BOSTON (AP) — A Massachusetts high school scheduled to reopen this week with a hybrid learning model will now switch to remote-only learning after dozens of students attended a party without taking proper coronavirus-prevention measures, the principal said.

The party held Friday night involved alcohol and a “complete lack of safety precautions to protect against the spread of COVID,” Lincoln-Sudbury Principal Bella Wong said in a letter to the school community.

Police who broke up the gathering said about 15 students ran into the woods, and 13 gave fake names to officers, she said.

Because it’s not clear exactly who attended the party, the Sudbury Board of Health is mandating that all high school students must undergo full remote learning for 14 days.

Wong said she is “profoundly disappointed.”

The number of people who have died from confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Massachusetts has surpassed the 9,000 mark, the state Department of Public Health reported Sunday.

The 14 deaths reported Sunday bring the total to 9,001.

The state also reported 267 new confirmed cases of the disease, out of more than 12,100 test results, for a total of more than 122,900 confirmed cases.

The number of people in the state’s hospitals with the disease has fallen to 313, down from 331 the previous day. Sixty-one patients are in intensive care.

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VERMONT

The Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles has started a new online system for temporary registrations and license plates for private vehicles sales amid the pandemic.

The system issues a temporary plate and registration for all types of vehicles sold, transported or registered in Vermont after the user enters owner and vehicle information and pays a $6 fee, the department said.

Temporary plates and registrations are valid for 60 days, the department said. They can be used for state inspections.

“We understand that Vermonters want and need to register vehicles in a timely manner after purchasing them, and this new system expands the menu of online services now available to our customers,” DMV Commissioner Wanda Minoli said in a written statement.

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MAINE

A small liberal arts college in Maine is implementing a “study-in-place” program after detecting nine cases of COVID-19 on campus, the college president says.

Saint Joseph’s College of Maine in Standish will deliver all classes remotely and students will be required to stay in their rooms as much as possible for two weeks, President Jim Dlugos said in a statement Saturday.

Contract tracing had linked most of the cases to one residence hall, he said. All students who tested positive are in quarantine.

The school has about 2,000 students.

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The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention on Sunday reported 29 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus and one additional death.

Maine has now had nearly 4,400 confirmed cases and 136 fatalities. The latest death was a woman in her 80s from Somerset County, the agency said.

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RHODE ISLAND

High school football players are asking the state to allow football to be played this fall.

About 150 players, their parents and coaches rallied at the State House on Saturday to make their case.

The state previously announced that most high school sports would be allowed to go on this fall, but football and volleyball would not — football because it’s a close contact sport, and volleyball because it’s played indoors with a ball that all players touch.

Football players say the decision doesn’t make sense when other states are allowing football.

Also in Rhode Island, a retired art teacher and sculptor has created a soaring tribute to health care workers, who he considers the super heroes of the pandemic.

George Grace, 67, of Scituate, sculpted two figures wearing medical scrubs, face masks and wearing red capes, and hung them on a wire so they looked like they are flying through the trees in his yard.

He also placed a sign near them to thank all essential employees.

He tells WJAR-TV that the response to his tribute has been wonderful.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE

The 26th annual Portsmouth Halloween Parade, which draws as many as 25,000 spectators, has been canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic, organizers say.

“We have exhausted every possible option, including a reverse parade, alternate locations, a rolling parade, and route changes, and we determined there is simply no way to keep the spirit of the parade and keep the spectators and participants safe during the pandemic,” parade Marshal Monte Bohanan told Seacoastonline.com.

Organizers were hoping for a large crowd this year because Halloween falls on a Saturday.

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The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services announced Sunday that the state has 44 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus and one additional death.

The latest patient to die of the disease was a woman from Carroll County who was over the age of 60.

There have now been nearly 7,700 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 436 deaths in the state.