‘AS PREPARED AS WE CAN BE’
Thousands of students return to classrooms amid new challenges
Tens of thousands of Hartford-area students headed back to their schools Tuesday, a delayed, post-Labor Day reopening and the start of what promises to be a challenging year of learning amid a pandemic.
At New Britain High School, students gathered in the main plaza just after 7 a.m., waiting for school doors to reopen for the first time in half a year.
“It’s scary being around a lot of people after what happened, so many people getting sick and losing their lives,” said Geraldin Fernandez, 16, a junior who wants to study nursing. “It’s crazy we still have to show up to school.”
Zyhir Brown, 14, a freshman, was waiting for his first day of high school to begin with his father, Gregory Brown.
“It feels good but it feels different because not everyone is here,” Zyhir said.
“I’m kind of nervous but I pray and I think everything will be all right. I sent him with 25 masks,” his father added.
As they waited, administrators circled with hand sanitizer and New Britain High School Principal Damon Pearce, outfitted in a face mask and face shield, checked in with students.
“We are very prepared — as prepared as wecan be,” said NewBritain Superintendent of Schools Nancy Sarra, who was standing outside the high school as students got off the bus and lined up.
Sarra said that the reopening was pushed back a week to ensure all the buildings were ready and properly ventilated.
Hartford Public Schools, scheduled to reopen Tuesday, pushed back the start of classes until Wednesday due to a ransomware attack that caused outages of critical computer systems.
But students returned in West Hartford, Bristol, Manchester, Windsor, Bloomfield and other communities. Valley Regional High School in Deep River, which serves students from Chester, Deep River and Essex, was among schools that reopened last week but will remain closed until Thursday after two students there tested positive for the coronavirus.
At Bugbee Elementary School in West Hartford on Tuesday morning, families watched as children lined up outside the building by class. Parents from around the neighborhood exchanged greetings, reassuring one another, “It’s only for a few hours,” and “You’re doing a great job.”
Laura Jaeger stood on the playground with her 4-year-old, after waving goodbye to her first-grade son.
“He told mehewas nervous and excited. I also feel nervous and excited,” she laughed, “but mostly excited.”
Jaeger noted Tuesday was very different from any previous first day of school at Bugbee. Last year, she said, the school community crowded together outside, with music playing as parents said their goodbyes. Principal Kelly Brouse, whojoined Jaeger on the playground after comforting a nervous kindergartner, agreed.
“It’s a quieter start than we’re used to ... but we just had to do things differently,” she said. “We really shared in advance how it was going to work ... and everyone was really respectful of what we have to do to get kids in the building.”
West Hartford schools are operating on a hybrid model, Brouse said. Students are split into two groups depending on the first letter of their last name. While one group is in school, the other learns remotely from home, with online teacher interaction at the end of the day. Instead of the usual about 380 students attending in-person classes at Bugbee, only about 170 were present at the building for the first day. Brouse noted about 50 students opted into online-only learning.
Jaeger said her family struggled with online-only learning during the spring semester. Afewother Bugbee parents shared similar experiences, noting how difficult it was to keep young children focused on a computer screen for hours.
Brouse encouraged parents to follow state guidelines for travel and mask-wearing, and to try to stay positive, as children will “take leads from us.”
At John F. Kennedy School in Windsor Tuesday morning, Esther Cortes was dropping off her 10-year-old son Xavier before taking 5-year-old Marcusto Oliver Ellsworth School for his first day of kindergarten.
Xavier and Marcus said they were looking forward to seeing their friends and that they weren’t nervous about following the safety protocols.
“They’ve been good about wearing their masks,” Esther Cortez said. “As long as they keep their distance and wash their hands it will be fine.”
Cortez, a nurse, said the hybrid model chosen by the district makes it easier for her and her husband to be able to go to work, but she added that she is confident in the measures taken by the district.
“At this point, I think it’s safe,” she said. “We figured, let’s give it a chance.”
At Waddell Elementary School in Manchester Tuesday morning, half of the hybrid kindergarten classes arrived for their first day.
The corona virus pandemic muted the typical bustle of a new school year as students arrived in ones and twos with their parents and on sparsely occupied school buses.
Manchester’s hybrid model, like those in other districts, divides live and distance learning alphabetically by students’ last names and by day of the week. Also, schools had a staggered opening. In the elementary schools, kindergarteners arrive Tuesday and Wednesday and the upper grade students start on Thursday and Friday.
That caused some confusion Tuesday. A woman pulled up outside Waddell with her third-grader and was told she was too early. An older girl stepped off a school bus at about the same time. School bus drivers were not leaving any students at bus stops, district spokesman Jim Farrell said. Instead, they took those kids to their assigned schools to let administrators sort out the confusion.
Waddell interim Principal Aisha Florez said parents of about half of this year’s kindergarten class chose to keep their kids home for the entire school year.
In-person classes, typically 18-20 students, were down to only four or five at a time.
Asked if keeping the youngest students aware of mask-wearing and other precautions would be challenging, Florez said parents have done a good job preparing their kids. In any case, children adapt to new circumstances better than adults, she said
Kindergarten teacher Michelle Wlochowski, starting her 17th year, said she has a total of nine students. The in-person school day runs from 9:10 a.m. to 2:10 p.m. From 2:40-3:40 p.m., four days a week, Wlochowski will meet online with the four or five students who stayed home that day. On Wednesdays, the entire class will meet remotely for shared reading and other group activities.
Communication with parents and students will be key, Wlochowski said.
A 73-page plan released by the state Department of Education lays out specific steps schools must take as they reopen, including requirements that all students and teachers wear masks and that desks are placed 6 feet apart “when feasible.”
Judging from district surveys, about 76% of families across the state expect to send their children back to school, while the rest will keep children home for online learning, Gov. Ned Lamont said earlier this summer. However, many school districts have said they would allow parents and guardians some flexibility to change their minds.
According to data Lamont presented at a recent press briefing, fewer than one-third of Connecticut’s schools plan to fully reopen for in-person learning. About 28% plan to reopen with a temporary hybrid schedule before transitioning to full in-person learning and 41% are planning to operate on a hybrid model indefinitely. New Haven and Danbury schools are beginning the year entirely online.