Dear Voorhees Parents/Guardians and Students:
I am writing to inform you that because of mold discovered in the area of the main cafeteria at Voorhees High School, the building is now closed and all students must start out on 100% virtual instruction this school year. We are in contact with an environmental testing company as well as a mold remediation contractor and have been informed it will take a few weeks to remediate the issue. We are hoping to return to our hybrid schedule with in-person instruction and allow students and staff back into the building on or around September 14, 2020. The reopening plan has been revised to reflect this change to the instruction schedule and has been approved by the Department of Education.
The mold was discovered as our custodial staff were disinfecting and making preparations to the building for reopening. The mandatory closure of the building for several months left small areas with limited ventilation and coupled with the hot summer seem to have been the cause of the mold growth. The environmental testing company will be performing a full inspection of the building to ensure the mold has not spread beyond the cafeteria area.
This is an unfortunate situation as we were looking forward to welcoming back our students and teachers in person next week. During this all virtual instruction period, students will be following the same bell schedule and daily schedule as posted in our reopening plan and on our website (http://www.nhvweb.net/vhs/home/administration/bell-schedule/) with four blocks meeting per school day from 7:45am-11:55am. Teachers will be in touch with students next week via email and Google Classroom as to how to login into their live class each block of the day. Students enrolled in Polytech courses will still attend Polytech starting September 3rd (this does not include vocational academy students who will be all virtual). Shuttle and transportation information will be sent separately to Polytech students.
For the Freshman Class, we unfortunately must eliminate the tour of the building from orientation, but we will still distribute Chromebooks. Freshmen should come to Voorhees during their selected date and time to pick up their Chromebook at the front entrance outside.
For those students who were scheduled to take the SAT at Voorhees on Saturday, August 29th, you will now take the test at North Hunterdon High School.
Again, it is unfortunate that we have to start off the school year in this manner when I know many of you were excited to return to school and some sort of normalcy after the last several months. We appreciate your patience and understanding while we work through the mold remediation and can assure you that our building is safe to reopen.
Please reach out to me if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Mr. Ron Peterson
Principal
Voorhees High School
