The Oceanport School District
will switch to remote learning for a week, beginning today, after multiple
people in the district are showing COVID-19 symptoms, while the Lakewood Public
School District will stay in-person full-time despite 17 positive cases.
The cases in Oceanport stem
from Wolf Hill Elementary and Maple Place Middle School. The district has not said if the
individuals are students or staff.
The switch was announced on
the Oceanport School District
Facebook and website pages. After a call to the Monmouth
County Health Department, the district said it was in the best interest to go
virtual for a week. Many parents left comments on the page, letting the
district know their anger and frustrations at that decision.
The district says testing has
begun on students possibly exposed in the schools.
“Things are going well,”
says Laura Winters, Lakewood public school district superintendent. “I want to
thank the staff [and] the students of Lakewood public schools. As of
yesterday, since Sept 1, we have seven students and 10 teachers that have been
COVID positive, and I want to thank Ocean County Health Department working with
Dan and his team. They've been great and we have plans for testing at Lakewood
High School, which will start next week. “
Winters told Gov. Phil
Murphy Friday they're staying open despite 17 positive cases in the district.
News 12 also received a call Friday from Dawn Hiltner, of
the NJEA, saying at one point last week, 17 teachers were absent from the
middle school, leaving classes to be covered by security guards and
secretaries. She criticized the decision to remain open full time in person,
saying, “We are terrified for our members and students and families in Lakewood
who have to fear getting sick or worse."
Both Ocean and Monmouth
counties have seen COVID-19 cases on the rise recently, and are frequently
mentioned by the governor in his recent briefings.