Schools facing holiday quandary
Teachers want remote learning after Thanksgiving, fearing COVID risk; district says no
As early as September, teachers in the Greenwich Public Schools had requested that the district consider going to full remote learning after the Thanksgiving break.
Amid rapidly rising number of cases of COVID-19 in Greenwich, as well as statewide, the break represents an increased risk to teachers. Despite orders to adhere to distancing and make responsible choices, educators and health care professionals
alike are aware of the realities of the situation.
“It’s been an incredibly difficult year for so many people,” said Dr. Karen Santucci, senior vice president and chief medical officer at Greenwich Hospital. “Folks are going to let their guard down and that’s when there’s going to be this increased transmissibility.”
The stress, which teachers have said they already feel acutely, is increasing as cases rise — Greenwich was designated as a “red” town by the state last week, based on its high infection rate — and the holidays approach. But according to Carol Sutton, who heads the Greenwich Education Association, the teachers’ initial request for a postThanksgiving break did not gain traction. The teachers union again discussed the possibility with Superintendent Toni Jones on Tuesday, Sutton said, but again was told it was not a serious consideration at this time.
Meanwhile, Sutton said her inbox is filling up with emails from concerned teachers.
“People haven’t seen their families in some cases since March,” Sutton said. “And so the idea that everyone is going to make choices based on what’s best to do regarding the pandemic, I think it’s not realistic. ... It’s realistic to expect that students and educators and employees, who should be quarantining for 14 days after the holiday, may be back in school.”
In or out?
Districts must consider many variables before moving to remote learning, such as staffing demands, ability to provide remote education and the desires of parents and families.
But in Greenwich, as in much of the state, the decision hinges on whether the virus is spread in the classrooms.
During a Thursday press conference, Gov. Ned Lamont characterized Thanksgiving break as a possible demarcation point for schools. Already, Anso
nia, Shelton and Waterbury have opted to go full-remote after the holiday. Bridgeport’s superintendent on Thursday also announced full-remote learning, beginning Nov. 23, as cases in the public school district skyrocketed.
In Milford, a COVIDrelated staffing shortage precipitated the superintendent’s decision to go full-remote through Jan. 8.
And most universities have also opted not to bring students back to campus after Thanksgiving.
In a statement Friday, Jones said she recognized the risk associated with the holidays and prioritized the safety and well-being of Greenwich’s staff and students.
“Ultimately, we listen to the medical professionals, which includes the CT DPH (Department of Public Health), who have publicly stated that schools should remain open as transmission across Connecticut is typically not happening in schools,” Jones said. “It has been proven that our schools are some of the safest locations for our
children to be in, but we rely on their families and parents to follow safety guidelines during afterschool hours and on weekends.”
As of Friday, 53 of 65 confirmed cases in Greenwich Schools since the start of school have been attributed to “outside activities.” Eleven have been traced to “community transmission” and just one was caused by in-school exposure, according to district data.
In health alerts sent to families when positive cases are confirmed, Jones and the district’s Head of Nursing Mary Keller have often pointed to sporting events that are not school related, but have not provided more information as to the nature of those events.
Jones followed her statement with a letter to Greenwich Public School families Friday night, noting the high volume of questions on whether the district would change its learning model. Jones reiterated that state and local health officials had urged that schools should stay open.
“While the district is taking this one week at a time, we do not have an expected date or marker that would push the district to go fully remote,” Jones said. “We realize that Greenwich is in the red zone, but our school population of staff and students is not mirroring the community numbers.”
Per state guidance, the decision to close schools is made by the superintendent, in consultation with local departments of health, boards of education and the state Department of Education. Asked about the possibility, Greenwich Board of Education Chair Peter Bernstein echoed Jones’ point on the relative safety of schools and the danger of outside activities.
“It is troubling that we continue to learn of a large number of community transmissions directly attributable to outside activities, particular nonschool sports,” Bernstein said. “With the holidays coming up, families need to take masking and quarantining seriously when not in school as returning to
school after exposure unnecessarily puts others at risk.”
And, as Jones said, the state, too, has urged districts to stay open for inperson learning.
In a letter sent to superintendents earlier this week, state Education Commissioner Miguel Cardona and acting Public Health Commissioner Deidre Gifford stressed the benefits of in-person learning and its relative safety.
“We are not seeing sustained person-to-person transmission of COVID-19 in schools or outbreaks of COVID-19 in schools, despite increasing levels of COVID-19 in the community,” the letter states. “We also know that in-person learning is benefiting our students’ social, emotional and physical well-being. The CSDE and DPH do not think that arbitrary, datebased closures of school are warranted at this time.”
Sutton acknowledged the safety precautions in place in Greenwich Schools and their effectiveness. But she wondered whether the same results could be expected in the near future, especially with Christmas and New Year’s around the corner.
“There are all sorts of things we can do within school buildings to keep them safe, but we can’t control everything,” Sutton said. “Probably school is a safer place to be than other places, but that doesn’t mean that it will stay that way.”
The holiday double-down
Asked about the claim that students are safer in school, Dr. Zane Saul, chief of infectious disease at Bridgeport Hospital responded, “I’m not sure I buy that.”
“If kids are home and parents are teaching them and they’re pretty much isolating, you can’t get much safer than that,” Saul said.
Saul advocated a flexible model that would prioritize the in-person education of elementary-age kids, who he said are both more difficult to teach remotely and are at less risk of transmitting the disease or experiencing serious symptoms. Middle school- and high school-aged students, on the other hand, might be better, and more safely served, at home, he said.
Santucci, from Greenwich Hospital, said she wasn’t in a position to make recommendations to superintendents. But she acknowledged the risk inherent to the holiday. Whether in a post-Thanksgiving remote setting, or back in the classroom, the key will be to double down on safety precautions — distancing, mask-wearing and hand hygiene — that have proven effective.
“After Thanksgiving, we can’t let our guard down,” Santucci said. “We have to wash our hands carefully, we have to wear our masks to protect our colleagues at school, our teachers at school, our loved ones at home...
“No one wants to get someone else sick,” she continued. “No one wants to be that person who spreads this virus to someone else.”