Flare-up in fall could impact schools

f Plans made to reopen schools both over the summer and fall need to be nimble enough to shift rapidly if the COVID-19 virus flares back up.

That was the warning Monday from State Epidemiologist Matthew Cartter, who told state education leaders that flexibility needs to be the under-pinning of their work as they guide state reopening efforts.

“We are going to continue to see transmission of the virus during summer and it is quite likely we see second wave of this pandemic as well in the fall,” Cartter told members of Gov. Ned Lamont’s reopening committee as they met virtually.

Cartter advised state leaders of preschool, K-12 and higher education to plan for reopening while at the same time planning for a potential second wave of the virus that closed down the state in March.

As hospitalizations caused by the coronavirus decline and efforts to reopen the state continue, the plan is to open schools and colleges, starting with some summer school programs as

soon as June 29.

The tension between resuming education and keeping students and staff safe was evident throughout the discussion.

“We want to be smart about this,” Commissioner of Education Miguel Cardona said of reopening efforts.

Colleges and universities

“It’s a struggle,” said University of Connecticut President Thomas Katsouleas about the the reopening of college campuses. Students, he noted, are very anxious to come back.

Last week, Lamont announced that some college activities, starting with research, could start later this month. This summer, college classes are expected to be delivered online.

The summer will also allow some colleges to better train faculty in how to deliver richer online learning, said former Yale University President Richard Levin.

Levin described the sudden, unplanned shift to online learning in March as somewhat primitive.

In the fall, Levin said, some colleges might consider a first semester that ends in person at Thanksgiving break, with December classes and finals held online.

“That might be the intelligent way” to do it, Levin said.

Trinity College President Joanne Berger Sweeney said another discussion centers around staggering reentry to campus.

“When it is safe to come back to campus may not mean all at same time,” Sweeney said.

K-12 concerns

The same concerns are being expressed at the K-12 level.

Don Williams, executive director of the Connecticut Education Association, said schools need to consider ways to honor social distancing protocols in classrooms, hallways and school buses.

“The last thing we want schools to do is re-spread the virus,” Williams said.

Robert Rader, executive director of Connecticut Association of Boards of Education, said he is nervous about budgets and how school systems already stretched can afford the protocols and technology that will be demanded post-pandemic.

Fran Rabinowitz, executive director of Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents, said what keeps her up at night is the difficulty of reaching every child as schools pivot back and forth between brick and mortar and distance learning.

An equity gap that already existed, Rabinowitz

said, has been made worse by the pandemic shutdown.

“Our best hope is that we will have some type of in-person learning in the fall and we are very hopeful that maybe we will be able to begin that in the summer,” Rabinowitz said..

What about fall sports ?

Glenn Lungarini, executive director of the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference, said “re-socialization criteria” for high school sports are being developed. Details were not given.

Early Childhood Commissioner Beth Bye, said some summer programs for preschoolers could begin on June 29, particularly as more people return to work.

Child care facilities with limited enrollments have been open all along for essential workers — with frequent temperature checks and added cleaning protocols.

Bye said the importance of school and routine and public health creates a situation where there are no really great choices, particularly when it comes to very young children.

“I have concerns about children brain development without structure,” Bye said.

Delayed interventions, she added, will only be exacerbated in the fall.

lclambeck@ctpost.com; twitter/lclambeck