After a long year and a half of virtual and/or hybrid learning, New Jersey students found themselves back in the classroom, once again, for full time in person learning. This is a big change compared to last year. However, something that has not changed is that students are required to wear masks in school. After having been out for a year and a half, many students have had to learn or relearn how to navigate their school buildings. This has been an adjustment for students, teachers, and parents alike.

With all students being back in the classroom, the number of Covid cases has increased in some areas. Some schools have only seen a few cases, while others have had outbreaks. The situation is considered an outbreak in school when at least three separate students test positive at the same time. This means that these students were not in close contact with each other, so there are at least three separate cases in the school. Another criteria of a school outbreak is that contact tracing needs to be done to determine if the student contracted the virus in school or not. If they caught the virus in school, it would be considered part of the outbreak. However, if the student caught it outside of school, they would still have the virus, but would not be part of the school outbreak. As of September 29, Freehold Regional High School District had approximately 40 students and staff test positive and another 77 quarantined. There was also a very large outbreak in Toms River Regional School District. About 200 students tested positive for Covid and about 900 had to quarantine as a result. The cause of the outbreak in Toms River seems to be the “mask-optional policy” that the school maintained in the beginning of the year due to the hot weather. However, the state is still reviewing the situation to determine if that is the true cause, or if it was something else. All in all, students are overcoming the challenges they are facing, whether they are academic, social, or Covid related. Students are one step closer to normalcy than they were last year.