West Orange Cheer Event Didn't Cause COVID Closure, Official Says

WEST ORANGE, NJ — West Orange High School will be temporarily closing because of coronavirus cases. But the decision isn't related to a recent banquet hosted by the cheer team and its coaches, a district official says.

On Monday, administrators announced that the high school will close for two weeks due to cases of COVID-19 among the school community. Students and staff won’t return until April 19. Instruction will continue remotely.

Contact tracing has been conducted, and notifications to students and staff have been taking place, officials said. Read More: West Orange High School Closing For 2 Weeks; Multiple COVID Cases

After the district’s announcement, an online petition was launched, which charged that the closure was connected to a formal banquet held on March 7 by the West Orange High School cheer team.

The petition alleged:

“Following the conclusion of both their outdoor and indoor seasons, the team members planned an 80-person indoor event where masks were scarce. Attendees broke various CDC guidelines and [West Orange] guidelines. Both coaches, team members, and families can be seen taking photos without social distancing or masks.”

The petition called for punishment for any cheerleaders and coaches who were involved in the event, including banning the students from their graduation ceremony and outdoor prom, or disbanding the team “indefinitely.”

But according to Superintendent Scott Cascone, the cheer team’s banquet isn’t the reason the high school is being closed.

On Tuesday, Cascone told Patch that two virus cases caused the high school closure. The first case came to light late last week and involved a person who had been on campus. The second was reported Monday and involved a person who had been in the building.

There was no clear connection between the two cases, so after consulting with local medical professionals and administrators, the choice was made to close the high school, Cascone said.

“People jump to the conclusion that it had something to do with the banquet … it didn’t,” the superintendent added.

There were two confirmed cases of COVID-19 that resulted from the cheer team event among an adult and a child, which were both connected. However, those two cases were separate from the ones that caused the high school closure, Cascone pointed out.

“Since that time, we haven’t had any further cases reported from the event,” he said.

The superintendent said that as far as he knows, capacity at the banquet didn’t violate the governor’s current coronavirus rules for occupancy.

In addition, any child who attended the event was attending class remotely at the time, and there was an understanding they would remain virtual for two weeks after their season ended, Cascone said.

The superintendent said school officials had no role in organizing the banquet — but perhaps they should have.

“When you have booster club events, there’s obviously a nexus between that and the school district,” he said. “But the danger, if you will, for lack of a better word, is that the district sort of owns the event from a public relations standpoint, but doesn’t necessarily own it operationally.”

Moving forward, there’s a big takeaway from the incident, Cascone said: The school district needs to “own everything,” including any activity that involves students in any shape or form.

“If we’re going to support any kind of banquet or end-of-season celebration, we need to put our arms around it and manage it,” Cascone said.

That may involve lending a helping hand to well-meaning parent groups or other school community members, he added. For example, the district is looking into getting a tent, which would give people a chance to celebrate events safely outdoors as the weather warms up.

But the superintendent added that the adults running such events need to do their part, too.

“I don’t need to articulate to them that this has become a situation that needs to be managed,” he said.

Send local news tips and correction requests to eric.kiefer@patch.com

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