The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
A very different beginning
Christopher Cipriano, principal at Notre Dame High School in Fairfield, welcomed his 11th freshman class on Monday.
It was admittedly different. For one, the Class of 2024 is one Notre Dame’s largest classes in recent years.
For another, social distancing protocols forced by the coronavirus pandemic were evident everywhere.
Students arrived to school in masks. Everyone entering the Catholic high school had their temperature checked. No one had a fever.
And hand sanitizer and wipes for desks were available in all classrooms.
“I had a class meeting today with freshmen and will meet with the remaining three classes over the next three days to set expectations and remind everyone that we are in this together as a community,” said Cipriano. The class was spread out in the school gym.
Only a couple members of the class told the school they intend to study from home for the time being.
Some 98 percent were in school.
It is a half day all week at Notre Dame. Diocese of Bridgeport Schools that reach from one end of Fairfield County to the other were among the first in the region to open.
St. Mary in Milford opened its doors to more than 300 students after making sure all the health protocols were in place.
There is a maximum of 16 students per class, with two classes per grade. No volunteers or visitors are allowed in the school. All students are socially distanced six feet apart and masks are on. There are different exits and entrances, one-way hallways and use of bathroom protocols. Lunches are in classrooms, with hot lunches delivered to those who chose to go that route.
“We tried to check all the boxes and hope and pray everything will continue to go as it is going now, real smooth,” said St. Mary Principal Deacon Dominic Corraro. “The biggest challenge is getting to know the kids . ... Honestly, COVID has overtaken everything at this point. We want to keep the faculty and kids as safe as possible - and everyone as happy as possible.”
Also open on Monday was Region 12, which includes the towns of Washington, Roxbury and Bridgewater to the west of Waterbury. There too, it was a half day, giving students the chance to ease into what learning will be like with the new coronavirus protocols and a chance for staff to gather in the afternoon to discuss how the day went and prepare for the next one.
“It’s going so well,” Superintendent Megan Bennett said just before noon on Monday.
About 86 percent of the district’s 720 students decided to attend in person. The district decided to use the full reopen model because of the region’s low number of cases and the district’s smaller student population.
Bennett said students were following the guidelines, including wearing their masks and keeping about six feet from each other. In the lower classes, students were even holding their arms out with “airplane wings” to check to make sure they were keeping the safe distance from their peers. Teachers were also greeting their students a bit differently than usual to minimize contact.
“They’ve gotten really creative at staying connected but staying apart,” she said.
She said some parents were worried during drop-off Monday morning but overall happy with the district’s precautions and the ability to have their children in school again.
Students at Shelton’s Holy Trinity Catholic Academy were also excited to be back in school, said HTCA director Lisa Lanni.
The catholic school is holding in-class learning only, Lanni said, and the first day reinforced the administration’s confidence in its COVID-19 mitigation plans.
“Today was just wonderful,” Lanni said. “It was far better than we anticipated. Everyone was so excited to be back.”
Lanni said the school welcomed 53 new students this year, and that added to the excitement of seeing children making new friends.
Also opening Monday were New Canaan, Region 5 schools, including Orange, Woodbridge and Bethany, Wilton and Winchester.
In New Canaan, elementary school students are divided in half based on the first letter of their last time. One "cohort" attends two days, all students alternate on Wednesday, and the other "cohort" attends the other two days as New Canaan starts a fourphase plan aimed at returning all students to classes for the first time since March.
New Canaan Superintendent Brian Luizzi called the first day the best day ever.
“To see kids back into the building after everything that has happened over these last months, and to see them in their classrooms with their teachers, talking and laughing and getting to know one another made everything we had to do to get here worthwhile,” said Luizzi.
Half of the student body came on Monday, the other half comes Tuesday. The only mix up Luizzi heard of was a “PM” kindergarten student who showed up for the “AM” session.
Perhaps the hardest thing was getting used to “air hugs” and waves, he said.
“It’s different,” Luizzi said. “But one (student) told me I would do all of this just to be here.”
The 6 to 7 percent of New Canaan students who have opted for remote learning will start on Sept. 8.
Meanwhile, a teacher at St. Luke’s School has tested positive for COVID-19, according to a letter sent to parents.
The teacher at the Upper School is isolating, according to a letter sent to parents by Julia Gabriele, associate head of school, CFO and the school’s COVID coordinator.
The announcement came on the day classes resumed at St. Luke’s after a week of orientation at the North Wilton Road school, and on the first day that students returned to public schools in New Canaan since March.
Opening on Tuesday are Monroe and Region 15.
On Wednesday, New Fairfield opens, and on Thursday, Darien, Madison, Middletown and Newtown. Most other school districts will start some form of in-person learning next week.
At Notre Dame, Cipriano said much has changed for the 2020-21 school year, but that teachers are teachers and students are still students.
“It will look different but we will still be able to do it,” Cipriano said. “All and all, I am really happy with how the day went.”