All Red Bank Primary School students, and some in the middle school, will revert to remote instruction Thursday, Superintendent Jared Rumage said in an announcement Wednesday.
He cited a number of COVID-19-related factors as driving the change.
Red Bank Regional High School goes back to a full-remote schedule Monday after a student who was present for two days last week tested positive for COVID-19, Superintendent Lou Moore announced Sunday.
The construction fence surrounding an addition at Red Bank Regional High School has come down, in time for a resumption of a hybrid schedule that will bring students back to the Little Silver campus starting Monday, Superintendent Lou Moore announced Thursday.
But in Red Bank borough, RBR’s largest sending district, the primary and middle schools will remain off-limits to students and staff for another month due to the resurgent COVID-19 pandemic, Superintendent Jared Rumage said.
Red Bank schools, including the middle school, continued on all-remote learning Monday after a planned return to a hybrid schedule was postponed. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Governor Phil Murphy warned of a delayed post-Thanksgiving COVID-19 surge Monday, while cautioning New Jersey residents against gathering over the coming holiday season.
Red Bank borough’s two public schools would immediately switch to all-remote instruction Friday in response to “several positive cases of COVID-19 across the district,” Superintendent Jared Rumage wrote in an announcement Thursday night.
A student being screened for elevated temperature on September 14. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
[CORRECTION: Red Bank’s action was prompted by a positive test of an adult, not a student, Rumage said.]
By JOHN T. WARD
One person each at the middle schools in Fair Haven and Red Bank have tested positive for COVID-19, the respective district superintendents reported over the weekend.
Day one of the new school year at Red Bank Middle School began with several lessons before students even reached their classrooms Monday.
Among them: stand six feet apart while waiting your turn to enter the building. Then, stand on the red dot while a touchless scanner takes your temperature.
With in-person instruction at 50-percent capacity, four days a week, “we feel confident we can provide a safe environment” in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, Superintendent Jared Rumage said at a board of ed meeting last month. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
Delayed three months by the COVID-19 pandemic, Fair Haven’s ‘Transition Day’ rolled down Third Street Thursday afternoon.
As per custom in the borough, where an estimated 75 percent of kids regularly bike to school, a group of rising fifth-graders and teachers from the Knollwood Middle School rode across town to Viola Sickles elementary. There, they picked up the incoming fourth-grade class and rode back, parade-style, for an orientation.
Along the way, the riders – including a suit-wearing Superintendent Sean McNeil – were cheered and showered with streamers and confetti.
“It’s the best,” McNeil told redbankgreen. “I think this was exactly what we needed right now, because everybody’s got these tricky school openings, and so it’s nice to get to a place of normalcy and remember what we’re doing this for.”
See more photos below. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
Red Bank Primary School nurse Cathy Reardon with coats donated in 2018. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
Expecting its “most demanding year year yet,” the Red Bank-based Knights of Columbus council #525 is seeking community support for a four-year-old Coats for Kids program.
Under a national Knights of Columbus program, the Red Bank-based council acquires new winter coats at a deep discount.
The traffic flow at the middle school will be reversed to enhance social distancing during student drop-off and pick-up, Rumage said. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
While some 180 school districts throughout New Jersey are pursuing plans for all-virtual instruction, Red Bank’s is on track to open September 14 under a plan that puts students into classrooms two days a week, Superintendent Jared Rumage said Tuesday.
Students would receive in-school instruction just two days a week under the plan unveiled Wednesday. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank school officials have begun nailing down a COVID-19-era reopening plan while “standing on shifting ground,” in the words of a board of education member.
On Wednesday, the district unveiled “the most likely scenario for September” in the form of a plan that calls for a mix of classroom and at-home learning.
In this video posted on YouTube Sunday, Red Bank public school teachers and staffers offer upbeat reminders to students to wash their hands and check their emails for class assignments and other updates.
The weather outlook for the Greater Red Bank Green isn’t as upbeat, with gray skies and cool temperatures expected Monday. Then again, conditions for focussing on school work should be ideal. Check out the extended National Weather Service forecast below.
A woman with her face covered by a scarf speaks with a motorist on Elm Place in Red Bank Tuesday. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
[See UPDATE below]
By JOHN T. WARD
An awful “paradox” was evident as deaths from COVID-19 soared and the number of new cases continued to ease in New Jersey, Governor Phil Murphy said Wednesday.
