Many questions to answer on school reopening

Connecticut has come a long way in our fight against COVID- 19 since early March. We began with having our schools shut down, our businesses shuttered, and the virus wreaking havoc on our state and our residents.

But in the last two months we have made what some are calling the best recovery from the virus of any state in the country. While other states have seen their number of cases skyrocket, we have been able to contain the spread. Even as we have slowly and cautiously opened our economy, we have continued to keep the virus in check.

This recovery to date has been accomplished by hard work, vigilance and sacrifice by the people of Connecticut. The hardship that we have endured has not been in vain; it has allowed us to safely restart our economy. While other states are seeing their hospitals reach their breaking point, our health system is not under the strain that it was just a few months ago.

As part of our recovery, Governor Lamont has set a laudable goal of reopening our schools for the fall. Distance learning has given us one more example of the inequities of our education system in Connecticut. While some districts transitioned to distance learning seamlessly, others struggled with the lack of resources necessary to succeed under this emergency. Some students have thrived while others have struggled to keep up. For this reason, Governor Lamont is right to want to reopen our school systems.

But before our schools reopen it is important to fully develop the vision for what that means. Parents, teachers and the students they love need to be as comfortable and safe in this environment as possible. It is understandable that parents and teachers have concerns and fears of what lies ahead.

Before schools reopen it is critical to have fully developed plans for how schools will open and how and why they might close once again should the pandemic spike.

In recent times, we have asked teachers and the school districts they work in to do much more than teach our children. In many districts our schools make a significant contribution to a student’s nutritional well- being. Meals provided by our school districts are critical in preparing a student to learn and to grow.

Teachers and school districts have also been asked to be the protectors of students, identifying abuse and neglect, and acting as a haven for students who live in traumatized households and/ or neighborhoods. Teachers and paraprofessionals must act as mental health counselors and advocates and must provide services to a growing population of special needs children.

Therefore, it is especially important that any plan to reopen our schools consider the safety and well- being of all in our schools. All staff in our schools must be protected with the equipment they need and the protocols to keep them safe. As someone with pre- existing conditions that may make me more vulnerable than the average person to this awful disease, I understand the concerns that many of the school staff have about how these schools will reopen. Most importantly, students must be kept safe and any threats to that safety must be addressed.

Is there enough Personal Protective Equipment to keep our schools safe? Will schools be able to isolate and care for students and/ or staff that become ill? Will school nurses be overwhelmed by this new demand or will we be asking non medically trained staff to take on medical duties? What will be the practical response to outbreaks ( cleaning up the schools) and who will be responsible for them? How will students who refuse to wear masks, or are incapable of wearing masks be dealt with? How can we minimize the inequities between districts that are ill equipped for handling this pandemic?

Just as important as how our schools will open is how we will react to any rise in infection in our state or in specific schools.

How will school districts decide to transition to distance learning once again, and how will a full shutdown of our schools be implemented if necessary?

These plans cannot be driven by the economic pressure being placed on our school systems to reopen. A failed reopening will have significant disruptive impact, in addition to the human toll that increased infections will yield.

We have an obligation to keep our teachers and staff safe. We owe a duty to the parents that entrust us with their children every day. And most importantly, we have a responsibility to our children to provide them the safest environment in which to learn.

We have an obligation to keep our teachers and staff safe. We owe a duty to the parents that entrust us with their children every day.