‘Imperfect process’
Schools look ahead with uncertainty to fall
GREENWICH — When it comes to back to school in the fall, education officials in Greenwich agree that there are more questions than answers.
After wrapping up a school year disrupted by a closure since mid-March due to the coronavirus outbreak, the Board of Education and district administration are now turning their focus to September.
With the first day of school set for Sept. 2 in Greenwich, the Board of Education plans to meet throughout the summer to create a plan of what school will look like. And it continues to look for guidance from the
state on distance learning as well as for social distancing and safety protocols for buildings that can have hundreds — and even thousands — of students and staff.
“I have been getting tons of information from districts all around the country and seeing what’s being done and what’s not,” said Board Secretary Karen Hirsh, who is on the reopening committee formed by Superintendent of Schools Toni Jones.
“A lot of districts ... that started to make plans and send information out early to parents as to what they thought their districts were going to look like in the fall, have had to pull all of that information back based on changes the states have been making,” Hirsh said.
Given how quickly guidelines can change during the pandemic, communities may not know how the school year will look until two or three weeks before classes start, Jones said.
As a result, multiple plans are likely to be developed.
One issue up for discussion will be distance learning, which was used this spring. It has come under scrutiny from parents and school officials, with questions about its effectiveness and longterm impact on students.
In the meantime, the district will offer summer school through distance learning, with some additional services possible, including some face-toface services for special education students with proper distancing and safety procedures put in place.
Can distance learning continue?
The district would need an executive order from Gov. Ned Lamont to continue distance learning in the fall, Jones said. Distance learning is not permitted in the state otherwise — and school is required to be held in a building for a minimum of 180 days to constitute a school year.
Lamont issued an order allowing distance learning during the outbreak, but he would need to issue another for the new school year. David Bednarz, press secretary for the governor, said on Friday that Lamont planned to make an announcement “within the next several days regarding the next academic school year.”
No details were available about what the announcement might be, he said.
If distance learning is implemented again in the fall, board member Joe Kelly said he believed there would be improvements despite many complaints this spring. Other board members discussing the issue at Thursday’s school board meeting said they hoped the district had learned from the experience in the spring.
“I think we will be much better at distancing learning next time than we are this time because we had no chance to learn anything from the past,” Kelly said. “We need to be able to hold some kind of standard to what our expectations are.”
He said there was some “inconsistency” in how the distance-learning program was done.
Jones said “we are hard at work” on developing a framework and noted the ongoing evaluations of what has worked in other districts when it comes to distance learning.
Jones said she also hoped there will be clarification from the state about transportation. It is unclear whether there will be regulations on how many students can be on a bus because of the need for social distancing.
“We’re hoping to get all those things in place soon so that plans are moving in the right direction,” she said.
Return to the classrooms?
Board member Peter Sherr said at Thursday’s meeting that he has not heard definitively from parents as to whether they would welcome a return of students to the classrooms if there is no vaccine available for the coronavirus.
“Since we kind of have been un-COVIDed, so to speak, ... I’m hearing interestingly from parents and 50 percent are saying we must, must, must open schools,” Sherr said. “They don’t think (coronavirus is) as much of an issue. And then you get probably the other 50 percent who might be at the other end of the spectrum. … I wouldn’t know how to make a decision, which the board has to do this summer, on how we’re going to deliver education without more detailed information. This has to be a child-centered, parent-centered strategy.”
Jones said a survey would be sent to parents, likely in the second week of July. With more larger group gatherings now allowed, Jones said it made sense to wait to see whether there is a spike in cases in Connecticut like there have been in some other states.
Sherr questioned whether there would be enough time for the board to reach a decision.
“If this is sent out July 16, we would not get answers back for another week and that would bring us to the week of July 29, which is probably too late,” Sherr said. “This is all an imperfect process and it’s changing. But I think that the board needs to play a role in this and be provided some guidance. It needs to do it sooner rather than later.”