Morris Schools Not Closing Now, But Families Should Be Prepared

MORRISTOWN, NJ — The Morris School District wants to keep their faciliites open "as long as it is deemed safe," officials said. But that means families should prepare for sudden changes when they become necessary, a district announcement said Friday.

All 10 schools opened for in-person instruction last week. Officials reported new cases at eight of them — Morristown High School, Frelinghuysen Middle School, Alexander Hamilton Elementary School, Sussex Avenue Elementary School, Thomas Jefferson Elementary School, Alfred Vail Elementary School, Woodland Elementary School and Lafayette Learning Center.

Here's the district's COVID-19 dashboard as of Sunday's update:

"The Morris School District and our local health departments take the position, as we have stated previously, that our schools should be open as long as it is deemed safe," officials wrote. "We will continue to respond to active positive cases in our schools, not close preemptively in anticipation of an impending increase, unless we are instructed to do so by the local health departments."

But that means families should be prepared for sudden changes if they become necessary. The district listed the following examples:

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• Families whose students use MSD bus transportation must be prepared for sudden and unpredictable announcements that a bus may be delayed (anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour) or a bus route cancelled, due to bus driver shortages and the inability to secure substitutes in time.
• Everyone must be prepared for sudden and unpredictable announcements that a classroom, a school or several schools, or the entire district is temporarily switching to virtual learning.
• It is essential that all families have backup arrangements for childcare and transportation.
• The frustrations and complications that understandably arise from this “moment-to-moment” state of affairs are the unfortunate tradeoffs we must make in order to forestall a lengthy district closure.

The Morris Plains School District, meanwhile, announced Friday that Borough School will go remote through Dec. 16 because of multiple positive cases.

Morris County officials have reported 1,014 cases in Morristown, 556 in Morris Township and 173 in Morris Plains since the pandemic began.

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