Long Valley Students Go Remote After COVID Outbreak At PTA Event

LONG VALLEY, NJ — A COVID outbreak tied to a PTA social has forced Long Valley Middle School’s entire sixth grade class to switch to remote learning through Dec. 6, officials said.

The social, which was advertised on the Long Valley Middle School PTA’s website, was a “Neon Night” at the Mount Olive Sky Zone. The two-hour event on Nov. 19 was billed as a “blacklight bounce party.”

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Washington Township Schools Superintendent Dr. Peter Turnamian was one of the people who delivered the news to families and staff in a letter on Wednesday, stating the local health department has found “sufficient evidence to define an outbreak directly impacting our sixth grade.”

Turnamian said all sixth grade students will stay remote through Monday, Dec. 6, with all of the middle school’s before and after school activities additionally “suspended until Dec. 6.”

In a separate letter to families, Middle School Principal Mark Ippolito emphasized, “All known cases of COVID have been and will continue to be fully contact traced at Long Valley Middle School,” with the health department, noting all “in-school contacts have already been notified,” for positive cases that have already been confirmed.

“Likely we’ll continue to assist with contact tracing as exposed students convert to illness,” Ippolito added, stating notifications started this past Sunday evening, two days following the trip to the Sky Zone.

Turnamian asked families to monitor their children for symptoms and requested that families of children who attended the event and have siblings, should also watch the siblings for the possibility of symptoms.

“I know this is the last piece of news families want to receive the day before a much anticipated holiday,” Turnamian said. “Please know we remain vigilant with the implementation of our mitigation measures in our schools and fully committed to keeping our schools open while we navigate the conditions of the pandemic.”

Ippolito told parents in his letter that anyone who interacted with a child two days before the onset of symptoms, which still could crop up, “would be considered a close contact and should quarantine accordingly.”

“It appears that anyone who attended the Friday evening event would be well-served considering themselves (informally) a potential contact and behave as though there was a chance of exposure to positive cases,” Ippolito also wrote.

Ippolito said he planned to speak with members of the Middle School’s PTA on Wednesday, to encourage the group to “adopt the same safe practices for all of their events.”

Patch reached out to the PTA for further comment by email and couldn’t reach a spokesperson as of Wednesday afternoon.

Click here for Turnamian’s full letter.

New Jersey's Department of Health has just unveiled its new dashboard specific to schools, for a county-by-county breakdown, that tracks case counts per schools that voluntarily report them, as well as outbreaks. Find out more here.

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