Westfield Schools To Go Remote For A Week After Winter Break

WESTFIELD, NJ — Westfield Superintendent of Schools Margaret Dolan announced Friday that the first week after winter break, starting Jan. 4, schools will be remote.

Area districts like Cranford and Summit also plan to be remote after winter break, to account for a possible spread of coronavirus over the holidays. (Summit has even asked families to be back in New Jersey by Jan. 3 if they hope to return to on-site instruction mid-month.)

Dolan wrote Friday, "After consulting with Westfield Health Director Megan Avallone and the district’s school physician Dr. Susan Kaye, I am announcing that the week of Jan. 4 to 8 will be all-remote learning for students, with a return to hybrid, in-person instruction on Monday, Jan. 11.
While the instructional schedule will remain unchanged next week, I am notifying you now of the
one-week switch to all-remote learning following the winter break to allow families the time to
make plans."

She added, "The two-week pause to in-person instruction after Thanksgiving worked well. That pause kept confirmed cases of COVID out of our schools and helped to contain the numbers for the
community."

She said, "Public health officials continue to strongly caution against traveling this holiday season. If you make plans to leave New Jersey beyond the immediate region (New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Delaware), please know that, based on the most recent guidance from the Westfield Regional Health Department, the Westfield Public School District requires a 10-day quarantine upon return to New Jersey."

There were 71 new cases in Westfield from Dec. 11 through this past Thursday, Mayor Shelley Brindle said. Read more here.

Westfield schools recently went remote through Dec. 14, as 174 students were quarantined.

More than 316,000 Americans have now died of the virus. (Use this link to see the updated fatality count in the United States.)

Last week, New Jersey reached its highest death toll in six months from the virus, or 97 people in one day.

See the end of this story for where to get tested in Union County.

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