Nearly All NJ Schools Back To In-Person Instruction: Gov. Murphy

Toms River NJ

05 May, 2021

1:54 PM

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TRENTON, NJ — Nearly all of New Jersey's students, staff and teachers have returned to in-person instruction, and the state aims to have the rest back in person by the end of the 2020-21 school year, Gov. Phil Murphy said Wednesday. Just five public school districts and 11 charter and special services schools remain on fully remote instruction, representing about 53,000 students, Murphy said during his coronavirus news conference. That's down from 142 schools and districts as of the beginning of March, he said. The move to in-person classes across the state comes as COVID-19 infection rates continue to drop significantly. "Over the past eight weeks we've seen efforts kick into high gear" to return to in-person instruction, Murphy said. Of the remaining five districts — Hillside, Irvington, Passaic, Paterson and Pleasantville — two have plans to return to some form of in-person instruction by May 24. "I applaud the efforts of Hillside and Irvington," he said, which instruct about 10,000 students. He said the state is working to get the other three districts back into the buildings. "We know there are myriad reasons the remaining districts have not taken this step," Murphy said. "We cannot leave 43,000 students as well as thousands of educators and staff out of their classrooms for an entire year. It's not fair to them, their families, their communities and their futures." Murphy said state officials are continuing to work with districts that are hybrid to move them to fully in-person instruction, with the goal of having students back in school for full days. Click here to get Patch email notifications, or download our app to have breaking news alerts sent right to your phone. Have a news tip? Email [email protected]