cbs's meg oliver h >> reporter: high school students michael mora, joe recto and keshav chhawccharia have spent a good portion of the pandemic grocery shopping for seniors. >> so we just wanted to help the community in a new way during the pandemic. >> reporter: they started "students to the rescue" as a way to help seniors with limited access to stores. >> my grandma and aunt were both actually diagnosed with covid. they both live in india. it made me want to help in my local community. >> reporter: seniors fill out a form on a web site and grocery are delivered for free. 71-year-old wayne sheely is a diabetic with heart issues and only leaves the house for physical therapy. >> i think it's unbelievable. they're helping people who can't get things done. i mean, i'm lucky i have my wife with me, but there are some people that they're helping that have no one. >> reporter: we're really seeing the best in a lot of people throughout this pandemic. is that the silver lining? >> i think so. >> others may call it self-less, but, in my opinion, it's actually kind of a selfish thing because

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meg oliver, cbs news, montclair, new jersey. >> o'donnell: and there is still much more news ahead on tonight's "cbs evening news."mo. and the pandemic could not stop sister jean's 101st birthday celebration. 101st birthday celebration to all the people who realize they can du more with less asthma thanks to dupixent, the add-on treatment for specific types of moderate-to-severe asthma. dupixent isn't for sudden breathing problems. it can improve lung function for better breathing in as little as 2 weeks and help prevent severe asthma attacks.terast. dupixent can cause serious allergic reactions including anaphylaxis. get help right away if you have rash, shortness of breath, chest pain, tingling or numbness in your limbs. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection and don't change or stop your asthma treatments, including steroids, without talking to your doctor. are you ready to du more with less asthma? talk to your asthma specialist about dupixent. if your financial situation has changed, we may be able to help. if ythat selling carsarvana, 100% online wouldn't work. but w

. >> reporter: i'm meg oliver in new jersey.ay, in a major reversal, new jersey governor phil murphy will require schoolire school districts to offer in-person learning. >> if a school district does not feel at this point that they are not prepared to open with the health and safety protocols, we'll work with them. >> reporter: the decision to allow districts to offer remote- only learning comes after more than 400 teachers filed for medical exemptions in elizabeth, new jersey. new jersey. how will you keep the mask on a how will you keep the mask on a little six-year-old? >> reporter: first-grade teacher marie tichenor applied for a medical exemption because her husband is immunocompromised. >> what do i do when a child cries or needs their shoe tied? how do i respond and say, "i can't help you. i can't comfort you because we have to be six foot apart." >> reporter: nationwide schools are in turmoil. in southern mississippi, almost 100 students were sent home this week after coming into contact with a teacher exhibiting covid-1

closer to home, the new school year is bringing serious challenges for teachers, students, andes meg oliver has the story. >> reporter: remote learning has been a tremendous challenge for 6-year-old calvin latham. >> a lot of kids didn't soar in that environment. >> reporter: he has a brain malformation making him one of seven million children in the u.s. receiving special education services. >> he needs a hand over hand support for writing exercises and cutting and gluing and the basic things a first grader would do. >> reporter: many special education students is literally guaranteed services like an aide through individualized education plans or iap. in a may survey nearly 40% of parents say their kids didn't get any support last spring. you concerned that you're losing someing witha on-otection if yoo all remote? >> absolutely. >> reporter: angie adele teaches in new jersey. >> i know there's going to be a lack in what they need to progress. >> it's beyond chenning. >> reporter: johnizenberg runs the national association of special education. increase of lawsuits because schools, no mat

that was meg oliver reporting from new jersey. >>> now to what's happening overseas where parts of europe are battling a second wave of coronavirus infections. elizabeth palmer has the story from london. >> reporter: in australia's second largest city, melbourne, the streets overnight were deserted adds the government declared a state of disaster. life here had been close to normal again until a sharp spike in covid cases. now in this city of 5 million, only one person per household can go out to shop and police are enforcing an hour a day limit on exercise and a strict dusk to dawn curfew. where you slept last night is where you'll need to stay for the next six weeks, premier daniel andrews said. >> you will be stopped and you to that you are d you will need lawfully out and you're not breaching that curfew. >> reporter: in europe, too, there has been an outbreak of covid. the french have set up testing stations at airports, so have the germans. all over the weekend there was pushback. marched in berlin demanding what they called their freedom. in saudi arabia, the annual hajj to mecca w

meg oliver is in elizabeth, new jersey, home to one of the largest school districts. voted to hold all classes remotely. meg, that is not what the governor wanted to hear, is it? >> reporter: that is exactly right, anthony. an act of device after phil murphy for months insisted on some form of in-person learning but in a major reversal the governor's office tells us he will announce a plan to facilitate remote learning as an option. it illustrates how uncertain the school year will be. >> it is fruitless to try to do what is impossible. so they'll spend the next five weeks to make remote learning the best it can be. >> reporter: a spokesperson for new jersey elizabeth school district whose board monday moved to take classes entirely online. he told us more than 400 teachers have opted out of in-person classes over health concerns. among them first grade teacher mary. she applied for a medical exception because her husband is immunocompromised but stressed about how distancing guidelines would hurt her ability to teach if she were in the classroom. as schools nationwid

he tells meg oliver why he changed his mind. >> the last thing we want to do is open a school or districtrresponsibly. >> reporter: after months of insiftsing all schools return to some form of in-person learning, new jersey governor phil murphy is now changing course. >> looking ahead to the fall, what is your main goal? >> our main goal is to get to in-person instruction but to do it safely. we're now saying to school districts that don't feel they can get there on day one, safely, with all the health protocols, we're going to work with them to get them there. >> reporter: and yet he's not ruling out ordering the statewide all-remote learning mandate, even at the 11th hour. >> i think superintendents are extremely concerned they are wasting their time developing these hybrid models. >> no, they're not wasting their time. >> even at the last minute you have to say, we have to go all remote? >> you just can't take off the table that this thing is going to rear its head and we have to be prepared for that. >> reporter: english teacher tom kida is frustrated by the lack of direction but kno

meg oliver spoke to school superintendents across the country.er: good morning. like many across the country, officials here in new jersey are trying to balance a sense of safety and a sense of normality. as you can see, fall sports started practicing a few weeks ago with temperature checks and masks. as they look forward to the future, school leaders are working overtime to try and make sure they can return to in-person learning. as the resistance grows, they're hoping it's not a waste of time. so how many people can sit in the cafeteria now? >> socially distanced we can fit about 60 to 70 students. >> reporter: you used to have close to 300? >> correct. >> reporter: principal matt thompson has spent hours reconfiguring his high school in morris plains, new jersey, to become back about 1,100 students in september. >> this is measuring off every three feet which means we can fit students on either end and one in the middle. there's three students at one table as opposed to in the past we could fit about 12. >> reporter: why is it important to reo