District: East Rockaway Junior-Senior High School going remote after COVID-19 cases

East Rockaway Junior-Senior High School will switch to six days of remote learning Wednesday after positive COVID-19 tests forced "approximately 100 students" to quarantine, the district’s superintendent said.

The outbreak represents "almost 20%" of the school’s population, Superintendent Lisa J. Ruiz said in a letter Tuesday to East Rockaway families. Twenty students and three school staff members tested positive, Ruiz said.

District elementary school classes will continue in person, she said.

Based on contact-tracing protocols, the positive COVID-19 cases were the result of social events outside of school, according to Ruiz.

"This decision was made as it will be impossible to properly educate all students who are required to quarantine as we simply do not have the staff [to] accommodate their learning needs," Ruiz said in an email to families. "With a reduced number of students in attendance at the Jr. Sr. High School, it will be difficult for teachers to proceed with typical instruction given the high number of students who will be absent. This action will allow for a continuity of instruction and teachers will be better able to stay on track with the prescribed curriculum."

Remote learning will last through Dec. 22, Ruiz said. Winter recess begins Dec. 23 and in-person learning resumes Jan. 3.

The move to remote learning comes as hospitalizations of COVID-19 patients have increased 70% since Thanksgiving, Gov. Kathy Hochul said earlier Tuesday.

On Long Island, according to state data, hospitalizations of COVID-19 patients have more than doubled in the last month.