity and 130,000 without adequate devices. But the state’s numbers have also always been loosely reported, and the department said it would release updated ones this week.

The DOE on Friday maintained that districts have already started to close the gap, and the additional public investment — along with an undefined public pledge drive for corporate philanthropic support — will go a long way toward closing it entirely. It cited a rough estimate of about $500 per student.

The plan would include three main components:

  • $10 million in existing federal funds to districts to purchase and provide the technology;
  • $44 million in other federal emergency funds provided by the state; and an
  • unidentified sum in business and other philanthropic funds.

The federal money that districts could receive anyway would be available in a grant process through the state education department. In what is an unusual outreach, Murphy’s plan for philanthropic support would have the state’s Economic Development Authority open a formal process for private funds to be donated from organizations and corporations.

“Any help we can get from our business community will allow us to stretch our state funds even further and offset other costs face in reopening,” Murphy said.

The details were posted last week, and proposals are due by July 31.

Sweeney, Ruiz back governor

Standing with Murphy on Thursday were Senate President Steve Sweeney and state Sen. Teresa Ruiz, inarguably the two most influential legislators when it comes to education policy. Sweeney’s attendance especially didn’t go unnoticed, given his often-contentious relationship with Murphy.

“These are tough times and there is not a lot of money, but it’s critically important that the governor will insure that all children – that’s a big word, all children – are going to be ensure the opportunity for an education,” Sweeney said.

“How many Einsteins have we lost, how brilliant kids did we lose because they did not get a good education,” he said.

Ruiz has been among the state’s most outspoken when it comes to the digital divide, and she said this investment was a start.

“The pandemic uncovered an ugly truth that many of us always knew,” Ruiz said. “It is not something that happened over the last five months, it is something that we have been screaming about for decades.

“We do not know what September will bring, but we know that many districts will be going hybrid [in-person and virtual], so let’s equip every child with that they need,” she said.

When contacted afterward, Ruiz said more investment will be necessary, citing the needs and training for teachers, as well.

“This was the easiest part to do,” she said in an interview with NJ Spotlight. “It’s just the beginning.”

 

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Another Reopening Dilemma for NJ Schools: Students, Teachers Afraid to Come Back

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School districts struggling to balance in-school/virtual instruction face another problem — educators, students unwilling to return to brick-and-mortar classrooms

This story was written and produced by NJ Spotlight. It is being republished under a special NJ News Commons content-sharing agreement related to COVID-19 coverage. To read more, visit njspotlight.com.

Full story link – HERE.

By John Mooney

Reopening schools in New Jersey may  be more than a month away, but districts and families are already facing some fundamental first-day questions.

When the doors open, will families have to send their children if the COVID-19 pandemic is still here, as is all but certain? What about teachers? And how will schools deal with decisions by parents and teachers about coming back?

Those are some of the wild cards that districts are contemplating as they develop reopening plans for September, regardless of the form they take.

The quandary is clear. Gov. Phil Murphy has declared that come September schools must be open for in-school instruction, at least to some degree. But it’s up to local districts and communities to decide how they meet that requirement, as long as they follow health and safety rules that include social distancing and wearing face coverings.

Districts are hammering out their plans, which are not due for another several weeks, and they are looking at all kinds of intricate combinations of in-person and remote instruction to ensure that schools are safe. Some are staggering schedules across days; others, weeks. What they have in common is that all are logistical jigsaw puzzles.

Basic questions left unanswered

But in its 104 pages of guidance and resources available to public schools, the state Department of Education has so far provided no path about how much choice parents and educators have in participating or not. Districts have been left to come up with their own criteria for that, too.

Jersey City this week said families will have the discretion to keep their children at home if they choose. Other districts are taking a harder line, requiring students to come in at least some of the time.

The only guidance the state has provided so far was then-Education Commissioner Lamont Repollet saying in June that whatever the choices, neither students nor teachers would be penalized if they chose to opt out.

That leaves a lot of leeway, however, and school board attorney David Rubin, whose firm serves dozens of districts statewide, said he has clients on both ends of the spectrum when it comes to whether families will have a choice.

And what’s his legal advice so far?

“Clearly districts will have to offer something in person, but what that looks like and whether there are those who will be skittish about showing up, districts will have to accommodate that in some way,” Rubin said.

“I think most would allow for some flexibility, as long as it is manageable,” he said.

Michael LaSusa, superintendent of schools in the Chathams, said there is no hard-and-fast policy in his district for a situation that will likely remain fluid for a while. So far, he said the district is trying to accommodate both teachers’ and families’ concerns.

“We have advised parents that we intend to allow them to opt for virtual instruction, if they have a concern about their child attending school,” he said in an email. “As our plans are preliminary at this point, we have not gone further than that.”

Options are not unlimited

As for teachers, LaSusa said that staff are being told they should individually raise the issue with the district to discuss the options, of which there are several but not limitless ones.

The state’s sick-leave requirements for all employees were relaxed early in the pandemic, under a new law that allowed more time for those at risk of the virus or with vulnerable members of their households. And under previous workplace and disability laws, accommodations must also be made to minimize the risk for educators and others.

The New Jersey Education Association, the teachers union, has already raised alarms about its members being required to go into buildings where they may be at risk of contagion. There has been discussion of also requiring daily screenings, for instance, on top of required masks and distancing.

“We are already seeing a wide range of (teacher) requests,” said Rubin, the school board attorney. “Some have disabilities, and some are just nervous.”

But his advice is that just being nervous will likely not be enough for a teacher to opt out.

The fear factor

“To my knowledge, you have no right to stay at home just because you’re scared,” Rubin said. “But sifting through all of those will be a complex and time-consuming task.”

The department is so far staying mum on whether more guidance is to come. But the school boards association said that acting education commissioner Kevin Dehmer in a conference call with the association said additional guidelines may be forthcoming for parental choice, while leaving teacher choice to individual districts and their staffs.

As of Wednesday, there has been nothing yet, with the department only repeating that the guidelines have been drawn from input from all stakeholders.

“New Jersey’s school-reopening guidance is really a culmination of listening to many voices over the past four months,” said spokesman Michael Yaple.

“The department held, quite literally, hundreds upon hundreds of meetings with people and organizations in the school community, ranging from educators and school administrators to parents, students, support staff and health specialists,” he said. “These meetings helped identify areas where schools faced the greatest challenges, and they helped shape our guidance.”

 

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