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School Opening Guidance for the 2020-2021 School Year Released!

back to school

By: Amy Houck Elco and Kasi Gifford

To Our School Board Community:

Today Governor Murphy and the New Jersey Department of Education released over 100 pages of Guidance for the reopening of schools for the 2020-2021 school year. The guidance can be found here. The 2020-2021 school year will not look like a typical school year opening. The Guidance addresses four principles to reopen school:

  • Ensuring a conducive learning environment
  • Supporting educational leaders with planning
  • Providing policy guidance and necessary funding to schools
  • Securing continuity of learning

The Guidance also stresses that schools must prioritize social distancing, face coverings, limiting capacity, and cleaning and disinfecting schools and buses. The Governor also reiterated that schools must also be prepared for the possibility of all-remote learning at any time if public health numbers change.

As always, please contact us with any questions. We will continue to do our best to keep you updated in the coming days and weeks.

Our e-mails about recent developments are not intended to substitute for our legal advice to our clients based on your specific needs or requests.  In addition, our guidance is subject to, and can be superseded by new laws, rules, regulations, or orders.  Moreover, some directives from the Federal and State authorities can appear, and can be, contradictory or in conflict, so please contact us for assistance.