A school district in Morris County is still considering what to do when school starts next month.

The Kinnelon School District has already pushed back their start date and will vote on a reopening plan on Thursday. But a group of parents and students rallied Wednesday afternoon in support of in-person learning.

“The thought of September is awful,” said one parent.

Many at the rally said that they do not want to continue to have their students learn remotely. The Kinnelon district was originally supposed to start school on Sept. 3, but that date was pushed to Sept. 8.

“Then they came out a few days ago saying that they’ll go full virtual because of PPE issues and HVAC issues, of which they never mentioned prior,” says parent Regan Scicutella. “So, we just feel very much that we can’t plan and we can’t move forward unless we know what’s going on.”

Rising senior Mitchell Fradkin says that having a whole class-worth of students going online at one caused connectivity issues and kept students from wanting to log-on for school again.

“They’re still going to be going out to the stores. They’re still going to be doing their everyday life things. Having school, yeah brings a higher risk because there’s more people, but how much higher because people are still doing the same exact routine?” Fradkin says.

The district’s hybrid model plans changed over recent weeks along with the state’s guidelines. Now there is a chance that the district will go fully remote.

Jean Donaldson, who has four children in the school district, organized the rally to push for at least a hybrid model this year.

“We feel that it’s very safe for our kids to go back. As parents, we think that it’s safe to assume that risk for them,” Donaldson says.

A virtual meeting with parents and school officials took place Wednesday night to get parents’ thoughts on the plans. The official district vote will take place Thursday night at 7 p.m.