The Jackson School District will be closed beginning Monday, March 16, until further notice, due to coronavirus fears.

The announcement came moments ago.

The District released the following letter.

Dear Parents and Staff,

At 2:30 p.m. today, the state of New Jersey announced that the closure of all schools in order to mitigate exposure during the COVID-19 situation was inevitable. In his address, Gov. Murphy said the state was not yet ready to require that all district schools be closed – because there are districts and towns where remote learning plans and related supports are still in development.

Because of the hard work of our dedicated staff, the Jackson School District is ready to begin the inevitable closure of our schools now. After conferring with the Ocean County Department of Health and the Ocean County Superintendent of Schools office, we are announcing that all Jackson school buildings will be CLOSED to all students beginning Monday, March 16 until further notice. We will begin our Remote Learning Plans on Monday, March 16.

This closure is necessary to promote social distancing and thereby limit the spread of the coronavirus to our highest risk populations. We must do everything we can to fight any community spread that may occur. We know that this will be challenging for our families and for our staff. This decision was made for the safety of our students, staff, and communities.

We have spent the week creating our Remote Learning Plans (RLP) that provide meaningful instruction and related services strategies for grades Pre-K to 12. Our plans take into consideration that students have varied levels of access to technology devices and internet access. They are also inclusive of all learning abilities.

Students can access their Remote Learning Plans (RLP) on our Remote Learning Plan Website. Similar to our summer work assignments, these plans are organized by grade level and/or subject.

The vast majority of our students will complete these assignments through these online links. For our students without access to internet and/or devices, we sent them home today with the exact same work in hard copy packets. We also distributed or made arrangements to distribute devices to those who indicated on our Access to Technology Form. If you are still in need of a device (e.g. Chromebook), please contact your child’s school. Before dismissal today, we reminded all students to take home everything they think they would need for the next few weeks.

As your students begin working on their assignments, please keep in mind:

Attendance during these remote learning days will be counted based on the completion of all assignments at the end of the remote learning period;
Assignments WILL count as a homework grade;
Students can submit assignments as they are completed to teachers via email, Google Drive or whichever submission procedure the assignment calls for. If they cannot be sent in remotely, they can be turned in through hard copies when we return to school;
If a printer is not accessible, students should either open a Google Doc to complete the assignment, or utilize pen and paper.

The District closure will also affect busing for children to Lakewood.