Gov. Murphy: Outdoor NJ Graduations Can Happen – In Your Car

TRENTON, NJ — New Jersey high schools will be allowed to hold outdoor graduations — so long as participants remain in their cars, Gov. Phil Murphy said Wednesday.

Murphy made the comment during his daily coronavirus briefing, in response to questions about his order permitting car gatherings as long as people stay in their cars.

"I would love to be able to say you're all set to gather face-to-face, but we're not there yet," he said.

Here is what schools must do for the in-car graduations to work:

• Attendees must remain in their same car throughout the gathering, unless 1) an occupant needs to get out of the vehicle for their health or safety or 2) an occupant needs to use the restroom.
• Vehicles must remain closed at all times unless 1) there is 6 feet of distance between vehicles or individuals or 2) an officer, public official or guard requires the vehicle to open. There is a further exception allowing the opening of the vehicle if necessary for health or safety;
• Individuals organizing the gathering who are not in vehicles must follow social distancing and wear cloth face coverings.

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Murphy's approval of car gatherings for graduation was a change from the direction New Jersey State Police Superintendent Col. Patrick Callahan issued in a letter to the state Department of Education and school districts across the state on Saturday.

"In the best interest of the health and safety of the public, in-person ceremonies, including graduations, all parades including 'wave parades,' that invite people to gather at a certain location, proms, and other similar celebrations violate the enumerated conditions of the order (Executive Order 107), and should therefore be cancelled or postponed until such time as these restrictions are lifted," Callahan's letter said in part. "Until such time, virtual celebrations and other remote forms of recognition should take the place of any in-person or public ceremonies."

The limitation to virtual high school graduations has infuriated a number of parents and students across the state.

"In a decade or so, I'm supposed to be able to show my children pictures in my prom dress so they can harass me for my poor taste, or my graduation pictures where I have my French and National Art Honor Society cord, as well as my secretary sash draped over my neck," Morgan Krempasky, a senior at Hillsborough High School, said after her high school announced a virtual graduation. "I'll never have this memory to reflect on."

Kim Madalena, whose daughter attends Kearny High School, tweeted at Murphy over the weekend, urging him to look at Connecticut's plan for allowing graduations after June 29.

In Toms River, parents have blasted the school board and district Superintendent David Healy in the wake of a letter issued Tuesday, reflecting Callahan's Saturday letter telling districts to plan for a virtual graduation.

"Based on the most recent state directives, our plan is to honor graduates virtually while remaining committed to scheduling in-person graduations at a future time when such gatherings are lawful and safe," Healy wrote. "Many have opined and provided thoughtful ideas as to how we can other districts might manage in-person gatherings, but it is clear we are bound by Executive Order 107."

"Those whom we entrusted with our greatest treasures have failed them," one Toms River mother wrote on Facebook. "For them, high school was not a place to kill time and move on, it was their second home. Now they do not get the send off they deserve."

Murphy closed schools across the state through June 30 as of May 4, and he extended the public health emergency to June 7. The last day of school — typically graduation day — varies but most school districts had their final day set for the third week of June.

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