NJ School Remote Learning Amid COVID Stops Next Year: Gov. Murphy

NEW JERSEY — Don't expect remote learning to be an option forever, Gov. Phil Murphy says.

When asked if parents would have the option to enroll their children in remote learning at the start of the next school year, Murphy said he wanted to be "unequivocal" in his response.

"As we're sitting here now, no," Murphy said during his Wednesday news conference. "We are expecting Monday through Friday in-person. Every school, every district."

There are obvious caveats to that statement, Murphy added, but the goal of the state is clear.

"Obviously, if the world goes sideways, we have to revisit that; but as of this sitting, the answer's no," Murphy said.

Right now, 302,000 students in 90 schools or districts remain in full-time remote learning, Murphy said. These students have now been out of their regular classrooms for more than a year, he added.

"We know there has been learning loss in these scenarios especially," he said. "We are working directly with these districts and through their local health departments ... to get these students and educators safely back into their classrooms and back to in-person learning."

A change to the social distancing guidelines by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention could make full-time instruction happen earlier. Read more: Social Distance For Many NJ School Students Changes To 3 Feet

Murphy said 143 schools or districts are currently open for all in-person instruction, accounting for roughly 97,000 students. Another 534 are open for hybrid instruction, adding up to slightly more than 833,000 students.

"This means that more than two-thirds of our 1.35 million students are back in their classrooms in some form," Murphy said. "Further, roughly 121,600 students are in 44 districts that are implementing a mix of in-person, hybrid, or all remote learning."

Murphy was prepared last summer to order all schools to have at least some sort of hybrid model and have all students spend some time in the classroom.

He eventually backed off and offered a remote option after a number of districts complained they weren't prepared to deal with social distancing and their schools weren't properly ventilated.

The Murphy administration has made it clear, however, that it does not love that mode of instruction. In many schools, very few students physically attend class and a number of teachers will teach directly to the computer – even if they have students physically in class.

Murphy has even gone so far as to call for all New Jersey schools to reopen "now" amid the COVID-19 crisis as he faces mounting pressure to get kids back in the classroom.

Murphy noted that the American Rescue Plan, passed by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden, provides nearly $2.8 billion to New Jersey schools. Much of this funding is meant to help schools reopen and combat the learning loss "we know has occurred," he said. Read more: See What Each NJ Town Is Getting From COVID Relief Law

"But now is the time for all of our schools to meaningfully move forward with a return to in-person instruction, whether it be full time or through a hybrid schedule," Murphy said during a recent news conference.

After Murphy made those remarks, lawmakers, school officials and parents called on the governor to match his words with action, citing the fact that teachers can now get vaccinated and COVID-19 virus transmission in schools has been low.

Read more: Where To Get The Coronavirus Vaccine In New Jersey (UPDATED)

“I am encouraged to see the governor setting the stage for the next phase of the return to the classroom, with a uniform call for all students to have some form of in-person instruction before the end of the school year," Democratic Senate Education Chair M. Teresa Ruiz said in a statement Wednesday evening.

"I hope that the administration begins to address the issue of learning loss and seek ways to ensure all students are supported for a stronger start to the next academic year.”

Biden himself is pushing, along with many parents in the Garden State, to get students back in their classrooms.

Murphy's statements came a week after a state Superior Court judge ordered teachers in the South Orange-Maplewood school district to report back to their buildings soon to teach sixth and ninth graders.

The majority of students in the district have been on remote learning for a year. However, kindergartners through second-graders recently returned and special-needs students returned earlier this month

The schools were originally supposed to reopen for in-person learning in November, but ventilation issues pushed the reopening to January. That month, schools reopened for a week, then closed again, with teachers citing safety concerns and a need to be vaccinated.

A SOMA parent group has pushed for reopening, noting it has been approximately a year since the last in-person class for all students. Last week, some students and parents staged a sit-in to urge for schools to open five days a week.

Five parents, meanwhile, filed a lawsuit against the Scotch Plains-Fanwood Regional School District, Board of Education and Superintendent Joan Mast for keeping students out of school.

"This civil action challenges the blatant abuse of discretion by [the district, BOE, and Mast] for the unconstitutional, random and arbitrary continued shutdown of in-school learning in their public school system," according to the suit filed in federal court. Read more: Parents Sue Scotch Plains-Fanwood Schools For Closing Amid COVID

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