New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
‘I get to see all my friends’
Students, parents share their excitement for in-person return as area school districts kick off the new academic year
Julia Buccheri sprinted into the arms of her friend Aldo Bertolini Monday, the first day of school in West Haven — and the first in more than a year on which all students were required to attend in person, with masks and appropriate social distancing, instead of online.
How long had it been since Julia last saw Aldo?
“Like 30 years,” Julia estimated. Julia and Aldo were starting kindergarten and first grade, respectively, at Edith E.
Mackrille School.
West Haven was one of several area school districts opening their doors to students Monday, including New Haven, Hamden and Wallingford. Students, teachers, administrators and parents spoken to Monday were unanimous in supporting an in-person return to school.
Waiting for the West Haven High School doors to open, sophomores Christabel Edhere and Diana Jurado caught up with friends.
“I feel very happy
because I get to see all my friends,” Diana said.
Christabel said she was “terrible at distant learning” and already tried to maximize her time in the classroom last year.
Junior Kristina Bondi said she felt “weird” being at school again, but ultimately optimistic after completing her sophomore year remotely.
“It feels like freshman year again,” she said.
Freshman Matthew Hunter said he had no expectations because Monday was his first day of high school. He said he would be fine complying with any mask requirements because he’s used to doing it.
Teachers across West Haven said they believed the district was ready for a safe and productive year, and they were excited to see their students in the classroom again for a full day.
Anthony Fiore, a senior at New Haven’s High School in the Community and a student member of the New Haven Board of Education, said he felt the
day ran well logistically.
“It felt normal. The mask mandates didn’t really get in the way much, and for the most part it actually felt normal,” he said.
Peggy Spagone, a paraprofessional at West Haven High, said the students with whom she works sometimes struggled with distance learning.
“It was easy for them to fall asleep and stay asleep,” she said.
Now, Spagone said she expects about 18 students in each of her classes, allowing her to address student needs as they arise.
Harry M. Bailey Middle School band teacher Jacob Humerick expected to have a better band experience with students playing instruments live.
“Online was challenging because of video,” he said.
Mackrille fourth-grade teacher Stacey Alves said she believed students and teachers alike were eager for a return.
“It will definitely be better for teachers to do one job instead of two,” she said. For the last academic year, teachers had to accommodate students
who were both in the classroom and outside of it, leading to an increased workload for many.
Mackrille special education teacher Michael Danishevsky said this year will allow him to have more time in-person with his students. He said many struggled with distance learning.
Dave Cicarella, president of the New Haven Federation of Teachers, said maintenance issues at seven schools in his city meant a number of teachers and students went without air-conditioning Monday. However, he said he had not heard complaints about instructional logistics as of late afternoon.
“The rollout must’ve been pretty good,” he said.
Parents Monday expressed enthusiasm at having their children learning in their classrooms for the entire day, as well.
Tracy Rogers, mother of a new seventh-grade student at Bailey, said both she and her son were more nervous for him to be starting at a new school than to navigate any safety precautions during inperson learning.
“At home it was tough, it’s not as hand-on as a classroom,” she said. “He does better in person.”
Nora James said she was happy her daughter, Gabrielle Watson, would start the third grade in a building so she would not be cooped up inside the home all day.
West Haven Superintendent of Schools Neil Cavallaro said his district’s plan is to start by assessing students’ readiness to learn.
“The first couple of weeks we’re really going to be assessing kids to see where they are, not only academically, but also socially and emotionally,” he said. “We’ll start that on day one, but that will be a little bit of a process.”
Cavallaro said the district is investing resources in emphasizing attendance at the high school with outreach teams.
He said buses are “never perfect” at the start of the school year, but there are added challenges when a significant number of students go from learning at home to once again riding buses. He said he expects that figuring out the routes will be a focus of the first few days of the
school year.
Hamden Superintendent of Schools Jody Goeler said “all of the things we could control went exceptionally well.” However, the district’s cuts to bus routes over staffing concerns became an issue when seven more drivers did not report to work Monday.
“We notified parents immediately and are getting regular updates from the company on their progress securing the necessary drivers. My staff continues to work with the district’s bus company to mitigate the impact this shortage causes our students and families,” he said.
Despite that, Goeler said he believes robust summer learning activities helped prepare a significant number of students for the first day back to school.
New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker, who has one daughter in a district elementary school, said things went “smoothly” Monday morning for his family. However, he said the district has some issues it must address.
“There were some logistical issues with the schools that were experienced both over the weekend and today with airconditioning and a couple leaks overall,” he said.
However, he said as
mayor that he tends to hear when things go wrong, but he did not receive much negative feedback from residents by Monday afternoon. He said there were no positive cases of COVID-19 reported in the schools Monday, and the city’s efforts are on increasing the number of people ages 12 to 17 who are vaccinated. As of Monday, he said 46 percent of that population had had at least a first dose.
“We still have more work to do there, clearly, but it did have a bump from the previous week,” he said.
Justin Carmon, spokesman for New Haven Public Schools, said many schools were decorated with balloons and music was playing as students arrived Monday.
“Students seemed happy to be back, and teachers were enthusiastic to start the school year,” he said.
West Haven Mayor Nancy Rossi said she believed remote learning “had its place,” but she believes the city’s students were enthusiastic about returning to their buildings on a fulltime basis.
“I know my children had face-to-face learning, and it’s a lot easier,” she said.