City celebrates learning hub coordination

NEW HAVEN — When school doors open in November, not every student will be sitting in a classroom.

For months, city officials have known that about 45 percent of the approximately 21,000 students in the public school system have opted to learn remotely this year because of the pandemic, which can spread in indoor spaces where people are in close proximity.

Schools currently are not open to students because of a Board of Education vote to keep learning virtual through the first marking period. But when doors do open, working parents may need child care for their younger students.

“We have to make sure those kids have the support they need,” said Mayor Justin Elicker.

A variety of community organizations have talked for weeks to develop a network of learning hubs — in-person centers throughout the city where students can attend school virtually under adult supervision.

Seth Poole, system of care director for the Clifford Beers Clinic, said the clinic is acting as a service delivery organization,

helping to centralize services. Various groups and agencies — such as the city’s Youth and Recreation Department, the Boys & Girls Club of Greater New Haven, the Central Connecticut Coast YMCA and various churches — have offered space and resources to offer about 10 seats per location for families who otherwise struggle to find child care or connect to

virtual learning.

Felicia Shashinka, community recreation coordinator for the Youth and Recreation Department, will supervise a learning hub at the Coogan Pavilion Learning Hub in Edgewood Park that opens Monday. The pavilion includes several workstations, separated by several feet, and an isolation room where someone can remain separate from others if they begin to show COVID symptoms before being picked up.

Youth and Recreation Director Gwendolyn Busch Williams said the learning hubs will place an emphasis on students finishing their academic work before giving them an opportunity for recreation. Behind the pavilion in Edgewood Park is a skate park and green space.

“We’re going to take advantage of the nature behind us,” she said.

The Rev. Steven Cousin of Bethel AME Church said clergy in the city also are opening some churches for learning hubs.

“We’re just really trying to create a safe learning environment where they’re able to do remote learning so they have safe, reliable, fast internet and bring about that social interaction, although limited,” he said. “We want to give children a chance just to socially interact and also bring in other activities because we know its difficult to stare at a screen for six hours.”

The hubs are of no cost to families. Families must fill out an application and seats will be filled first based on need.

Brian Zahn / Hearst Connecticut Media Seth Poole, director of the Clifford Beers Clinic System of Care, announces collaboration between city organizations and agencies on the development of a learning hub system on Thursday.