Mercer Co. School Moves To Remote Learning After COVID Outbreak

MERCER COUNTY, NJ — Multiple COVID-19 outbreaks in Robbinsville schools have resulted in the district pivoting to virtual learning, the district announced.

Robbinsville High School is closed from Sept. 20 – 24, due to a significant increase in COVID-19 cases, Superintendent Brian Betze said.

Seventy-five students from Pond Middle School who tried out for the soccer team have had to quarantine, Betze said in a video message. Three “unrelated outbreaks or infections” were reported at the high school.

“Right now I have asked the state to give me permission to close the high school, because we are experiencing just an explosion of positive cases and many students needing to quarantine,” Betze said. The State of New Jersey Department of Health and the local health department advised the district to temporarily close the high school for five school days.

Students are expected to return on Monday, Sept. 27, “as long as they do not exhibit symptoms, have a positive COVID test or are waiting on the results from a COVID test and the Department of Health does not require us to be closed for a longer period of time,” Betze said in a Facebook message.

“All students are expected to be at home for remote instruction. This will give the state and local officials time to conduct contact tracing and the district the ability to do a deep cleaning of the high school.”

Betze asked the school community to work together with the district and thanked the Mayor and health department staff for their support. “Please be honest in completing the COVID form, please work with school officials to assist with contact tracing,” Betze said.

“If we work together, we can get through this time and be stronger for it.”

Meanwhile, the outbreak caused the township to cancel its much-awaited Community Day Festival on Saturday.

“It is with profound regret that due to an outbreak of COVID-19 at all three Robbinsville schools and a spike in cases throughout Robbinsville Township, our Community Day Festival scheduled for Saturday, September 18, 2021 at Community Park has been canceled,” Robbinsville Mayor and Director of Public Safety Dave Fried said in a statement late Friday.

Fireworks were supposed to take place as scheduled at 8 p.m., but residents were asked to remain with their vehicles and maintain a safe social distance.

“We’re obviously incredibly disappointed and heartbroken about this sudden development, as we were really looking forward to getting back to normalcy. However, the safety of our residents is paramount and comes before everything else, “Fried said.

“I know how disappointed many of you must be, but I cannot in good conscience move forward with this event in light of this outbreak. We wish a speedy recovery to all those infected and we will continue to work to ultimately break the back of this virus.”

As of Friday, Sept. 17, there were 81 new confirmed cases, with two COVID-19 related deaths reported in Mercer County. This takes the cumulative total to 34,394 coronavirus cases and 938 coronavirus-related deaths in the County since the pandemic began last year.

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