The COVID-19 pandemic has inflicted incalculable harm on New Jersey’s public school students. But these harms do not have to continue. We now have the tools to keep students in school, where they desperately need to be. And yet, school closures and quarantines continue.
Gov. Phil Murphy and the state legislature have abdicated their responsibility to New Jersey’s children. As the rest of the state has opened, New Jersey’s youngest residents continue to have the most onerous restrictions placed on them. At any moment, a parent may receive an email or phone call informing them that their child has been designated a “close contact” and therefore must stay home for 7, 10, or 14 days — a de facto suspension for children as young as 5 years old. Other parents learn that their child’s school will suddenly close for an indeterminate period of time. To read the full story.