No Quarantine After Travel For Unvaccinated Glen Rock Students

GLEN ROCK, NJ — For many in New Jersey and across the country, Thanksgiving means a couple hours of travel. For students in Glen Rock, even travel outside the tri-state region won't result in a quarantine upon their return to school.

Superintendent Brett Charleston clarified the district policy in a recent letter, confirming that unvaccinated students will be required to submit a COVID-19 PCR test between three and five days after their return. However, those students won't be asked to quarantine during that time, and will be allowed to attend school while they await their results.

Only if a student tests positive, or is found to be in close contact with someone who tested positive, will a quarantine period be required, Charleston said.

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However, he added that it's important for parents to watch their children's symptoms, and to keep them home during any period prior to receiving their test results if they are showing them.

Sending symptomatic students to school "creates an unsafe environment where students and staff could potentially be exposed to someone that is COVID-19 positive, thus resulting in preventable quarantining of students and staff and the potential closure of a school. It takes a collective effort from all stakeholders to ensure that we continue to keep our schools open and safe," Charleston said.

Future of Masking

In the same letter, dated Nov. 16, Charleston said he anticipated that Gov. Phil Murphy would "gradually ease" masking restrictions for vaccinated students and staff, and even potentially do the same for unvaccinated people. The district, he added, "will follow any change in guidance regarding masks."

The statewide school mask mandate is set to expire on Jan. 11, 2022, and Gov. Phil Murphy was non-committal on whether it would be extended, or for how long.

"We are not there yet on lifting the mandate but please God we will be. I hope it's sooner than later," said Murphy about the school mask mandate during a news conference Monday.

He did provide a glimpse into the future, stating that he believed lifting the mandate would be a phased approach when the time comes.

"I continue to envision something that looks phased," said Murphy. "In other words, the 12 and up kids have been eligible a lot longer and their penetration rate in the vaccine is a lot more significant than the 4 to 11 crowd. That is to our way of thinking as far as a guideline."

Read more: Lifting NJ School Mask Mandate Might Be A Phased Approach: Murphy