New Jersey Schools Preparing To Welcome Back Students As Gov. Murphy Announces Some May Continue Remote Learning
HARRISON TOWNSHIP, N.J. (CBS) -- New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy announced on Monday that some parents will be able to keep their children in remote learning if they choose when schools reopen this fall. In the meantime, districts are getting ready to welcome back those students who will return to the classroom.
Today, Gov. Murphy announced that parents worried about sending their kids back to school will have an all virtual option with more details expected to follow later this week.
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For parents who are looking to send their students back to school physically, districts have been hard at work to make sure that can happen safely.
Two 3rd grade desks pushed together is not what one might expect to see when children return to the classroom. But this is on purpose.
"One of the models that we are looking at is bringing half of our student population in the morning and half of our student population in the afternoon," said Harrison School District Superintendent Dr. Margaret Peretti.
Staggering schedules and seats.
Creating safe space between students is part of the preliminary reopening plan for the Harrison Township School District come September.
"We have a number of what we are referring to as prototypes in classrooms that give various types of social distancing options that we are considering," said Dr. Peretti.
For kindergartners, that could mean plastic partitions between their workstations so they could see everything around them but cut down on shared surfaces.
Under Murphy's reopening guidance released late last month, minimum standards were set for social distancing, face coverings capacity and disinfecting in schools.
"We are changing how we are responding to this just as quickly as the information is coming out," Dr. Peretti said.
No plan will become official until approval is given from the Department of Education and the local school board.
"From my perspective as a superintendent in the district, the safety of not only the children but also the staff and all of our visitors is of the utmost importance to me," said Dr. Peretti.
She also said that, for now, the plan is for face coverings not to be worn by students while they are in class and spaced out.
But she expects the wearing of masks when social distancing is not possible, like in the halls or on the school bus.