Another School In Cranford Goes Remote For Two Weeks

CRANFORD, NJ — Nearly a week after Cranford announced that the K-8 Hillside Avenue School would go all-remote for two weeks due to three coronavirus cases, Superintendent Scott Rubin announced Wednesday afternoon that Orange Avenue School will start two weeks of remote learning on Thursday as well.

Rubin wrote in a letter, "The purpose of this letter is to inform you that an individual at OAS Middle School tested positive for COVID-19 and is currently self-isolating. The Township Health Office, who is conducting contact tracing, will communicate directly with those individuals who have been identified as a close contact and will advise those families accordingly."

Close contact is defined by the state as someone who was within 6 feet of an infected person for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period starting from two days before illness onset (or, for asymptomatic patients, two days prior to test specimen collection) until the time the patient is isolated.

Rubin wrote, "Please be advised that parents/guardians of any student at OAS Middle School who have one or more classes with someone who tested positive for COVID-19 have already been notified."

Due to Thanksgiving break, OAS is set to resume in-person instruction on Nov. 30.

Rubin said the Health Department based its decision on the following:

• This is the third case within the last four days at OAS
• Union County cases are on the rise
• "We are in a moderate zone according to the regional COVID-19 activity level matrix."

Rubin wrote, "Our purpose in temporarily transitioning is to mitigate any reasonable possibility of spread within the school, which at the present time, we have no evidence of."

Other schools

Other Cranford schools, with the exception of Hillside Avenue School, will operate on their current schedules.

However, Rubin has sent out letters in the last week about individual cases at several other schools, including Cranford High School, Walnut Elementary School, and Livingston Avenue School. Read more here.

Read more about coronavirus in Cranford, and where to get tested, here.

Other information

The district had offered an all-remote or hybrid learning plan for this year.

Coronavirus cases are on the rise in New Jersey, and a week ago, Gov. Phil Murphy said that more than 1,500 people in the state are hospitalized with the virus, the highest number since June.

Over the weekend, two area high schools announced they'd go remote for 14 days: Westfield High School and Summit High. The Westfield schools said they had 23 positive cases in the high school.

The Cranford school district calendar is here.

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