On Tuesday evening, Superintendent Chuck Klaus issued another COVID-19 missive to district parents, revealing that Haddonfield Middle School would be moved to all-virtual learning, effective Dec. 16 through Dec. 23.
This latest move is intended to preserve the structure of schooling as the district moves toward Christmas break in the wake of a sharp, continued rise in COVID-19 cases both in the community, as well as county-and-region-wide.
The body of the letter read:
“This decision was made after consulting with the Camden County Department of Health. Factors to close included 6 confirmed COVID+ cases in the last 4 days, 4 of which involved contact tracing and quarantines due to close contacts. Additionally, there has been a significant decrease in the number of students physically in school due to quarantine and an increase in requests for full virtual instruction. The educational benefit of having significantly more students virtual and fewer students in person also played a role in this decision. Keeping the safety and wellness of our students and staff as our top priority, we believe implementing the full virtual model is the optimal way to proceed.
“Please follow this link for specific details regarding the HMS December 16-23, 2020 schedule. Please keep in mind the schedule varies as we work around the conference schedule.
“This decision was not arrived at easily. We hoped to stay the course and continue to offer in-person instruction; however, it became evident that the best course of action was to take these precautionary steps.”
Klaus added that while the middle school will be 100-percent virtual until the Christmas recess, Haddonfield Memorial High School — which had been all-virtual following the Thanksgiving break due to a number of factors relating to the start of the month-long COVID spike — will remain in the hybrid model.
