Some Danbury families call for remote learning
DANBURY — With school starting on Monday, Melina De Osambela said she’s afraid to send her 8-year-old daughter into the classroom.
The mother, whose daughter is an incoming second grader in Danbury Public Schools, is at high risk for COVID-19, she said. So is her husband and her 65-year-old mother, who lives with her.
De Osambela said she’s worried her daughter, who is too young to be vaccinated against COVID, could catch the virus and spread it to them. She and the other eligible members of her household are vaccinated, she said.
“This has been giving me so much anxiety,” she said. “I can’t sleep at night. I’m worried because I don’t want to remove her from this district.”
State guidance prohibits Danbury and other schools in Connecticut from offering remote learning this academic year, frustrating some local families. Some school districts said they are working with families to develop individualized plans in special circumstances where children cannot go to school.
“I emphasize with a lot families, particularly after last year,” Danbury Superintendent Kevin Walston said at a recent school board meeting. “A lot of families chose to stay home and keep their children home [last year] because they didn’t feel like it was safe to send kids in. But we are, the district that is, we are following the guidance from state and federal guidelines, prioritizing a 100 percent return for students.”
Nearly 1,300 people have signed an online petition calling for the governor to require all schools to offer distance learning as an option to families, especially as the highly contagious delta variant drives up COVID cases.
“I just want to have a choice,” said Elpida Bauman, a Danbury parent who created the online petition. “I think if we did allow people to go remote, they’d have less kids in the school. It’d be even safer. I see it as a winwin.”
On Thursday, she withdrew her two sons, who went to Danbury elementary schools, and her 16year-old daughter, who went to Henry Abbott Technical High School, and plans to homeschool them.
She said she was worried about sending her kids in-person before the delta variant, but her concerns rose after that.
“I waited until the last possible minute,” Bauman said. “I was hoping the governor would have a change of heart and make accommodations.”
Bauman said she is a cancer survivor, while her husband has health issues, making them both at high risk for COVID. They have not gotten vaccinated because of their medical issues, she said.
How schools are working with families
Distance learning won’t be available for the vast majority of Danbury families.
“We understand there are going to be instances where there are some anomalies, some individual circumstances where we may have to do something different, but we’ll take those on a case by case basis,” Walston said.
Bethel Superintendent Christine Carver said she has heard from two or three parents who are worried about sending their kids to school.
The district will work with families who have special circumstances, such as students who are immunocompromised, to provide instruction at home, she said. Families would need to provide medical documentation.
These students would access assignments online from their regular teacher and have a tutor who provides “individualized instruction,” Carver said. Districts have typically done this for students who cannot come to school for an extended period of time for medical reasons, such as cancer, she said.
“This is not a new process for school districts,” she said. “We’ve always provided this for students who require homebound instruction. We have tutors that we employee and have employed that provide the services to kids and families.”
In Easton, Redding and Region 9, distance learning is not available, although there are “homebound or special needs students whose individualized plans might allow for some remote instruction, Interim Superintendent Thomas McMorran said in an email.
Three or four families have asked for remote learning in New Fairfield, but that’s not an option except for extreme circumstances, Superintendent Pat Cosentino said. A couple families have decided to homeschool, she said.
“Ninety-nine percent of the families are ready to go and excited to come back,” she said.
Ridgefield does not plan to offer the option either.
“While I am sure some families would appreciate the flexibility, it isn’t anything we can offer as it wouldn’t count toward hours/days in school,” Superintendent Susie Da Silva said in an email.
Brookfield Superintendent John Barile said he has not had any “formal requests for students to learn remotely.”
Students did not learn as well from home as they do in the classroom and did not get needed social interaction, educators said.
“The guidance from the state Department of Education is that school works best for students when they can attend in-session,” McMorran said. “I share the concerns about students feeling isolated and distant from the other children and the adults. The goal of getting back to 100 percent in person learning, or at least as close as possible, is a good one not only academically but also for their social well-being.”
Teachers struggled to educate simultaneously students at home and in the classroom.
“It was not sustainable,” Carver said. “We are seeing the impact of it in terms of the academic outcomes, so I don’t think it’s (remote learning) something that should have been continued.”
Homeschooling
De Osambela had not pulled her daughter out of Danbury schools as of Thursday evening, but said she does not plan to send her to class on the first day. Her hope is that the district and state will see remote learning is needed once school begins. If not, she plans to homeschool.
“I don’t want to, but that’s my last option,” she said.
Her daughter’s grades improved when she was on distance learning throughout last year and getting help from her family, De Osambela said.
“We were on top of her,” she said.
Bauman said her kids, ages 5, 8 and 16, stayed on distance learning all last school year and did well.
“My kids are very fast learners, so it was nice for them to be able to do the curriculum and then have free time, instead of like when you’re in the classroom and waiting for other people to finish,” she said.
Bauman homeschooled her daughter from kindergarten through the beginning of first grade. She used a method called “unschooling,” where she teaches her kids in the moment based on what they’re interested in, rather than having a set math or English time.
“Let’s say you’re baking, that was an opportunity for my daughter to learn fractions,” Bauman said. “Actually, when she went to school, she was a whiz.”
Plans for quarantined students
Several local schools plan for quarantined students to access their assignments online, rather than watching the class on video.
New Fairfield has an engagement coordinator who will check in with those students, while Bethel will have a tutor or other staff member provide support.
“If they’re quarantined more than once or it’s becoming a chronic problem, we’ll revisit the synchronous piece,” Carver said.
In Danbury, any student who is absent may access classwork online. Those who are officially quarantined will be contacted within 24 hours by a “school quarantine liaison.” There will be one liaison per school.
This liaison will “communicate the attendance and social emotional check-in procedures to the students at home and make sure we’re connecting to those students during the day,” Kara Casimiro, the chief officer for academic affairs, told school board members at a recent meeting.
Danbury is hiring additional certified staff members at the elementary, middle and high school levels who will provide support in core subject areas.
State law allows remote learning to continue at the high school level beginning July 1, 2022, with the state education commissioner required to publish standards for virtual learning by January of that year.
Carver said she sees potential in remote learning if it works differently than last year. For example, students could take a virtual class offered only in another school district.
“There is some value to a lot of the technologies that have been introduced that support kids’ learning,” she said.