See you (in school) in Sept? Murphy better hope so
As numerous studies have made clear — and as many private schools in our region have demonstrated — schools should be open, especially for the lower grades. Yes, there should be some common sense measures taken at this point: Windows and doors open, masks, social distancing. But the science is clear: Schools should be open.
Of course, if I were a teacher, I wouldn’t want to be back in the classroom until I was vaccinated, so I totally get the hesitancy of some teachers. No judgement, here.
And in recent days, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has taken big steps into ensuring that our kids are back in school come September, namely by opening up the vaccine queue for teachers as of March 15.
“We are fully expecting that we’re back in business in person in September again, safely and responsibly,” Murphy said during his Monday news conference.
Well, I’ll tell you this much: Assuming the coronavirus does what science expects it to — namely, peter out as more people are vaccinated, although it will remain floating around due to the fact vaccine rates are not going to be stellar — Murphy better hope kids are back in the classroom come September.
Because if they’re not doing the three R’s in person, than Murphy’s chances of the fourth R — re-election — are going to be in big trouble. Parents are expecting their kids to be in the classroom come September. It’s not even a conversation right now that they won’t be.
This little political stew has made the NJEA — already very powerful — the most powerful
force in New Jersey politics, you ask me. They pretty much hold the cards when it comes to Murphy’s re-election chances. If teachers aren’t in the classroom come September, there are going to be a lot of angry parents.
“This has been a lingering, simmering problem ongoing for close to a year now,” said Micah Rasmussen, the director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University. “He must think there’s going to be a satisfactory resolution come September.”
And if not?
“If he’s giving false hope and he’s not really sure that’s what we’re heading for, and he’s raising those expectations for a more normal school year, you can absolutely believe his opponent is going to go after him,” Rasmussen said. “If it’s just a hope, then that’s a problem. If we’re talking about smart politics here, he has to be reasonably certain it’s going to happen. It’s hard to imagine he would say something like this if he didn’t have a reasonable belief that if he did have the teachers union.”
So does he have the teacher’s union?
“We share Gov. Murphy’s hope that New Jersey’s public schools will be able to safely and responsibly open for inperson instruction in the fall,” NJEA spokesperson Steven Baker told me in an emailed statement. “Getting educators vaccinated is an important step toward achieving that. No one can say with certainty what the pandemic will look like in September, but with competent national leadership at last, a broader, faster vaccine rollout and continued vigilance in our communities, there is good reason to be hopeful that conditions by that time will allow schools to safely and responsibly open for in-person instruction. We will continue to advocate for all of the mitigation strategies
— including social distancing, mask wearing, careful cleaning and adequate ventilation
— that the CDC and other experts say are necessary for as long as they say those measures necessary to keep students and staff safe in school.” So that’s kind of a yes, right? Bottom line? If the coronavirus is in relative check come September, and Murphy can’t get 100 percent of K-12 students back in the classroom, he’s in danger come November..
“Now that he’s said it, he better deliver now or he’s going to have a lot of angry parents and voters,” Rasmussen said.