It snowed on Tuesday so just about all of New Jersey’s public schools were closed. Meanwhile, across the Hudson in New York City, students had a virtual learning day; in spite of technical difficulties in the early morning, attendance was at 80%. Michael Mulgrew, head of the NYC teacher union, commented, “by noon the system was fully working, and I want to thank all the teachers and parents for staying engaged. Because when you have 970,000 people logged on, that means everyone stayed engaged, so that was a testament to their resiliency,” 

Why didn’t New Jersey schools announce a day of on-line learning instead of cancelling school? Why don’t we have the same “resiliency” as New York?

Because we have a law that requires all public school students to have 180 days of in-person learning. If a district is open even one less day it could lose all state aid. In March 2020 Gov. Phil Murphy had to issue an executive order as a work-around. Now families will have a day cut off from a holiday or have school extended for a day at the end of the year even though, after huge stumbles in the the beginning of COVID-19 school closures, we got pretty good at remote instruction.

There have been legislative efforts to change state law dating back to 2015 when the Bergen County Association of School Administrators endorsed learning from home as an option. Multiple other proposals have followed, one filed just last month, that would allow public schools, in the event of inclement weather or hazardous travel conditions, to have a day or two of remote learning. None of these bill have even made it to a committee hearing.

From nj.com:

“Richard Bozza, executive director of the New Jersey Association of School Administrators, voiced support for allowing remote learning when it snows.

”It’s hard to understand, post-pandemic, why this hasn’t moved. It makes absolutely perfect sense,” Bozza said Tuesday.

Allowing remote learning would also let schools continue teaching when they have problems unrelated to weather, such as a malfunctioning boiler, he said. ”To suggest that we shouldn’t have this opportunity, by not passing this law, is antiquated.”

Indeed, many other states allow a few days of remote learning when it’s not possible for teachers and students to show up in person. What is getting in our way?

Perhaps it is Gov. Phil Murphy’s reluctance—along with other legislators— to take on the state teachers union. While NJEA has been relatively silent about its views on a new law, it issued a statement saying “we do have concerns about equity and parents’ ability to help their children” and “in some districts, some students will fully be able to participate in a virtual snow day while others won’t have the same experience.”

Sure, let’s allow the perfect to be the enemy of the good. Happy snow day!