Due to the pandemic that is the coronavirus schools are being shut down even to the end of the year. This Friday, April 17, Governor Murphy of New Jersey is to make an announcement on whether schools in New Jersey will close for the rest of the year or will the schools reopen. Students will return to school on May 15 as of right now, however, the return date may change again depending on the status of the virus and it’s spread.

Schools in other states have already ended school for the rest of the year. There are less than three months left in the school year and some states see it unnecessary to continue school during the pandemic. 

These states consist of Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington. These states have canceled school in hopes of slowing and containing the spread of the Coronavirus. 

Besides these states, 30 more have expanded their statewide closures for the remaining months. With these statistics, students weigh in on what they think about school closing for the remainder of the year.

“ I would be very upset,” said sophomore Omkar Dhekne. “ I want to go back to school. I would rather be there than inside my house all day.”

“I would feel devastated, although there is a lot of work and finals there are a lot of people that I would miss, considering I only see them during the school year and if it’s shutdown from the remainder of the year, I wouldn’t be able to see them until (possibly) September. I would also feel extremely bad for the seniors who are missing out on the best year of their high school lives,” says Sophomore James Adamo.

Wayne Hills senior Justine DeNicola, had this to say about the situation, “If school is closing for the rest of the year, which I’m assuming it will at this point, I would be very disappointed to lose the normal senior year experience. It would be upsetting to not have a prom or graduation, but it would make me really sad to lose the chance to say goodbye to all my teachers and friends.” Justine, and other Wayne Hills theater seniors, would miss out on their final show.

During these times it is important to keep in touch with people and stay up to date. Working from home is a roadblock from some people, but there are ways around and ways you can handle working from home. The morning announcements from the TV class are still being made. Watching the morning announcements is a good way to have a sense of normality and to keep up to date with the school. Teacher James Hoogstrate has been assigning his students with other projects to work at home: such as “272 Berdan at Home”, “VMA”, and features on different clubs and sports. Keeping up the class and the Wayne hills tv youtube channel is another sense of normalcy.