Due to Coronavirus concerns, New Jersey schools will remain closed for the remainder of the school year. Per Governor Phil Murphy’s orders, NJ schools will remain closed for in-person classes until the next school year, but schools will still be able to meet virtually to finish the current school year. New Jersey joins the forty-five other states and Washington D.C. which have all closed schools for the rest of the school year. Governor Murphy has not announced yet if summer educational programs will meet in-person. 

New Jersey has been a COVID-19 hotspot and has the second most cases in the country, but the growth in new cases has begun to gradually slow down. Governor Murphy tweeted to NJ students: “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.”

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.

— Governor Phil Murphy (@GovMurphy) May 4, 2020

This decision to close schools also effectively cancels the 2020 spring sports season. Governor Murphy explains, “The NJSIAA Medical Board concluded that due to a lack of testing, viable treatments, and a vaccine, that spring sports are not a viable option.” 

Even though school will not be meeting in-person until next year, New Jersey has begun to lift some closures. All NJ state parks and golf courses are open, but visitors must continue practicing social distancing. 

In a video to the MFS community, Head of School Julia de la Torre addressed Governor Murphy’s announcement. In the video she thanked MFS students and staff for their ability to adapt to a new learning environment. De la Torre said to the MFS community that “this is hard news to process, even though all of us I think were prepared for this possible eventuality and we were getting ready with plans for what it would mean to remain in distance learning mode from now to the end of the year.” 

For some MFS students, Governor Murphy’s  announcement did not come as a surprise. Brent Cohen ’21 said, “we knew it would be announced at some point. It is just nice that we finally have some confirmation.” 

This announcement comes following last Friday, May 1, which was the final day of classes for MFS seniors. Ella Hanamirian ’20 agreed with the Governor’s decision. “I think it was the smart thing to do and it gives us a better chance of having a graduation ceremony.”  

While Jack Heffelfinger ’20 agrees with the NJ government’s decision, he said he would just like to leave it all in the past: “In my honest opinion, I just want my diploma and to move on this year. I think a great majority of people would agree this was not a fun year; personally, I would rather leave this in the past.”