EAST HANOVER — Maria C. Carrell, Superintendent of Schools, Hanover Park Regional High School District, issued the following information regarding the Coronavirus:
While there remains no immediate cause of alarm, I would like to provide you with information related to the Coronavirus (COVID-19).
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- While news of Coronavirus cases in New Jersey has raised public concerns in the past few days, our planning and communication with health officials has been ongoing for several weeks. In addition to our usual precautions, the following actions are in place:
- Regularly disinfecting common areas and high touch surfaces, using electrostatic sprayers when faculty and staff are not present.
- Ongoing communications and meetings with various health officials and emergency management teams at the local, county and state level.
- Administrative planning meetings to develop contingencies for a possible outbreak.
- Ongoing dialogue with local area school districts.
- Daily monitoring of Coronavirus news and information.
Out of an abundance of caution, based upon the information received over the course of this week, the district has made the decision to cancel all field trips, concerts, and activities which include but are not limited to large gatherings of visitors on school property, and staff professional development activities outside of the district through April 9, 2020. After April 9, the district will reassess the situation and make recommendations moving forward.
In addition, please note that the College Board intends to host SATs on the campuses of Hanover Park High School and Whippany Park High School on Saturday, March 14. The district is prepared to have the custodial staff onsite at the conclusion of the SATs to perform a thorough cleaning and sanitization of all areas on Saturday afternoon.
In the event that a school closure is necessary to protect public health, district staff have been working to plan for a potential closure of schools. Through the use of PowerSchool and Google Classroom, teachers will be able to communicate with students in a remote fashion using personal devices from home. If you do not have access to an electronic device for student educational use, please complete this Electronic Device Survey. Our plans will include the delivery of curriculum and practical accommodations for special needs students and English language learners.
If a closure should become necessary, our calendar currently includes the following:
– 2 unused snow days
– 2 additional days on June 24 & 25 leading to graduation
If it becomes necessary to close, these days could provide a buffer for our district to prepare for distance learning. The distance learning days will not begin to count towards the 180-day school year state requirement until the Board of Education is provided with a written directive by either the New Jersey Department of Health or the Health Officer in the local jurisdiction.
As we prepare for possible outcomes, we ask that families join our efforts by doing the following:
– Do not send children who are sick to school.
– Please call the attendance offices to report your child’s absence. Include your child’s name, grade and reason for absence.
– Notify your school if anyone in your family has recently traveled to a highly-impacted area. School personnel should also be notified if any member of the household becomes ill within 14 days of their return from any affected area. Our staff will notify local health officials as necessary.
For additional information, please see the following resources:
– www.cdc.gov
– https://www.nj.gov/health/
