Laning Avenue elementary school has had its first case of COVID-19, Superintendent Dr, Rui Dionisio said in an email today. The case has been confirmed to be a household transmission and not a school transmission, he said, adding that the school is being disinfected and there is no need to close it. Dionisio’s email did not disclose if the case was a student, teacher or other school personnel.
Prior to Monday, October 19, only pre-K, kindergarten and first grade students had been in Laning, along with the teachers for the second, third and fourth grades. Second and third graders were brought back into the building on October 19 and fourth graders on October 26. Students report in alternating small groups for half-day sessions only. Verona’s other three elementary schools–Brookdale, Forest and F.N. Brown–have been following a similar model.
The Laning announcement came the same day as Verona hit 201 positive cases, according to statistics reported by Essex County. Last week, there were two new cases at H.B. Whitehorne Middle School, raising the number of those who have tested positive there to four. At the Board of Education meeting on October 13, the school district had advanced the return of students to HBW to Monday, October 26, from November 9. As with the elementary school, students are to report in small cohorts and not entire classes. Verona High School students are to return to limited in-person instruction on November 9.
