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Interim New Jersey Education Commissioner Kevin Dehmer told reporters at a regular virus briefing in Trenton that two priorities are top of mind here.
“First, ensuring that schools can resume in-person instruction while meeting health and safety standards,” he said. “And second, allowing the time that school communities need to plan for and implement those health and safety standards while continuing to provide instruction and other school services remotely.”
Parents continue with the option to have their kids learn at home if they want.
In Willingboro, for example, Superintendent Dr. Neely Hackett said her district will conduct all classes online through the end of the first marking period in mid-November.
“The Willingboro Board of Education members are committed to the return of students to the classroom for in-person learning,” Hackett said. “However, before this return is possible, the board of education members must know that all appropriate safety precautions are in place.”
Her district has concerns over adequate PPE supplies and proper ventilation in some school buildings. The Willingboro board also considered a hybrid approach of two days in the classroom and two days online per week.
Districts opting to begin the year virtually must submit a plan to the state on where in-person instruction might resume.
Meanwhile, the New Jersey Supreme Court unanimously sided with Murphy in ruling that a plan to borrow upwards of $10 billion to cover pandemic-related tax shortages is, in fact, constitutional.
Republicans in the state legislature had challenged the plan.
“Not only were we right in our decision to take this step,” Murphy said, “but also the alternative would have been something that no one would have wanted to experience.”
The governor repeated his plea for more assistance from the federal government to lessen the need to borrow.
On the viral front, the rate of transmission is back below 1 to 1 this week, registering now at .92.
The number of new infections is under 500 a day, with total cases statewide at 185,938, more than 26,000 in the seven-county South Jersey area. South Jersey is reporting over 1,700 fatalities, part of a statewide death toll of 14,046.