Plans unclear for summer, fall; no spring sports, but alternative graduations possible
By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
Because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, public and private school buildings throughout New Jersey will remain closed to the end of the school year and students and teachers will continue remote learning.
There will be no spring sports season for student athletes and the state will help districts come up with alternative means for celebrations such as graduations and proms.
Plans are still up in the air for summer school and what will happen in September for the start of the 2020-21 school year.
Gov. Phil Murphy made the announcement at his daily press conference on Monday, May 4, 11 days ahead of his self-imposed deadline.
“We reached this conclusion based on the guidance of our public health experts and with a single goal in mind, the safety and wellbeing of our children, of our educators, our administrators and staff,” Murphy said.
“We hoped we could get back to a sense of normal to let students return to the schools they love and their friends and classmates. The reality is we cannot safely reopen our schools to provide students and families or faculties and staff the confidence to return to in-person instruction,” he added.
He revised his mantra that public health creates economic health, by saying public health also leads to educational health.
“If standards are high for businesses, they’re even higher for schools filled with our most precious assets, our children.” Murphy said. “We simply could not find a way to reconcile that core principle and open our school buildings at this time. The hurdles, logistical, educational and most of all practical that would have allowed them to return even for a short while could not be overcome.
“We couldn’t guarantee an environment that would be safe” or meet the educational needs in a setting that could accommodate social distancing.
“To say this is not an easy decision is an understatement,” state Education Commissioner Dr. Lamont Repollet said, “but as Gov. Murphy reminds us, we must be guided by science and the facts on the ground.
The Education Department is establishing a steering committee to look at summer instruction “and what school will look like for New Jersey schools and students” in the fall, Repollet said.
Murphy said “there is a lot to consider about how the school day may differ once our students and faculty return” in the fall.
Murphy noted he is father to a high school student who has been doing remote learning and Repollet has a daughter in this year’s graduating class.
“This decision hits home for me,” Repollet said. “To parents of graduating seniors, please know that I stand with you and commit to finding ways to honor our graduates and celebrate the incredible resilience of the Class of 2020.”
State Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli added that although children have not been hit as hard during this pandemic, they can still be carriers, which poses a danger to other generations of their families at home. “We have to safeguard everyone,” she said.
No spring season
“Where sports are concerned, we are leaning on the guidance of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) against the resumption of spring sports for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year,” Murphy said. The NJSIAA medical board decided due to lack of testing, treatment and viable vaccine spring sports were not a viable option, the governor added.
“I know the NJSIAA took no pleasure in reaching that conclusion and frankly, neither do I in stating it,” Murphy said.
“Following today’s announcement by Governor Murphy, the NJSIAA has officially canceled New Jersey’s 2020 high school spring sports season,” the association said in a statement released Monday. “This decision was not made lightly and we are disappointed for the thousands of New Jersey student-athletes who will be unable to compete this spring. While we remained hopeful to the end, and left open every possibility, competition simply is not feasible given the circumstances.”
