School Reopening Continues In West Orange After Super Bowl

WEST ORANGE, NJ — The West Orange Public School District is staying the course on the timeline to gradually reopen for its hybrid learning plan.

On Monday – the day after the Super Bowl – students in the district’s lower grades as well as special education students returned to buildings for on-site learning, part of a multi-phase effort to reopen amid the coronavirus pandemic.

West Orange middle schools are scheduled to begin for students on Feb. 16, and the high school on March 1, a timeline that remains “unchanged” as of Friday, Superintendent Scott Cascone reported.

• See related article: Coronavirus Cases Reported As West Orange Schools Reopen

“The New Jersey northeast regional positivity rate according to the most recent state department of health COVID-19 activity level report was 9.69, placing it in the moderate range,” Cascone said.

“The local positivity rate as reported to me today by the West Orange Office of Emergency Management last week was 7.62 and this week was 7.51,” Cascone added.

It remains to be seen if one of the biggest events in professional sports will have any effect on that positivity rate, however.

Leading up to the big game, West Orange school administrators repeatedly warned families to be safe if they gathered to watch the Super Bowl. Some tips included:

• “Avoid indoor gatherings with those who are outside of your immediate household to the extent possible. If you do engage in any type of indoor gathering, wear face coverings and social distance.”
• “Do not visit those who are immunocompromised.”
• “Keep your number of interactions and the number of people at any gathering as low as possible.”
• “Do not go anywhere if you’re sick, and do not dismiss it as a cold or allergies.”

STAFF UPDATES, VACCINATIONS

On Friday, Cascone also offered an update on how the coronavirus pandemic is affecting local teachers and other school staff.

While some West Orange residents have been calling for schools to reopen, others have been demanding that schools stick with all-virtual learning until staff have gotten COVID-19 vaccinations.

“I joined the superintendents of Essex County in the submission of a letter to Gov. Phil Murphy imploring him and the state government to more aggressively prioritize school staff for the vaccines,” Cascone said.

• See related article: COVID Vaccines In Essex County: Where, How To Get A Shot

“As previously reported, our personnel office has continued to operate in good faith with our employees to extend as many accommodations as possible to those individuals for whom reporting to work represents a significant health risk and/or for somebody with whom they reside or for whom they serve as primary caretaker,” he continued.

“Please join me in thanking and celebrating our community’s educators for standing in the gap and helping to stem, if not turn, the tide of this epic labor in which we have found ourselves for almost a full year now,” Cascone added.

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