WOODBRIDGE – Four of the 25 schools in the Woodbridge School District have switched to fully remote learning due to “either the number of cases at the school or lack of staffing due to quarantining,” according to schools Superintendent Robert Zega.
Zega updated the community of the switch in a letter on Oct. 22, which is posted on the district’s website.
“As of now, we have had 36 confirmed positive COVID cases,” Zega said. “This number includes all staff and students in-person and remote.”
The four schools include John F. Kennedy Memorial High School, Pennsylvania Ave. Elementary School No. 27, Mawbey Street Elementary School No. 1 and Kennedy
Park Elementary School No. 24.
The other 21 schools are instructing in the district’s hybrid schedule, Zega said.
The district is two weeks into the hybrid in-person model after starting the 2020-21 school year fully remote.
“Thank you all for making our first two weeks of hybrid instruction a success,” Zega said. “Our staff has risen to the challenge of performing this amazing feat. We will continue to improve our instructional techniques in response to all of our students’ needs.”
Zega said the district continues to work with the Woodbridge Department of Health, New Jersey Department of Education and the
New Jersey Department of Health to monitor community safety conditions.
“We use scientific metrics to assess the
safety of our schools,” he said. “If at any time we feel the need to switch back to Phase 1, fully remote, we will make that decision only after careful consideration of all factors.”
Zega said any decisions made will be relayed to the public. He said they knew the district’s transition to a hybrid schedule would not be easy.
“We know that if the number of cases in our community increases, the cases in our schools would increase proportionately,” he said. “We are encouraged, however, that our safety measures, such as face masks, social distancing, and handwashing have effectively prevented any significant outbreaks, even when COVID-positive people are in our schools.”
Zega said parents and guardians can switch their children to a fully remote schedule at any time.
“We continue to be amazed by the outstanding effort by our teachers to persevere through challenge after challenge,” he said.
Woodbridge Township reported 49 new COVID-19 cases over a three-day period, which brings the total number of cases to 2,253, according to Mayor John McCormac in his coronavirus report on Oct. 19.
Nineteen new cases of COVID-19 were reported for Oct. 16, 13 new cases were reported for Oct. 17 and 17 new cases were reported for Oct. 18.
For updates and information, visit www.woodbridge.k12.nj.us.