City high schools to move prom outside
Plans including dancing, food trucks and social distancing
STAMFORD — Adena Russel and Campbell Beaver didn’t expect to spend their senior year putting together the most complex prom in recent memory.
“We’re 17-year-olds, not event planners,” said Russel, co-leader of the prom committee at the Academy of Information Technology & Engineering in Stamford.
Russel and Beaver have been in charge of planning an outdoor prom in the age of COVID-19, and it hasn’t been an easy task.
The students were told they had to use an onsite venue, which is why the high school will be hosting the prom on the Rippowam Middle School field, located on the same campus as AITE.
The field, however, does not have lighting. A dance floor large enough for students to maintain social distancing will need to be installed, while chairs must be spaced out to allow for students to sit, chat and eat without breaking any safety guidelines.
Fare for the evening will be provided by food trucks, which have yet to be confirmed, Russel said. The dress code is also undecided, since some want a formal prom, while others would prefer something more casual.
AITE’s prom, themed “Enchanted Garden,” is scheduled for June 4, the same day that Stamford High School will host its prom at Boyle Stadium. Westhill High School has yet to announce a date or location for its prom.
Russel said she and Beaver had originally planned to hold the prom at a different location, which would have cost about $20,000, complete with food and entertainment. She said she was a bit disappointed to hear they would have to use Rippowam’s sports field.
“It’s like they’re expecting us to turn the football field into a $20,000-plus venue,” she said.
The AITE graduating class has 152 students, and they are expecting about 120 to attend the prom, Russel said.
“We’re trying to figure out seating plans for students to sit and talk to one another,” she said.
The option to host an in-person prom became more of a reality in recent weeks, as the COVID-19 vaccine has become available for those 16 and older in Connecticut. Stamford schools have provided every senior the opportunity to receive the Pfizer vaccine on April 17 or April 18 at the large vaccination site at the former Lord + Taylor store.
Amy Taylor, vice president of the western region for Community Health Center, which runs the mass vaccination site at Lord + Taylor, said during a recent school district webinar that seniors are the focus of a campaign because they are nearing the end of their public school experience.
“All of these rites of passage and special celebrations that the seniors get to participate in, we wanted to try to help make that possible for them, and at the same time make it a safer environment for all students and teachers to return back to school,” Taylor said.
School officials are also planning to reopen the city’s high schools to full-time in-person classroom learning on April 19. Earlier this month, Stamford fully reopened its elementary and middle schools.
However, cases of COVID-19 are on the rise in the city and in the state. Positive cases of the virus in Stamford grew from 35.7 cases per 100,000 to 41.3, according to figures released Thursday by the state of Connecticut.
By the state’s own guidelines, such figures should result in more remote learning for school districts, but Stamford has not announced a plan to scale back in-person instruction.
Additionally, guidance from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that students stay six feet apart in schools that cannot use cohorting, and in which transmission rate is high in the community.
Under the plan to reopen high schools in Stamford, students would need to be less than six feet apart in classrooms to accommodate the higher attendance.
Last Thursday, Norwalk Public Schools announced it would delay the reopening of middle and high schools due to the spread of COVID-19. Norwalk had planned to expand inperson learning at those schools on April 19 as well.