New Jersey schools should have never opened

I hate to be the one to say "I told you so," but I did in fact tell you so back on July 23. I took a lot of heat from listeners who "normally agree with me but this time..." As it turned out, I was right. As a betting man, I had a six week over/under as to when schools would close and we barely make a week before the shutdowns began.

As much as we'd like to have schools open from a social perspective for kids and work perspective for parents, as long as we are living with COVID-19 it's only a matter of time before a student tests positive and they close the schools. Figure we're going to be seeing more schools close before they open.

School districts spent all this wasted time and money trying to get the schools open. Teachers took a lot of grief for not wanting to go back under these conditions, only to have them close anyway. Let's not forget hybrid learning, where students go in for half a day then finish online. How that was going to prevent the virus from spreading I have no idea.

Better they should continue to perfect the online learning which is actually going much better for my sons in eighth grade. They now sit in front of their chrome books for entire classes changing to new ones every hour. They still have their friends whom they talk to and text and we as parents (or actually my wife) keeps in touch with their teachers to monitor their learning.

Parents need to stay on top of this school situation, we have a window into what they're being taught and how it's being done. We also must make sure that our children don't lose sociability. If that means arranging more playdates, observing rules that you feel comfortable with, we've got to do it. Perhaps have them play organized sports where teams are supervised and new friends can be made.

Regardless of how you feel about this pandemic is being handled in New Jersey, we can't lose track of the fact that it does exist and is not going away anytime soon, unless of course, you feel it all goes away after the presidential election, (just kidding).

But seriously, as long as students are going to be testing positive for COVID-19 forcing schools to close, there's no point in opening them up.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Steve Trevelise. Any opinions expressed are Steve's own. Steve Trevelise is on New Jersey 101.5 Monday-Thursday from 7pm-11pm. Follow him on Twitter @realstevetrev.

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