Barnegat Middle School Shifts To Virtual Learning

BARNEGAT, NJ — Russell O. Brackman Middle School shifted to virtual learning instruction on Friday and through next week due to a rising number of quarantined individuals at the school.

In a letter to parents, Principal Jared Burke said students will resume in-person classes on Nov. 29, with the exception of individuals who have been specifically instructed to quarantine until a later date.

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“That means if you have been contacted by the school regarding your student and given a return to school date other than 11/29, you must follow the date instructed for your student,” Burke wrote.

The school reported 14 positive COVID cases among students and staff, with another 50 individuals on quarantine due to close contacts, according to Superintendent Brian Latwis.

“We were seeing early evidence of a possible outbreak and instead of letting it continue and see where it led we opted to err on the side of safety and switch to virtual,” Latwis said in an email.

Russell O. Brackman is the only middle school in Barnegat for grades 6-8, with a population of about 735 students and 68 teachers. The building will be closed Friday and over the weekend to allow a maintenance team to perform a thorough sanitization of the building.

Only the Brackman school’s parent/teacher conferences will be conducted virtually following the same appointment schedule that has already been established. If parents cannot participate virtually for a scheduled appointment, Burke said parents should email the teacher.

After-school activities and clubs on Thursday were canceled. There will be no in-person meetings for clubs or sports teams while the school remains on virtual learning, Burke said.

Winter sports tryouts will also be postponed until the district returns to in-person instruction on Nov. 29.

“This means that the originally scheduled first games on 12/1 and 12/2 will also be postponed in order to ensure that we can adequately prepare our student athletes with the requisite number of practices prior to competition,” Burke said.