Governor Phil Murphy, the wishy washy governor of New Jersey at first wanted all children to return to in-person schooling this September, if at all possible. Now he has backed off and will allow schooling to take place totally remotely.

Our governor seems to say one thing and then change his mind at a latter date. In the case of reopening the schools for in-person learning, the teachers union has weighed in with it’s politically heavyweight influence and Murphy buckled like a wet piece of cardboard.

During a press conference the governor said, “When our schools open in September, they must be ready to safely provide the high-quality education to all students that is a hallmark of New Jersey. We know the first day of school is not going to be like any other in our history. We’re fully committed to getting this right.” That is a fine thing to say governor and it is a good goal to try to attain. But the problem is that you used scare tactics on the people of New Jersey to get them to obey your Coronavirus safety rules and now it is slapping you in the face. The teachers via their politically heavyweight union has expressed fear of catching the virus from the very pupils that they will be teaching in classrooms throughout the state.

Well they would have been if you had some backbone and told them that they had to teach in-person and remote learning is not an option for the majority of the children. Their parents are now going back to work as companies reopen under your guidelines and they have to have them in school. Otherwise they will have a very big problem. To work and make money to pay bills or stay home and end up in the street in the very near future because nothing is coming in.

Now let’s address the child to adult transmission problem at the heart of the matter. From FactCheck.org, “Johns Hopkins’ Doctor Nuzzo said that in communities where the case numbers are rapidly increasing, it may not be possible to safely reopen schools until disease transmission has lowered. But in communities where disease rates are declining or stable, it may be possible to think about reopening schools, provided schools are able to put in place measures to reduce the likelihood of transmission.” Doctor Jennifer Nuzzo is a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.

Also, “Doctor Nuzzo states that we have some evidence that children, especially younger children, may spread the virus less than adults. This makes COVID-19 quite different from influenza, which kids are notorious for spreading.”

We have to balance the facts that we know versus the needs of the community. I think that healthy adults who take the proper safety precautions can teach in-person. The problem is more mental than physical and we have to thank our governor for that problem. He after all was the one who used scare tactics to get everyone to stay home.

Governor, who do you answer to, the teachers union or the people of New Jersey? Your answer seems for now to be the teachers union and that is just plain unacceptable! If the teachers will not go back to work, they should be fired. Only those with legitimate medical reasons should be excused from in-person teaching. Those teachers should teach remotely any students that for one reason or another can not come to school.

Come now governor Murphy, it is time for you to stop being a wishy washy leader. You can not win every political battle, but you must win the war or else you are an ineffective leader.

That is my opinion- Jumpin Jersey Mike