Woodbridge High Schools Go Virtual Due To COVID Staff Shortages

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — All three high schools in the Woodbridge school district have now gone virtual this week due to a teacher shortage.

The Woodbridge public school district — one of the largest in the state — is doing its very best to remain in person and not go virtual, vowed superintendent Joe Massimino in a letter sent home to parents over the New Year's weekend. However, on Sunday night, it was announced that the three high schools had to be virtual for three days, Jan. 3, 4 and 5, due to COVID-related teacher shortages.

Woodbridge schools are also currently experiencing a shortage of school bus drivers and buses were late picking kids up Monday morning, the first day back from winter break, parents reported.

"Due to our inability to offer in-person instruction, we unfortunately must pivot to remote," said Woodbridge High School.

Also on Monday, the Middletown school district, another large district in Monmouth County, said it had to go to a snow day in part because of so many teacher absences.

The Linden Walmart also had to close on Dec. 29/30 due to so many employees out sick with COVID, NBC reported. Multiple Pennsylvania schools had to close Monday due to "significant staff concerns."

The CDC has now reduced the recommended COVID quarantine time to five days.

"Is there a chance we will have to go remote? Unfortunately, yes," said Woodbridge superintendent Massimimo in this Jan. 1 letter. "Each and every day we strive to provide access to opportunities within our great schools. However, COVID-19 continues to create disruptions to our schools that impact us all. We are prepared for individual classes, individual schools, or our entire district to pivot to remote instruction should it be necessary ... We acknowledge that the delays in receiving testing results will have an impact on our ability to appropriately staff and supervise our schools; therefore, we ask our school families and community to make the necessary preparations to facilitate remote instruction if necessary."

Correction: Patch originally reported that only Woodbridge High School was virtual. This is incorrect; it is all three high schools in the district. We regret the error.

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