JERSEY CITY, N.J. — Jersey City schools will begin the school year remotely for all teachers and students, according to the district’s board of education.
The district had initially planned to begin the semester on a rotating schedule, with students and staff brought back in phases every three weeks.
But on Thursday night, the board voted to reverse course and instead begin the year with only remote learning, citing an increase of COVID-19 cases in New Jersey.
Mussab Ali, a member of the school board, said in an Instagram post the board would re-evaluate prospects for in-person learning in September, with the potential of resuming in-person learning in October.
High schoolers will attend classes from 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Elementary students will take classes from 8:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said Friday the state’s COVID-19 trends are heading in the right direction after climbing higher last week.
The rate of transmission dropped to 1.15 from 1.23, Murphy said.
Last week the rate, which represents to the number of people one infected person passes the virus to, reached nearly 1.5.
The governor said the testing positivity rate dipped to 1.95%, down from 2.57% earlier this week.
This story initially reported the 81-page plan the district had released, proposing a hybrid model of learning to begin the year. It was corrected to reflect the board of education’s vote to begin the school year with remote-only learning instead of the hybrid plan.
This story features contributions from the Associated Press and PIX11’s Christie Duffy.
