With the new year school year just days away, three New Jersey school districts have made late decisions to start virtually.

Lakewood, meanwhile, remains on track to have students attend class in person despite pressure from the teachers union to consider a hybrid plan.

The NJEA continues to express concern for the safety of students and staff who return to school buildings.

Many school districts are employing hybrid plans, which are supposed to reduce the number of students in buildings.

As of Wednesday, 242 school districts in the state planned to start completely remotely.

  • 68 districts planned to start in person.
  • 434 districts would be using a hybrid model.
  • 22 districts would be employing a combination of plans.

Gov. Phil Murphy on Wednesday said that districts have policies to ensure social distancing, mask wearing and building disinfection. Murphy said "we are ready" for schools to deal with COVID-19 case or a spike or cluster of cases.

"We are confident that these steps that we have in place will make the kind of chaotic situations we have seen in other states far less likely to happen in ours," he said.

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New Jersey Returns to School Virtually

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