Woodbridge Schools Must Know How Many Parents Will Keep Kids Home

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — As the week of July 19 draws to a close, Woodbridge public schools are still figuring out what September 2020 will look like.

But one thing is clear: Woodbridge schools will be open for in-person, in-class instruction. What exactly that looks like remains to be determined.

Woodbridge schools superintendent Dr. Robert Zega sent out this public YouTube video Monday; you can watch it below. In it, he said Woodbridge schools are trying to figure out the best way to offer in-person classes this fall, but the district needs to know how many parents will simply not be sending their kids back to school at all in September. (Gov. Murphy is allowing parents to do a full-virtual option if they so choose.)

"I wanted to give everyone an update on what our plans are for re-entry in 2020," began Zega in the video, released Monday, July 20. "We fully plan on reopening our schools as mandated by Gov. Murphy. Schools must be open; there must be some sort of in-person component to education in 2020. Our re-entry team has been working on all the different scenarios and different options."

Earlier this summer, Woodbridge public schools sent out a survey asking parents what they want to see this fall.

"Bear in mind that even as children are coming back to school we still have to maintain all of the social distancing and health requirements," said Zega. "For example, students still have to maintain six-foot social distancing, both in school and on the bus. Masks are mandatory: Students and staff must wear masks the entire time they are in school."

The Woodbridge school district first came up with this plan: Divide all the students in the district into groups of three, and allow each group to come back one day a week. The other four days will be virtual learning.

"The only way we could keep six-foot social distancing was divide the student population into three groups, fitting about eight students in one classroom, including the teacher," said Zega. "So the initial plan was to divide a regular class size into three, and they would come once a week, and then the other four days would be virtual."

However, on Monday of this week — apparently just hours before Zega was going to release his groups-of-three plan to the public — Gov. Murphy announced parents can choose an all-virtual option for their children, if they wish.

That threw all of Woodbridge's plans out the window.

"Judging from our survey, there was a significant portion of parents who said they do not want their children returning to school until a vaccination is in place," said Zega. "So we want to send out another survey. What we're asking parents is how many of you do not want to send your own children to school? We would like to try and get a definite a number as we can."

"Depending on what that number is, we may be able to divide the remaining students who want to come to school into two groups instead of three. If we can divide into two, now they can come to school twice a week instead of once a week."

That second survey will be closed this Friday at noon and on Monday, June 27 a final plan will be announced. So stay tuned!

Watch Dr. Zega speak:

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