Summit High School Goes Remote For 14 Days Due To Coronavirus

SUMMIT, NJ — Summit Schools Superintendent Scott Hough announced Friday that Summit High School would go remote for nearly two weeks after three "individuals" from the school tested positive for coronavirus.

School will remain remote through Nov. 18 and resume on-site instruction on Nov. 19.

"The reasoning behind this difficult decision is to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 transmission in the school," Hough wrote. "Our custodial team will continue to thoroughly clean and disinfect the building to ensure staff and students are returning to a safe learning environment. All other schools in the district will remain open and continue in-person instruction. "

Summit has seen a number of coronavirus cases in the various schools, among students and staff. Read about prior cases and Summit's coronavirus statistics in October, along with how to get tested, here.

See the letter from Superintendent Hough below.

<blockquote>

Dear Summit Public Schools Community,
The District has been notified that three individuals from Summit High School have tested positive for COVID-19. Based on guidance from the Westfield Regional Health Department, we are closing Summit High School for in-person instruction for 14 days. Instruction will continue remotely beginning on Monday, November 9, 2020, through Wednesday, November 18, 2020. In-person instruction will resume on Thursday, November 19, 2020. All High School athletics and in-person extracurricular events will be cancelled during this two week period. The reasoning behind this difficult decision is to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 transmission in the school. Our custodial team will continue to thoroughly clean and disinfect the building to ensure staff and students are returning to a safe learning environment. All other schools in the District will remain open and continue in-person instruction.
Our Nursing Department, in collaboration with the Department of Health, is conducting contact tracing for these cases and will notify potential close contacts within 24 hours. If you are not contacted, you have not been identified as a potential close contact to any of these cases. We thank the Westfield Regional Health Department for helping us navigate through these circumstances.
Rest assured, we are doing everything we can to keep your children safe and healthy while in school. It is not a responsibility that any of us in the District take lightly. In order to keep schools open, we need cooperation from our entire school community. Continued diligence from every Summit family is critical in our ability to reopen the High School and prevent additional school closures.
As per the Department of Health, large social gatherings can significantly increase transmission of COVID-19, which will result in school closures. It is imperative that we limit the risk of transmission by avoiding large social gatherings. We thank everyone in advance for following these mitigation measures in an effort to keep our schools open.
Members of the Summit High School community can expect additional communications from Principal Grimaldi with specifics on instruction, scheduling, and returning. We thank the teachers and staff members for being flexible and pivoting so quickly, while keeping the education of our students a priority.
</blockquote>

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