Morris School District Going Virtual Until January

MORRISTOWN, NJ — The Morris School District will go virtual until January. In the Wednesday announcement, officials also said 93 cases within the district have been identified in the last month.

Schools will return Jan. 4 for in-person learning. Among several reasons, they also said some parents haven't followed coronavirus protocols.

"Some parents are not following quarantine restrictions for their children," the district letter said, "not informing the school when children or family members have been exposed or have tested positive for COVID-19, or sending children to school even when they are symptomatic; health and school officials fear that such instances of noncompliance will continue, needlessly exposing hundreds of students, staff, and families to the coronavirus."

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The district made the decision based off several factors, including the following:

• the cases identified in MSD schools within the past month
• local cases increasing "dramatically" after Thanksgiving
• an increase in activity at testing sites, suggesting an anticipated increase in new cases by the end of the week
• health officials saw a decrease in active positive cases from Nov. 16-25. "This means that a short-term closure can help slow community spread."
• state officials have designated all of New Jersey as "high-risk," according to their weekly transmission reports.

Click here for more details.

The Morris School District's COVID-19 dashboard — last updated Sunday — shows 40 active cases within the district. Here's the latest table:

County officials reported 18 new cases Wednesday in Morristown, bringing the town to 1,094 cases since the pandemic began. The state Department of Health reported 184 new cases Wednesday in Morris County, bringing the area to 15,763 cases, 729 confirmed deaths and 157 probable deaths since the pandemic began.

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