The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
Gov. Phil Murphy’s decision announced May 4 to not re-open the state’s schools for in-person teaching was taken in stride by the township’s school district administrators.
In announcing his decision on Twitter, Murphy said he took the action “to protect the health of our children, our educators, and their families. Guided by safety and science, this is the best course of action.”
“To every student: We want you to be safe. We want you to be healthy. We want you to continue your educational journey, wherever it takes you. To ensure all of these things, we have to take this step,” Murphy Tweeted.
“We’re working with the principle that public health creates economic health – or in this case, educational health,” Murphy tweeted. “If the standards are high to reopen our workplaces are high, they are even higher when it comes to schools filled with our children.”
Schools Superintendent John Ravally said in a statement that the district will continue to provide Remote Learning “via learning modules available on our website. We will continue to do so in blocks of 12 instructional days called phases and will seek student, family and staff member input, during each phase, to help shape subsequent phases.”
“We will also continue to provide meals to families in need,” he wrote.
Concerning end-of-year activities such as graduation, Ravally wrote, “The administration of our secondary schools have been consulting with student leadership and parent organizations to generate ideas for end of the year events and will formalize those ideas in the coming weeks.”
Township residents who responded to a question about the closing posts don the Franklin Reporter & Advocate Facebook page were generally supportive of the move.
“This makes me sad and happy only because safety first but also a lot of kids won’t experience their last year of school,” Neenah Nicole Ramos wrote.
Lisa Perri Nardone said “It’s a necessary decision.”
“I think the whole thing just sucks – my kids want to be with everyone, the teachers and staff want to be able to hug and squeeze their students,” Karen Trautmann wrote. “But it’s not safe – we all know it. Not being able to have a physical presence with the people we love is not easy.”
Amy Keane, who’s aid she is a teacher, wrote, “As a teacher it’s very very sad to end the year never seeing them again. But it’s the right decision. There’s no way I could get little kids to keep masks on or distance desks. So though it’s beyond sad, it’s the right thing to do. We just keep on working hard online with them!”
Township resident Rob Kashinsky is not a fan of the governor’s decision.
“My thoughts are: typical overreach by a typical tyrant,” he wrote. “Will our insane property taxes be lowered since the futures of Franklin’s children are being robbed of a decent education? Will he pay the parents a salary who in some cases are doing triple duty in their homes because of his utter lack of planning? He enacts these draconian edicts as if he were supreme ruler of NJ.”
