From Columbia High School Principal Frank Sanchez:
I am very happy to announce that the November 7th SAT will NOT be canceled, but instead, it will be postponed to November 21, 2020. Thanks to the efforts of Dr. Taylor and SAT Coordinator, Ms. Kristin Barber, we were able to find additional proctors and every student who was scheduled to test this Saturday will be able to test on Saturday, November 21st at Columbia High School.
Although our building had been made ready for the nearly two hundred testers, the testing coordinators and I did not feel comfortable holding the exam as 1,832 more coronavirus cases and 18 additional deaths were confirmed in New Jersey yesterday, marking 17 consecutive days of more than 1,000 new cases. In addition, for the 4th straight day, the statewide rate of transmission hovered around 1.28, above the critical mark showing the outbreak here is expanding.
Understandably, many of our proctors were worried about those data points, especially when we consider that more than 60 of the test takers are from across Essex County, a COVID-hotspot.
We really wanted to provide our students with this opportunity and we spent much of the weekend re-working our logistical plans and holding out hope for better state-wide data. Yesterday afternoon we canceled the event for this Saturday, but our team worked for the past 24 hours trying to re-schedule a test for later this month.
This was a difficult decision because we understand how much our students want to demonstrate their academic strengths to colleges and universities while still keeping the safety of our students and staff as our top priority. That is why we feel this decision, postponing the test until November 21st, is the correct one.
