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The Woodstown-Pilesgrove Regional School District will start the school year only with virtual classes, after a few high school athletes tested positive for the coronavirus, district officials said.
Woodstown-Pilesgrove is the first district in sparsely populated Salem County to announce that it will not offer classes in person at the beginning of the school year as a precaution against the virus, according to a database for school opening 2020-21 maintained by NJ Advance Media.
“Despite extensive planning leading to our school’s resumption, and extensive precautionary measures taken by our coaches and athletes, we have two student-athletes who are COVID-positive with several COVID test results pending,” the superintendent wrote. schools, Virginia Grossman, in a letter Friday to the Woodstown-Pilesgrove school community.
‘Teens,’ Grossman added, ‘I have to admit that I cannot guarantee the safety of our school community at this time with a personal, hybrid resume. The health and safety of all members of our school community improve dramatically by turning to a temporary, all virtual, distance learning start for the first six weeks of the school year. ”
Grossman opened the possibility that the ward would begin offering a shared personal instruction with effect from Oct. 19, pending a recommendation that will be presented to the Board of Education on its Sept. September 24, based on a review of the circumstances by the School Pandemic Response Committee and the Administrative Team.
Grossman’s letter did not identify the students as their sport, nor did it indicate whether Fall will be played this year. Woodstown High School fall sports include football, soccer and field hockey,
The president of the school board, Eileen Miller, referred questions to Grossman, who did not respond to requests for comment. The athletic director of Woodstown High School, Joseph Ursino, as well as other officials did not respond either.
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The announcement that two players will test positive came a day after the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA), the state governing body for high schools, announced Thursday that fall sports will be played this year. Even several school districts, including some in South Jersey, have decided to cancel their fall seasons.
Woodstown-Pilesgrove is not the first neighborhood to announce that a student-athlete had tested positive this preseason. In Atlantic County, Pleasantville local officials announced Tuesday night that a student athlete tested positive for COVID-19 after attending two weeks of on-campus practice. Those who have contact with the student are asked for self-quarantine. The district held a special meeting Tuesday night to look for a link to distance learning.
Woodstown-Pilesgrove is pre-K-through-12 regional district serving a total of about 1,700 Borough of Woodstown and Pilesgrove Township students, plus Alloway, Upper Pittsgrove, and Oldmans townships, which take high school students to send.
Officially, Salem County registered a total of 982 COVID-19 cases as of Saturday, resulting in 82 deaths. That’s out of 189,236 cases and 14,114 deaths across New Jersey. The for the most part rural area accounts for 0.5% of confirmed cases of the state, and 0.06% of deaths.
The province’s coronavirus figures are consistent with their relatively low and low density population. With an estimated 62,385 residents in 2019, Salem is the least populated of the 21 counties of New Jersey, making up well over 0.07% of the state’s population of 8.8 million.
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