The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
School leaders await rules to reopen
State officials have promised to provide more details on what school will look like come autumn.
They are set to release a 50-page guide Monday morning to fill in the details of a full-time, in-school reopening plan for the fall after last week’s announcement by Gov. Ned Lamont and Miguel Cardona left many surprised and with questions — even some who participated in the governor’s Reopening Task Force.
“What the governor and Commissioner Cardona articulated yesterday was just a framework that will be disseminated to us on Monday,” Middletown Superintendent of Schools Michael Conner said on Friday.
Part of the governor’s Learn from Home task force, Conner said all districts will have to look at the guidelines against protocols already in place. He, for one, will be looking for the state to provide a clear outline of how the district can move forward in the fall.
Schools statewide were closed abruptly in March when the COVID-19 pandemic was on the rise in Connecticut. Schools remained closed for the rest of the school year, forcing instruction to be delivered remotely.
The virus is now on the decline in Connecticut, even as it is rising in other parts of the country.
Cardona last week said the reopening plan envisioned would not have been possible without the decline and any sudden increase in spread could force plans to change.
“I’m glad that health and safety and equity were taken into consideration with their decision making, including environmental statistics, as well as health data,” Conner said. “Now the real work starts.”
The outline released last week calls for full, five days per week in-school learning, social distancing measures such as keeping classes of students together all day and
the wearing of face masks inside schools throughout the school day.
This spring, the state Department of Education directed school districts to all set up their own reopening task forces.
The new statewide directive seems to short circuit plans underway in districts like Stamford that called for putting only half of students in a building every day so that students would stagger in-school and distance learning.
Others say they welcome the unified approach to reopening.
“It helps,” Bridgeport Acting Schools Superintendent Michael Testani said of the promised state guidance.
Testani wants Bridgeport students back in the classroom since many could not access online learning. Kids, he said, will also be safer in school than if they were hanging out with friends.
In Region 7, Superintendent of Schools Judith Palmer, whose district includes Barkhamsted, Colebrook, New Hartford and Norfolk, said she intends to
follow all state guidelines.
“I’m confident we’ll do a great job,” Palmer said.
Litchfield and Region 6 Superintendent Chris Leone said his districts have been working cooperatively to develop plans and contingency plans.
“If the COVID data stays on track with lesser cases, we’ll stay on track for August,” he said.
Elsewhere, there is less certainty.
Amity Superintendent Jennifer Byars said the Region 5 district frankly does not have a plan at this point and is waiting on state guidelines.
“We have a reopening schools committee that will meet every Tuesday at minimum starting (this) week,” Byars said. “We are not running a summer program on site currently because of the stringent guidelines for summer school.”
Matt Wilcox, vice chairman of the New Haven school board, said he is deeply concerned about the fiscal and logistical implications of reopening schools given the number of students and staff members in
the district. At 20,675 students, New Haven is the state’s largest school district.
“But I know the district is committed to making it work.” Wilcox said. “I look forward to the release of the state’s full plan on Monday, and I am hoping it will include information on the extra funds that we can apply for to make their plan work in New Haven.”
Dave Cicarella, president of the New Haven Federation of Teachers said district leaders are planning to meet on Monday to discuss how to adapt their initial planning to Lamont’s recommendations.
“The state, they are famous for unfunded mandates: ‘You will do this, you must do this,’ ” Cicarella said.
The state is receiving millions in CARES Act funding, but Cicarella is unsure if that will go far enough to cover the additional costs.
“This is a pandemic, worldwide, and people are dying from this disease,” he said. “We can’t shirk on certain things. Certain things are absolute.”