New Jersey’s schools will return to full in-person classes for the next school year and districts will not be allowed to offer virtual learning, even for parents who want that option due to ongoing COVID-19 concerns, Gov. Phil Murphy said Wednesday.
“As we’re sitting here now, no,” Murphy said during his latest coronavirus briefing in Trenton, responding to NJ Advance Media’s question about preserving that option even if districts are required to offer full in-person classes. “I want to unequivocal about this. We are expecting Monday through Friday, in-person, every school, every district. Obviously, if the world goes sideways, we have to revisit that. But as of this sitting, the answer is no.”
The governor has said he’s “fully expecting” schools across New Jersey to return for in-person learning “safely and responsibly” when the next school year starts in September. And if that’s the case, virtual learning is out.
As of Wednesday, 143 districts with about 97,000 students are open for all in-person instruction, Murphy said. In addition, 534 districts with more than 833,000 students are open for hybrid instruction. Another 44 districts with 121,600 students are in a mix of in-person, hybrid, or all-remote learning, while 90 districts with 302,000 students remain all remote.
Murphy also announced Wednesday that most schools can move classroom desks three feet apart, instead of six feet, under new social distancing guidance issued by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week that said it was safe for students to be closer together at school if they continue to wear masks and follow other social distancing guidelines to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
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New Jersey has reported 205 in-school coronavirus outbreaks, which have resulted in 947 cases among students, teachers and school staff this academic year, according to the state’s dashboard.
The state defines school outbreaks as cases where contact tracers determined two or more students or school staff caught or transmitted COVID-19 in the classroom or during academic activities at school. Those numbers do not include students or staff believed to have been infected outside school or cases that can’t be confirmed as in-school outbreaks.
There are about 1.4 million public school students and teachers across the state, though teaching methods amid the outbreak have varied, with some schools teaching in-person, some using a hybrid format and others remaining all-remote.
New Jersey on Wednesday reported another 3,227 confirmed cases and 28 additional confirmed deaths as the number of people hospitalized in the state continues to climb above 2,000 patients.
The Garden State’s seven-day average for new confirmed cases is now 3,339, up 6% from a week ago and 35% from a month ago.
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Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com.