The Jersey City School District has decided to postpone the return of in-person learning until the fall.

Families and staff who had been planning for students to return to classrooms next week found out just this Sunday that the district is sticking with hybrid through at least September.

Superintendent Franklin Walker sent out a robo-call in which he blamed the last-minute change on a lack of staff. He said almost 500 teachers were absent last Friday.

Many of them had filed for an accommodation to continue to work from home, but those were denied last week.

Instead, all of the teachers were told to report in person starting the next day, but many said they were not able to do so on such short notice.

JCEA President Ron Greco, says the teachers want to go back to school, but not to the detriment of the most vulnerable students or staff.

"The best place for children is in the classroom with their peers and with teachers and professionals. And of course, I understand and respect the thousands of children that will be home because parents are not confident or they feel their safety cannot be met, and the same thing with our staff members," Greco said.

Greco also cited the short notice given to teachers about their accommodations not being met that would've caused their absence, saying this could have been avoided if the deputy superintendent in charge of those accommodations did so ahead of time.

News 12 reached out to Walker for comment but has not heard back

Mayor Steven Fulop was also unhappy with this decision calling it "absolute failure in leadership and planning."