coronavirus new jersey

Disturbing videos highlight teachers' concerns over in-person learning in Paterson

Coronavirus Update New Jersey

Wednesday, June 2, 2021

Safety concerns over in-person learning in NJ

Some school districts in New Jersey are still fully remote, including Paterson. And teachers there are in no rush to go back after they toured a building on Tuesday.

PATERSON, New Jersey (WABC) -- Some school districts in New Jersey are still fully remote, including Paterson.

And now teachers there are in no rush to go back after they toured a building on Tuesday.

After inspecting an HVAC unit in a classroom, they posted video of the results on social media.

The recording shows the unit malfunctioning after being turned on, and the person making the video says, "this unit is kind of... kind of useless."

The teachers union claims the district didn't change some HVAC filters or properly clean the buildings, even posting a photo of a dead roach.

They sent out a tweet, saying, 'The Paterson Education Association conducted inspections of Paterson school buildings' ventilation systems. I'm horrified to show you what they found. Filters that haven't been changed since last year but logs saying they were changed recently. And they want our kids back next week. No way."

The superintendent says the union didn't tell them they were going to post all this online without giving them a chance to see for themselves and fix it.

The current plan in Paterson is to bring back some students just a week and a half before the end of the school year.

This is all happening on the same day that Governor Murphy is being joined by U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona at Bergenfield High School pushing the importance of in-person learning.

That school is in session in-person five days a week.

Murphy says by the fall he wants all school districts in New Jersey to be doing the same.