Teachers ask to delay school reopening
With the city announcing a vaccine initiative targeting them, some educators request a hold on in-person classroom learning
STAMFORD — School buildings in Stamford are reopening to students on Tuesday, but some teachers are asking that in-person teaching be placed on hold until vaccinations for educators are rolled out.
The school district has not changed its plans to open Tuesday with its hybrid model for students. And while Gov. Ned Lamont recently announced that the state will transition to a new phase in the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine, a communication late Friday indicated that it may take longer than expected.
A message from the state Department of Public Health stated that the new rollout would target residents who are 65 years of age or older, as well as others with comorbidities, and that there are not enough doses to cover that large a population.
Therefore, teachers are now encouraged to wait a little longer and not to make appointments for immunizations quite yet.
That message came only minutes after Stamford announced the launch of its vaccination campaign.
“Stamford Health and the city of Stamford are partnering closely to rapidly expand the vaccination roll-out, including vaccinating teachers,” said a statement from the mayor’s office and Stamford Health late Friday afternoon.
Over the next several weeks, Stamford Health and the city said they hope to administer nearly 1,000 vaccines per day.
There had been preliminary plans to provide mass vaccinations to Stamford teachers next weekend at Stamford Hospital, but those plans have seemingly been scrapped.
Before the news, some teachers sent messages to Superintendent Tamu Lucero asking that school buildings stay closed with
the vaccine so close to becoming a reality for them.
Many of the letters came from high school teachers, mostly at Westhill High School.
Ruth-Terry Walden, a veteran Westhill teacher, said that’s not surprising, since Westhill has experienced the most cases of COVID-19 as the district’s biggest school, and that the pattern used in the elementary and middle schools of separating children into groups to limit exposure is not possible at the high school level because of the way the classes are scheduled.
She was one of a handful of teachers who either sent a letter to Lucero, or planned to, calling for a delay in reopening so that teachers could at least get their first vaccine shots.
“It would reassure people,” Walden said.
In a statement, Lucero said the plan to return to inperson instruction after Martin Luther King Jr. Day is still in place.
“We continue to work with and take guidance from the Stamford Department of Health and Mayor Martin,” she said. “We will be returning to the hybrid model on Tuesday, as planned, with all established protocols in place, including social distancing of six feet, wearing masks and practicing good hand hygiene.”
Some school districts, such as nearby Norwalk and Greenwich, have already returned to in-person learning after going fully remote for a stretch after the holidays.
Diane Phanos, president of the Stamford Education Association teachers union, joined the voices of those calling for a delay in allowing students back in school buildings.
“My feeling is since we’re so close to this vaccine, what’s the rush?” she said.