Westwood Regional Middle School Delays In-Person Instruction

WESTWOOD, NJ — Westwood Regional Middle School students will wait a bit longer to return to in-person classes, and no, it isn't because a sixth grader tested positive for the coronavirus, the district said.

In a community update sent Friday, the district announced that ongoing construction has further delayed the start of in-person classes at the middle school, originally slated for Sept. 29.

The district said they won't have a temporary certificate of occupancy at that time, and have consequently announced in-person learning will begin on Oct. 5.

This decision only impacts the middle school, where students will continue remote learning.

"Our custodial, maintenance, and technology staff are also hard at work preparing and cleaning the spaces when they are available in order to get us back as soon as we have the green light to do so," the district said in their announcement.

Now, back to that positive coronavirus test.

In the same Friday update, the district announced they received information that a middle school student tested positive. They are "working closely" with a local health officer at Northwest Bergen Regional Health Consortium on contact tracing.

The district added that expanded health and safety protocols will be implemented, as originally planned, once students return to school, but admitted there's only so much they can do.

"Given the nature of the virus, it is likely that this will not be the first incident we encounter; therefore, I strongly urge our entire community to work with us to assure the health and safety of our students and staff," read the update.