Hackettstown Superintendent Welcomes Community Back For 2021-2022

HACKETTSTOWN, NJ — Students in the Hackettstown School District and their families are heading back into the classrooms on Sept. 2, with a vision of what the landscape will look like for the 2021-2022 school year.

Hackettstown’s Superintendent David Mango offered information to families about a range of topics, in a special “Superintendent’s Message” on the district’s website.

One of the main topics he addressed for the students’ returns was COVID, stating that although students are required to be in-person for this school year, unless they are quarantined, families should still keep a learning area in their home, should a student need to quarantine because they tested positive with COVID or were identified as a close contact of someone who had.

Other things he stated about COVID were pertaining to:

Masks - All students, staff and visitors will need to mask up within the district schools, unless they fall under Gov. Phil Murphy’s exemptions for health under Executive Order 251. Once Murphy reverses the order, Mango said, that masking can become optional again, Mango wrote in his message that the “district will revert back allowing optional wearing practices.”

Vaccine - The Hackettstown School District will be requesting vaccination information from parents, for contact tracing. Mango wrote that the Centers for Disease Control advocates for students ages 12 and up, to receive the Pfizer vaccination doses, if they’re eligible.

Contact Tracing - Close contacts of someone who has received a COVID-positive test, will be for people within six feet for 15 minutes or longer within 24 hours. Entire classes won’t be required to quarantine as they had in the 2020-2021 school year, but only people who are within the six-foot parameters.

Symptom Screening - Temperatures won’t be checked when students arrive, with parents taking the lead and referring to the symptom checklist that will be available in the district’s portal.

COVID-Testing - COVID tests will be available through Lab-Q Diagnostics at no cost to parents, students and staff within the district, with a mobile testing center at Hackettstown High School's parking lot every Wednesday night from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Social Distancing - There will be three feet distance maintained between people in the district during the 2021-2022 school year, unless Murphy changes the distance to six feet. If that occurs, Mango said that all school buildings will need to revert to an A/B full-day schedule.

Air Quality - There are new purification systems that will be in every classroom, bathroom, cafeteria, gym and nurse’s office, throughout the district. In portions of the Middle School and High School, there will be window A/C units in those buildings.

Mango said about before and after-school programs:

• Breakfast Clubs will be back, starting a half-hour before each school day at every school.
• The Catholic Charities’ after-school program at Willow Grove and Hatchery Hill, will also take place. Parents who are interested should contact the organization directly at www.catholiccharitiesusa.org.

He commented about school projects:

• Hatchery Hill School’s two new playgrounds should be finished by early November.
• Hatchery Hill and Willow Grove School’s learning cottages, with four new classrooms, should be done by October.
• There will be new security surveillance/L.E.N.S., as soon as possible, in the learning cottages and at Hackettstown High School’s Morrison Field and Bollard placement.

Principals will provide information in the near future to families, specific to their buildings.

For Mango’s full letter, click here. For his “Return to School” presentation with more information about each school, click here.

RELATED: Back To School: Hackettstown 2021-22 School Calendar

Questions or comments about this story? Have a news tip? Contact me at: jennifer.miller@patch.com.