East Windsor Schools Will Return On In-Person Learning Jan. 18

EAST WINDSOR, NJ — After one week of virtual classes, East Windsor Regional School District is on track to begin in-person learning on Jan. 18, the district said.

The district transitioned to online learning for a week due to staff shortages related to COVID-19.

“We have continued to closely monitor the number of reported positive COVID-19 cases for staff, which have steadily declined since last week. Therefore, we look forward to the return of in-person learning for all students in the East Windsor Regional School District on Tuesday, January 18, 2022,” school Superintendent Mark Daniels said in a letter to parents and guardians.

The impact of COVID-19 on staff during winter break “far surpassed” what the district had anticipated, Daniels said.

Between Dec. 24 to Jan. 12, a total of 132 staff members tested positive for COVID-19. This shows a drastic jump in figures when compared to four months, from Sep. 1 to Dec. 23, when 38 staff members tested positive.

“Fortunately, time has enabled the majority of those staff members impacted to transition back to work. In addition, so far this week, we have noticed more than a 60% reduction in the number of staff cases when compared to last week at this time,” Daniels said.

Daniels reiterated his commitment to in-person learning and said it was “the most effective environment” for students to learn.

“Despite the challenges ahead, we will continue to make every effort to ensure our schools remain open for in-person instruction,” he said.

Meanwhile, Gov. Phil Murphy extended the K-12 mask mandate due to the growing number of COVID-19 cases, on Tuesday.

Murphy declared another public health emergency in New Jersey on Tuesday, citing the extremely high numbers of COVID positives. Read More: NJ Public Health Emergency Extended To Fight 'Omicron Tsunami'

By declaring the state of emergency, Murphy is able to unilaterally extend a number of his emergency executive orders, all of which were set to expire at 11:59 p.m., this includes the mask mandates.

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