Governor Phil Murphy removes a protective mask at the start of his daily crisis briefing Tuesday. (YouTube screengrab. Click to enlarge.)
[See UPDATE below]
By JOHN T. WARD
After a two-day lull, the deaths of another 232 New Jersey residents have been attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Phil Murphy said Tuesday.
At the same time, recent data suggest a possible “flattening” of new coronavirus cases, he said.
Monmouth County’s COVID-19 death toll nearly tripled last week, but has slowed in recent days. (Graph by Voro.com. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
New Jersey’s losses in the COVID-19 pandemic rose again Sunday, when the monthlong death toll surpassed 1,000, Governor Phil Murphy reported Monday.
He and a top law enforcement official also blasted attendees of a Rumson lawn concert held Saturday for alleged “vile” comments directed at police.
By JOHN T. WARD
Governor Phil Murphy’s administration reported 71 new deaths of New Jersey residents in the COVID-19 pandemic Sunday, a sharp drop from the 200 reported a day earlier.
The death toll also continued to ease in Monmouth County, the state reported.
Mask-wearers lined up for free meals at Lunch Break in Red Bank Friday. Murphy singled out Lunch Break for praise in the crisis. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Governor Phil Murphy paused for a moment of silence Saturday after announcing another 200 New Jersey deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Surgical masks and improvised face coverings were a common sight Friday, as here on Prospect Avenue in Little Silver. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
[See UPDATE below]
By JOHN T. WARD
Flags across New Jersey were ordered lowered “immediately and indefinitely” as the carnage of COVID-19 claimed another 113 state residents, Governor Phil Murphy said Friday.
The symbolic gesture will serve as a “constant memorial” during “one of the greatest tragedies” in the state’s history, Murphy said at his daily briefing on the crisis.
A socially-distanced boat heads out onto our beautiful Navesink River off Red Bank Thursday. (Click to enlarge.)
[See UPDATE below]
By JOHN T. WARD
New Jersey added 182 more deaths to the COVID-19 toll as the number of state residents known to be infected blew past 25,000, Governor Phil Murphy said Thursday.
A new month begins with a lovely sunrise over our beautiful Navesink River, as seen from the Route 35 bridge Wednesday morning. (Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
With COVID-19-related death and infection rates rising faster than ever, “we’re beginning to feel the real strain on the critical care” segment of the healthcare system in the northern part of New Jersey, state Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said Wednesday.
A hospital use projection for New Jersey by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation shows an anticipated surge in the first half of April. Projections assume continued social distancing and other protective measures. To view the methods used to produce the projection, click here. (Graphic by IHME. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Sixty-nine New Jerseyans died Monday as the global COVID-19 contagion continued its tear through the state, Governor Phil Murphy said Tuesday.
Of 267 resident deaths so far in the crisis, 223 have occurred in the last seven days, with the toll accelerating sharply from Monday’s report of 37 deaths.
Charts used by the Murphy administration Monday show the surge in cases with no social distancing, left, and partial compliance, right. (Graphs by NJ.gov. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
New Jersey’s daily death toll and COVID-19 caseload had soared since Sunday, Governor Phil Murphy reported Monday.
With 37 more fatalities and 3,347 more patients testing positive for the coronavirus, Murphy continued to hammer home his message that residents need to “stay home” until the crisis eases.
By JOHN T. WARD
After a weeklong climb, New Jersey’s daily death toll from the COVID-19 virus eased Saturday, Governor Phil Murphy’s administration reported Sunday.
At the same time, more than 2,300 state residents tested positive for the virus. Read More
Normally bustling, downtown Red Bank was people-free and quiet at 9 p.m. Friday under the governor’s week-old “stay-home” order. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Thirty-two more New Jersey residents died as the the COVID-19 contagion tightened its grip on the state, Governor Phil Murphy said Saturday.
With the state’s death toll now at 140, the pandemic “is a pass/fail test,” Murphy said at his daily pandemic briefing on the crisis. “This is life or death.”
[See UPDATE below]
By JOHN T. WARD
New Jersey’s death toll the in the COVID-19 pandemic crossed into the triple digits as families lost 27 more loved ones, Governor Phil Murphy said in his daily briefing Friday.