More Hartford students returning to classrooms
Scales will tip toward in-person learning for first time this school year
HARTFORD — Starting Monday, more Hartford Public School students will be learning in physical classrooms than in virtual ones, shifting the balance toward in-person learning for the first time this school year.
The families of about 2,600 students who have been learning remotely since the fall have answered the district’s call to send kids back to city schools.
More than 10,300 students will be learning in person until the end of the school year while the families of 7,000 students choose to keep with distance learning.
Some families tell the district their children or household members have serious health
conditions that would make exposure to the coronavirus particularly risky. Others report barriers to sending their kids back in person, such as housing insecurity and homelessness.
The district’s welcome center hotline has fielded nearly 700 requests for extra support this school year from families experiencing homelessness, the most Hartford has ever seen, Superintendent of Schools Leslie Torres-Rodriguez said.
Not all families have extenuating circumstances for wanting to keep their kids at home. In fact, as of Friday morning, nearly 400 families had said they weren’t ready to make a permanent decision and another 2,700 had not given the district any answer.
Families who did not confirm their decision with the district by Friday are instructed to keep their children at home Monday and to call their school to discuss next steps.
That’s because each school has planned classes, schedules and spacing with a certain number of additional students in mind, Torres-Rodriguez explained Friday. Adjustments may be necessary to safely bring more students back.
About 80% of the returning students are in pre-K through eighth grade.
At Dwight Bellizzi Dual Language Academy, an elementary school in the South End, Principal Anthony Davila expected maybe 50 students would opt to come back.
Instead, he was overwhelmed to learn about 70% of Bellizzi’s remote learners — more than 150 students — are returning, the highest percentage of any Hartford school.
Davila says parents’ enthusiasm for sending their students back demonstrates their trust in the district’s handling of the ongoing health crisis.
“That to me speaks volumes,” he said.
As for the kids, Davila said, “I cannot wait to see them Monday.”
The shift away from distance learning follows a mass COVID-19 vaccination effort for district teachers and staff. More than 2,100 employees have or will soon receive their second dose from Trinity Health of New England, the owner of St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center.
Hartford health director Liany Arroyo said the district’s strategy — the vaccinations and other safeguards limiting the spread of COVID-19 — is the right one, even against emerging variants of the virus.
The superintendent and her team, “they have let science lead the way throughout the pandemic,” Arroyo said. “They have worked tirelessly to ensure students and staff remain safe, and I have full confidence in the plan they have put together to bring students back.”
Arroyo and Torres-Rodriguez both said schools will maintain policies on distancing, mask-wearing and hand washing.
“It’s the layering of one mitigation on top of another that really makes it a comprehensive approach to keeping everyone safe,” Torres-Rodriguez said.