From SOMSD:
The health and safety of our students is our priority. Therefore, under the recommendation of our local health departments (both Maplewood and South Orange) we must temporarily close the South Orange Middle School (SOMS) building to in-person instruction to protect the health of our students and staff.
Due to a “considerable uptick” in [COVID-19] student cases across all grade levels at SOMS, beginning on Tuesday, December 21, all students will transition to all-virtual instruction for the remainder of the school week.
We understand this may be a hardship for some of our families and can be disruptive to student engagement, however, the health and safety of our students and staff is paramount. According to current data, the cases at SOMS are not due to in-school transmission. However, our community transmission is high and the cases are rising. To prevent the possibility of additional cases we are moving to a virtual learning format. At this time, students will return to classrooms after winter break ends as scheduled on Tuesday, January 4, 2022.
Please read more in the attached letter.
From the Office of Superintendent Taylor
