Gov: 15-20% of parents may keep students at home

With a Friday deadline approaching to submit customized fall reopening plans to the state, some districts are still wrestling with a basic question: how many students to expect on opening day.

In Bridgeport, where there are more than 20,000 students, many of whom had limited access to online learning when schools abruptly switched to distance learning last spring, just one in three parents have answered a survey about fall intentions.

Schools Superintendent Michael Testani said so far responses are almost split between parents who say they will send their kids back to full-time instruction in the fall and those who say they want to stick with distance learning, at least for now.

So far, at least 14,000 parents have not yet given the district a response.

“I am a little disappointed,” Testani said. “I did expect more responses given the daily discussions on the news.”

In Trumbull, 75 percent of some 5,044 parents completed the return-toschool survey and a solid majority are planning to

have their students back in the classroom.

Fairfield got more than 4,500 parents to respond. Of those, 18 percent want to keep distance learning in the fall, 46 percent do not and 36 percent are on the fence.

Most of those who remain uncertain said a lot depends on how low infection rates in Connecticut remain and what school district precautions are taken to prevent the spread of the virus.

Only 7 percent of respondents said their child or another person at home had a preexisting condition that would prevent them from returning to school.

In Shelton, with 1,226 — or 26 percent — of parents responding, 88 percent say that under the existing federal and state guidelines, their child would attend in-person schooling.

Last week, Gov. Ned Lamont said early statewide district surveys to parents suggest about 15 to 20 percent of parents statewide are planning to stayat-home options for their kids.

“Obviously that would open up more social distancing within the classrooms,” Lamont said during one of his daily COVID-19 updates. “If any state can open safely, I think it is Connecticut.”

During the same briefing, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a former Commissioner of the federal FDA, said whether or not kids stay home is a discretion that should be left to parents.

“I would never second guess the decision of the parents,” Gottlieb said.

The state is asking students and staff to wear masks and that classes, as much as possible, be kept in the same group all day to mitigate the spread of the virus.

In Bridgeport, the lack of response is making it more difficult for the district to effectively plan for in-person learning, Testani said.

How much in-person social distancing has to take place, how many buses the district needs, and what accommodations must be made for those who stay home all depends on how parents respond.

In a letter to parents last

Friday that was posted on the district website, Testani appealed to parents to fill out the survey and multiple times, if they have more than one student in the district.

“The survey is not a vote,” Testani wrote, but will be a resource for the Fall 2020 Re-Open Task Force.

The deadline to respond to Bridgeport’s survey is Wednesday. The district has also had surveys available at four schools, Batalla, Marin, Central and Tisdale, when meals are distributed.

Late last month, the state Department of Education released a 50-page guideline that strongly encouraged the full reopening of school in the fall, but also gave parents the option to continue with distance learning. Districts were asked to plan for both scenarios.

Subsequently many teachers have expressed concern about the prospects of returning in the fall with the virus still a threat.

The Bridgeport survey not only asks parents if they plan to send their children back to school in the fall but also asks about whether the family has access to reliable internet access and how many siblings there are at home vying for the same computer device.

Testani has said based on current health data, a return to in-person learning is the right call, particularly since many students in Bridgeport did not have enough technology at home to make distance-learning successful.

The state sent the district additional laptops for students to use at home, but they came too late to be used in the spring.

“Maximizing in-person instructional time after the current period of disruption is critical to the academic and emotional wellbeing of our students,” Testani said, adding that he understands everyone’s anxiety surrounding a safe return to school in the fall.

He also warned that school will look different than it did, with social distancing protocols put into place, but also said the district’s “Welcome Back Bridgeport” plan will be one that can work.