Millburn Schools Announce Early Dismissals Amid COVID-19 Surge
MILLBURN, NJ — Amid the rise in positive COVID-19 cases in the Millburn School District, students will now be dismissed early on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week to prevent further spread of the virus.
Superintendent Dr. Christine Burton released the following statement on Tuesday:
"I have been in consultation with our school principals, school nurses, and the Department of Health, who are reporting a large increase in the number of positive cases among students and staff members over the weekend and continuing into today. The number of students quarantining due to being a close contact and staff outages have also increased due to the surge across the school community with cases at the highest numbers ever reported.
"In an effort to reduce the opportunities for transmission of the virus and in consultation with the DOH, we have made the decision to transition to an Early Dismissal schedule for all schools tomorrow, Tuesday, December 21 and Wednesday, December 22. Thursday, December 23 is already scheduled as an Early Dismissal day.
"This will reduce the amount of time students are around each other, especially when not masked for snack time or lunchtime. The half-day schedule will eliminate lunch where a positive case would require us to have to contact trace and quarantine students just prior to the holiday break."
The half day schedules for the schools are as follows:
SCHEDULED DISTRICT HALF DAYS
Elementary Schools (K-4): 8:50am - 1:00pm
Washington School (5): 8:55am - 1:05pm
Middle School (6-8): 8:00am - 12:30pm
High School (9-12): 8:00am - 12:30pm
Preschool AM (3yo): 8:30am - 10:00am
Preschool PM (4yo): 11:15am - 12:45pm
Preschool Self-Contained Full Day: 8:30am - 12:45pm
After school programs, such as the Alphabest program and the SAM program, will reach out to parents with information about extended hours.
Burton said the schools are still set to reopen on Monday, Jan. 3, and there are no plans to modify the schedule at this time. Currently, NJ's Department of Education does not allow schools to close for remote learning and count those days toward the 180-day requirement.
However, if that changes over the break, families will be alerted prior to Jan. 3.
As a precaution, Burton recommends that all staff and students bring Chromebooks, books and other materials home over break.
People can also still register for COVID-19 testing at the schools with this link.
Get a free morning newsletter with news in Millburn or another town: https://patch.com/subscribe
This article originally appeared on the Millburn-Short Hills Patch
