UPDATE: Includes statistics from the district superintendent.
For the first time since March 2020, students at Morristown High School and Frelinghuysen Middle School will be returning to five-days-a-week in-class instruction.
Students from grades 9 and 12 will return on May 10, 2021. Grades 10 and 11 return on May 17. Middle School students also will be returning during this period, a district spokesperson said.
A few weeks ago, the Morris School District announced it would wean itself of hybrid schedules when Morris County’s COVID-19 risk level was downgraded from “high” to “moderate” for three weeks.
“Our hope with this plan is that we can create a more cohesive sense of community and provide our students with meaningful steps toward normalcy as we end the year on a positive note,” MHS Principal Mark Manning said in a message to parents and students this week.
The four-hour abbreviated school day–a sore spot for some parents–won’t change. All-virtual instruction will continue for students who have chosen that option.
“Students who chose to attend school in-person during the 4th marking period will be expected to come to school each day they are assigned to be in school. If they access learning online, they will be marked absent,” according to Manning.
For those resuming five-day-per week classes, mask wearing at all times will be required, along with frequent hand-washing. Learning spaces will be sanitized at the start of each class, and hallway- and stairway foot traffic will continue to flow in one direction.
COVID cases are at their lowest level since September, and the statewide transmission rate on Tuesday was .27, said District Superintendent Mackey Pendergrast. Anything below 1.0 indicates new infections are waning.
More than 500 of the district’s 5,700 students have been vaccinated so far, and approximately 90 percent of teachers are inoculated, Pendergrast said.
(COVID vaccines are not yet available to anyone under 16, although the Pfizer vaccine is poised for emergency approval for persons as young as 12.)
About 65 percent of Morristown High students and 80 percent of middle schoolers have opted for in-school instruction, Pendergrast said.
Of course, all of this comes with the standard coronavirus caveat:
“If conditions change suddenly we will press pause,” Pendergrast said.
Where can l get one of those signs?
This is sad, school is practically over and they are touting going back now? MSD may have started year with more in person, but MANY districts had timelines and are in FULL TIME now. Mt. Olive is a great example. The kids have missed out on so much socially and academically. Parents deserve to know the plan for September now. Would love to know how many families have moved to private school–it’s amazing how they kept kids in school full day this whole time! Do schools realize everyone lives a normal life after school and on the weekends-why do they continue to keep schools locked down? Why is the district not accountable to parents?
Nothing like having 5 weeks left till school ends and being able to go back 5 days a week if you are grades 6 – 12! How in the world does the district know that 500 students were vaccinated? I guess HIPAA went out the window! Love that sign that is posted in the article! I have seen those around.
What is the reason we can’t be full day? What does union agreement say???
Big deal 5 days a week for 4 hours a day. We should only pay the teachers for 4 hours…watch how fast they’d get back in the classroom. They’re probably at Costco or at happy hour at the bars in Morristown by 12:30. What a joke.