Lamont: Plan to reopen schools remains flexible
Gov. Ned Lamont said he wants to remain flexible on his plan to return 535,000 children to school in September, but he will not budge on the requirement to keep students together in the same group of around 25 throughout the school day.
“I’m always willing to listen,” Lamont said Friday afternoon after a coronavirus testing event in the parking lot of a Bridgeport church. “People have to give us constructive ideas on how we can get this done.”
Lamont made the remarks less than 24 hours after he and state Education Commissioner Miguel Cardona announced guidance that calls for public K-12 schools to hold in-person classes in at least a 180-day academic schedule with significant restrictions.
The guidance set off a debate across the state about whether coronavirus infections have abated enough, and whether schools can follow the costly cleaning and deistancing rules.
It brought criticism — led by 5th District Rep. Jahana Hayes, a former national Teacher of the Year and a fellow Democrat — that the broad outlines Lamont and Cardona delivered created confusion and panic.
That’s largely because Lamont, as he has done before with complex rollouts, offered the summary, to be followed a few days later with full details.
“Immediately there is this influx of panic in educator circles, in parent circles,” Hayes said in a Friday interview. “What does this mean? What does this look like?”
Explaining a tweet she posted Thursday night, Hayes said she hopes the complete plan “will answer some of these questions” the Thursday announcement did not address.
“I wanted to make sure we weren’t approaching
this just from the framework of what’s good for the economy and employers,” she added, “but it is of no benefit to anyone for students and teachers to not feel safe, because then no real learning is going to take place in that situation, either.”
Hayes’ complaints were echoed by state Sen. Gary Winfield, D-New Haven, whose Twitter post questioned the governor’s decision to delay until Monday the details of the plan.
Lamont said he spoke with Hayes on Friday morning and sent her the entire 50-page plan, so she can review it before the scheduled release of the full plan on Monday. Hayes had not read the plan before her interview with Hearst Connecticut Media midday Friday.
“I think the core of it is, you can have your class, but it’s got to cohort with one group. And I don’t want that 25 kids circulating all over the school, because then we won’t be able to track and trace. So I think there are some things we really can’t compromise on,” Lamont said.
Hayes, in her first term in Congress, said she told Lamont the school districts that will have the most trouble implementing reopening plans were also the hardest-hit by the cornonavirus.
“So in cities like Waterbury and New Britain, they’re going to have a much more difficult time trying to navigate and figure this out and then pay for it than some of the more affluent communities, and that would just further perpetuate the disparities that we’ve been talking about,” she said. “So it should be no surprise to anyone that I have some serious concerns and questions about what this is going to look like.”
The debate took on political partisanship as Hayes’ endorsed opponent in the 5th District race, Republican David X. Sullivan, tweeted after Hayes’ tweet, “I fully agree with @GovNedLamont’s decision to reopen CT schools in the fall. Only a classroom environment will enable our children to succeed.”
It was the second time in as many weeks that Lamont has drawn fire from some in his own Democratic Party and praise from Republicans. On June 17, he told a business audience in Fairfield County that extending the $600-a-week bonus payments for unemployment beyond July is not necessary and could lead people making more money not working than working, to avoid returning to their employers.
On Friday, Lamont portrayed the back-and-forth as part of an ongoing process of listening.
“Look, everybody cares deeply about education and has strong feelings,” Lamont said. “But I also think they understand that we want to get our kids back to school safely, and see if we can do that on time.” He credited Cardona with working closely with superintendents, teachers and parents throughout the state in recent weeks.
“Now we’re going to get some feedback on how we can do it safely,” Lamont said. “Do you want everybody to wear a mask? Will teachers come in if they are not? We have a good plan that can get your kids back to school safely . ... We’re going to work this through.”
Connecticut, along with New York, has had the nation’s sharpest reduction in COVID-19. The reopening of schools depends on data continuing in the right direction with fewer new cases, lower percentages of positive tests and a reduction in hospitalizations.
The state Department of Public Health reported a net increase of five hospitalizations Friday, the first uptick since May 25, for a total of 127 patients. Nine new fatalities brought the state’s pandemic total to 4,307.
During the week leading up to the Thursday announcement, Lamont spoke extensively with Cardona. Lamont said he also spoke with other governors, including Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, whose return-to-the-classroom plan includes students staying together as a cohort, to limit the chances of COVID-19 spreading.
“We got some presentations from the governors’ meetings,” Lamont said of the White House teleconferences led by Vice President Mike Pence. “They were not that informative. ... Sort of high-level, balance health and education. Okay, I can figure that out.”
Lamont credited Cardona. “He really talked to all the different stakeholders,” Lamont said. “He really took the lead on this. A little credit where credit is due.”
The governor said the Boston Consulting Group, which has taken over advising the state following the disbanding of his Reopen CT Advisory Group, had little, if anything, to do with the education plan.