‘Ready to welcome our secondary students back’

District to return middle, high school to full in-person model, school chief says

PORTLAND — The school administration is moving ahead with a full in-school reopening for seventh through twelfth grades on Monday.

Superintendent of Schools Charles D. Britton announced the decision in an email he sent to the parents of high school and middle school students.

The school system had moved to remote learning on Nov. 30.

Children in kindergarten through sixth grade then returned to in-school learning on

Jan. 18.

Since that date, students at the high school and middle middle have been operating on a hybrid system with in-school learning alternating with virtual learning.

The reopening comes, as Britton noted, on the first day of the second semester.

Britton had initially pushed for an earlier reopening.

However, Board of Education members, concerned about a spike in coronavirus infections in the wake of the end-ofthe-year holidays, voted to push back the re-opening until Monday.

Those concerns were shared by members of the teachers’ union as well.

Even as the secondary school administrative team was completing preparations for the reopening, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offered an assessment that was noted by school officials.

The CDC determined that “schools might be able to safely open with appropriate mitigation efforts in place.”

“The preponderance of available evidence from the fall school semester has been reassuring,” three CDC researchers said in an online article published by the Journal of the American Medical

Association and widely reported by news sites..

“There has been little evidence that schools have contributed meaningfully to increased community transmission,” the researchers said.

Britton referenced the CDC report in his message to parents.

“With masking requirements and student cohorting, transmission risk within schools appeared low,” the researchers said.

“These findings align with the conclusions of local and state health officials. In short, health officials have determined that so long as we implement

our mitigation strategies with fidelity, we may return to in-person learning,” Britton said.

“I share this information with you for two reasons: First, please speak with your children and reinforce the importance of following all of our expectations related to mitigating the spread of Covid-19,” he said in his email.

“In general, our students have been terrific; however, a gentle reminder won’t hurt,” he added.

Britton also asked that parents “take responsibility in your homes by keeping your children

home if they are not feeling well, adhering to quarantine expectations if exposed in the community or school, and limiting gatherings with people outside of the home.”

“The entire faculty, staff, and leadership team are excited and ready to welcome our secondary students back for full in-person teaching and learning,” Britton said.

He did, however, did include a cautionary note in his email to the parents: “Please be aware that staffing challenges or the breakdown of our mitigation strategies might necessitate a return to the

hybrid or remote learning models.”

“While a return to the hybrid or remote learning model could happen with very little notice, we will make sure all students are prepared should such necessity arise,” he said.

In the meantime, the school system “will continue to collaborate with the Chatham Health District and the Connecticut State Department of Public Health,” to “monitor new and emerging science on current and novel strains of Covid-19 until the much-anticipated day when we are all vaccinated,” Britton said.

Britton