Point Pleasant Boro: 5-Day, Full-Time Schools 'Not An Option' Now

POINT PLEASANT BORO – Point Pleasant Boro school officials pushed back this past week against rumors regarding how the district may address the coronavirus, saying full-time schooling will "not be an option for a while."

Superintendent Vincent Smith made the statement during the Board's Education's Nov. 23rd meeting, saying the district will "continue to move forward with the course of action we have in place right now."

In October, the Point Pleasant Boro School District announced its plans to expand in-school instruction, allowing five half days for students. Read more: Point Pleasant Boro Expands In-School Classes: Here's The Latest

But Smith, while saying that the best way to teach children is in an in-person setting, said the district is not ready to return to a normal schedule "and I think we all know the reasons why."

"That should not be something we'll be pursuing for quite some time," he said. "I just want to make that clear. That is not an option."

Indeed, the second wave of the coronavirus crisis continues to worsen across the state. New Jersey reported its highest daily case total ever on Thursday: 4,913. Sixty-four more deaths were reported.

Smith did not rule out to switching to all-remote learning across the district, saying officials wanted to see how schools dealt with the aftermath of Thanksgiving. The state Department of Health had warned New Jersey to avoid large gatherings during the holiday weekend that could spread the coronavirus.

Smith, however, indicated that the district's schools have done well after reopening amid the coronavirus crisis and there has been no spread of the virus.

He noted that the district's students and families have the option to switch to all-remote individually and, for "anybody who wants to go to remote learning, that option is there; 474 people are doing that right now."