Health and Safety Weekly Update

Before I provide you an update on our first week, we must acknowledge and remember the lives lost on 9/11. South Brunswick lost 4 lives in the attacks along with thousands of other lives and it is important that we never forget all of the families impacted. Our love and support to all of those impacted must never dim.

School Year 20-21

Today marks the end of the first week of the 20-21 school year. There truly is no way to adequately thank our amazing staff for everything that has made it possible to open so smoothly. Of course, like any opening there have been some bumps along the way, but at least no one has gotten stuck behind any big yellow school buses this week and there are no reports of any buses showing up late!! Instead, we have shifted from opening week transportation issues, to opening week tech issues. Our tech teams are working around the clock supporting our staff and students and it is certainly quite an undertaking. Tech has, of course, never been more important to be functioning as it is our primary source of reaching our students. While I am sure some of the issues are related to newness and opening week glitches, please stay in contact with your teacher and school should you have any issues that need attention.

I do want to mention one major issue that occurred at the HS this week. You may be familiar with the term “Zoombombing”, which refers to unwanted visitors entering a Zoom meeting and causing a disruption to the meeting/class. We, along with many schools nationwide have been subjected to this. In some instances, the disruptions can be categorized as either a bias incident or sexual harassment. Please know that the SBPD is involved and investigating and when those responsible are found, they will be prosecuted. There is no place in our schools (whether virtual or in-person) for Bias or sexually charged harassment. We do want you to know that we have a fix for this and HS students and families will receive more information shortly.

As we move into our second week, I look forward to settling into some routines as we get used to the new normal. Of course, we will be monitoring all things health and safety in the District, but also in nearby towns and across the state. Our goal remains to get our students back into the schools safely. This leads me to share a report I will be providing weekly to the school community. This Health & Safety (H&S) report will provide you with a snapshot of how things are looking when it comes to all matters of health and safety. We have a small sample size of in-person student happenings in both athletics and our remote learning centers (RLC’s) that we will use to provide you with a detailed report each week. Our first report can be found below.

I want to thank all of you for your continued support and cooperation during this first phase in our return to school.

Sincerely,

Scott

Regional Rating

Moderate

https://www.nj.gov/health/cd/documents/topics/NCOV/COVID_19_Report_Week_36.pdf

South Brunswick Health Dept. Rating

Suppressed (Let's keep it up South Brunswick!!)

Number of cases (last 7 days) in South Brunswick

11

Number of school age children cases (last 7 days) in South Brunswick

1

Number of students/adults in schools with no cases (# of cases/# of people)

0/490

Athletics Reporting

N/A (Athletics starts up on 9/14)

Number of students/staff sent home during the day with symptoms

None

Number of students not able to follow health and safety directions

None

Quarantine requirements in the school (quantity w/reason)

None

State Transmission Rate

1.09

https://www.nj.gov/health/cd/documents/topics/NCOV/COVID_19_Report_Week_36.pdf

Regional Positivity Rate (Central East)

1.96

https://www.nj.gov/health/cd/documents/topics/NCOV/COVID_19_Report_Week_36.pdf

Regional Case Rate (Central East)/100,000 residents

3.55

https://www.nj.gov/health/cd/documents/topics/NCOV/COVID_19_Report_Week_36.pdf

What guidance exists at this time.

• Indoor dining allowed 25% capacity, Capacity limits still in place, Fall athletics in operation, all mask and social distancing requirements still in effect

• East Brunswick reported student cases. East Brunswick High School quarantines a few students, East Brunswick Vo-Tech HS closed for 14 days

Self-reflection effectiveness rating (1-4)

3 (Not bad for Week 1!!)

Effective Rating Rubric

Incidents of student or parent compliance

1 student arrived to school with symptoms, never left the car and did not attend the RLC

Incidents of staff compliance

1 staff member arrived to school with a fever, was flagged upon arrival and never entered the building.