Senator M. Teresa Ruiz (D-29) this morning expressed anger and frustration with the state Department of Education (DOE) for not working harder and more creatively, in her judgment, to equip families with technology so students can learn while schools are closed during the pandemic.

Chair of the Senate Education Committee, Ruiz spoke directly to DOE Commissioner Lamont Repollet about the needs of 100,000 to 130K families in rural districts and urban communities, whose children lack access to the Internet and other learning assistance tools.

“I’m asking the DOE if you put out the money,” said Ruiz. “Take it out of CARES. We’re talking about the same number [of inadequately supplied families] I heard two months ago. That number is not shrinking fast enough.”

Repollet said,  “We can give them advice; we can’t purchase the devices for them.”

But Ruiz pushed back, demanding that Repollet “get more creative” about tapping CARES resources, as it did when it channeled $69 million from the $400 million fund to higher education.

“100K families [without access to the Internet and technology] is unacceptable,” Ruiz told Repollet.

Later in the hearing, the chair said New Jersey must have 100% accessibility by students in time for September. Anything less, she added, would again be “unacceptable.”

“We’re trying to hold districts accountable,” said Repollet. “We have been putting guidance out.”

The chair of the Senate Education Committee wanted details.

“People want uniform benchmarks,” Ruiz said. “It’s great to hear you’re giving guidance but what does that guidance to the district look like?

“I’m a parent, and I haven’t seen that come before me yet,” she added.

As in the past, Ruiz decried state officials’ habit of celebrating New Jersey’s status as a leader in education while poor communities lack basics – at its core a separate and unequal system, a crisis compounded now in a pandemic.

“I am upset,” acknowledged Repollet, who’s leaving his job as commissioner of the DOE to become president of Kean University.

In the middle of March, Governor Phil Murphy closed schools as part of a statewide effort to combat the COVID-19 virus. In early May, he extended the order in the following tweet:

“ALL SCHOOLS WILL REMAIN CLOSED for in-person instruction for the remainder of the school year – to protect the health of our children, our educators, and their families.Guided by safety and science, this is the best course of action.”

Citing the need to protect the health of New Jersey’s 1.6 million public and private school students as well as thousands of educators and support staff, Murphy announced that statewide school closures will be extended through the end of the 2019-2020 academic year, according to the front office. Private schools with longer academic years will remain closed until at least June 30.