UPDATE: Chatham Middle School Going Virtual Until Jan. 11

Update: Chatham Middle School will go remote until returning Jan. 11 to in-person classes. The district's Wednesday updated followed announcements from earlier this week that someone in the school tested positive for the coronavirus and dozens went under quarantine.

Chatham Middle School has been remote since Tuesday. More than 40 students and several employees went under quarantine, LaSusa said Wednesday.

"All parties who were close contacts of the positive individual have been notified," wrote Superintendent Dr. Michael LaSusa, "but health officials believe that a two-week pause to in-person instruction is warranted due to the level of community transmission right now and the number of contacts who were in school on both Friday and Monday."

CHATHAM, NJ — The School District of the Chathams will go remote for the week after winter break. Officials would like to avoid a staff shortage, and they believe some people may become sick when school's out, Superintendent Dr. Michael LaSusa said Tuesday in a letter.

Schools will go remote from Jan. 4-8 and expects a Jan. 11 return to in-person instruction. Many students and some staff will travel during winter break, LaSusa said.

"We have been stretched extremely thin all year long from a staffing perspective, and the quarantines required for travel out of state will be extremely difficult for us to manage," he said. "In addition, if past experience is any kind of predictor, we will almost certainly have some staff and certainly some students who come down with illness after the holiday break. This may be COVID-related or may simply be the typical illness we experience in January."

Shortly after returning from Thanksgiving weekend, Chatham High School went virtual for two weeks. Officials confirmed seven new coronavirus cases at the school in the days following the holiday break. Read more: Chatham High To Go Remote For 2 Weeks After 7 New COVID Cases

The middle school also went virtual Tuesday and Wednesday. Forty students and several employees quarantined because of a case within the school, LaSusa said.

LaSusa hopes that going virtual for a week will prevent future individual school closures.

The school district's coronavirus dashboard shows six cases in the high school and three in Chatham Middle School since Dec. 5. No cases have been reported in the elementary school since Dec. 5.

See the dashboard as of Wednesday morning below:

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