Morristown High School Teacher Looks Back On Virtual Year

MORRISTOWN, NJ — It's been a difficult year for education, and the Morris School District hasn't escaped those challenges. But Morristown High School teacher Michael Campbell tried to help students see some positives.

The wood shop teacher posted a video Thursday, which marked one year since the district went virtual because of the coronavirus pandemic.

"What does wood shop look like virtually? We didn’t know," Campbell said. "We didn’t know a lot of things when we started. We just knew that a lot of things were about to change very quickly, and change is sometimes scary."

Campbell tried helping students adapt by creating consistent video content. He looked back on the year in videos here:

"Where do we go from here?" Campbell said. "We’re going to keep moving forward, and if we need to adjust, we will. But the fact still remains, Morristown cares about you. I care about you. Be excellent to each other."

The Morris School District and all New Jersey classrooms closed for the school year in mid-March. Since September, the district's elementary schools have been open five days per week but with partial days. The middle and high school have operated on hybrid models. As with all schools in New Jersey, families can opt for their children to learn completely remotely.

Officials announced plans this week to gradually return middle and high school students to five-day-per-week, in-person learning before the school year ends. But the plan will only move forward if coronavirus conditions allow.

The plan received some pushback at last week's Board of Education meeting from parents hoping for schools to reopen sooner and those pushing for full-day, in-person elementary school. Read more here.

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