City schools unlikely to offer remote learning
Danbury district plans to reopen full time, lease school in Brookfield
DANBURY — The school district is unlikely to offer distance learning next academic year after the state said it’s not required.
Instead, Danbury’s $5.98 million plan to reopen full-time calls for leasing a closed Catholic school in Brookfield, hiring about 37 staff members, and purchasing tents and furniture.
This allows the district to keep students the recommended three feet apart in the classroom, while addressing overcrowding from enrollment growth.
“This ... would give our teachers and our kids a better learning environment,” Superintendent Sal Pascarella said at a school board workshop earlier this week. “It’s a nice off-benefit from the
condition of opening next year to sustain lower class sizes and quality learning areas for our kids, not necessarily on carts, in hallways, on stages and things of that nature.”
The school board is expected to vote on the plan at its meeting next Wednesday, and administrators are negotiating with St. Joseph Church, which owns the school.
The Danbury Citywide Parent Teacher Organization backs the idea.
“Us at the Citywide really support this plan and whatever plan gets all the kids back into school five days a week,” said Jade O’Connell, vice president of the organization.
Distance learning
Board member Rachel Chaleski suggested the district keep distance learning for students who want it. This method could be used longterm to address overcrowding, she said.
“We have the technology,” she said. “We have the platform. We have the wherewithal for distance learning. We talked about this preCOVID as a possible way of address overcrowding and now we’re just going to shut the door on that option?”
Pascarella said it’s up for the board to decide, but that it could create staffing challenges. Danbury has had designated staff to teach full-time remote learners this year.
Some employees have had accommodations to work from home, but administrators told them it would be a “reasonable hardship” to offer this opportunity next year, said Kim Thompson, human resources director. A small group of staff are affected, she said.
“The DL (distance learning) model is going to be non-existent or very different,” she said. “And so that's not going to create the space that we used to be able to make those kind of accommodations next year.”
The district is still working out what to do if students are exposed to the virus and must quarantine, but distance learning would likely be offered in those cases, Pascarella said.
“Certainly if kids are home because of quarantine and other issues like that, we have to do something,” he said.
Address space constraints
Danbury appears unique in its plan.
Other city districts, such as New Haven, Waterbury, Bridgeport and Norwalk, are not looking to lease property or purchase tents, Walston said. Danbury’s schools are more overcrowded, and the high school has the largest enrollment in the state, he said.
“Folks are not dealing with the same challenges that we are dealing with,” he said.
Administrators plan to send 242 kindergartners from Ellsworth Avenue, Stadley Rough and South Street elementary schools to St. Joseph Catholic Academy, a vacant school that closed last year in Brookfield. About 22 additional staff members are needed.
This would open up space for students to be three-feet apart in the elementary classrooms, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s unknown whether this guidance will change as more people get vaccinated and doses are available to children, but administrators said they must plan ahead under the existing rules.
Class sizes will be reduced at the high school to meet spacing needs by moving to an eight-period day and hiring 15 teachers. Two existing teachers will be asked to add a class.
In the high school cafeteria, 350 desks would be set up for lunch, but lunch waves are 800 to 850 students. The rest of the students would eat in heated tents, Walston said. Tents may be needed at Broadview Middle School, too.
It’s expected to cost $1.86 million to lease the school and purchase furniture. Staffing and supplies is estimated at $3.4 million. Adding 10 more buses — five for the Brookfield site and five for enrollment growth — would cost $720,000. Federal coronavirus relief money would cover these costs.
Renting the Catholic school is expected to cost $5.64 per square foot, which is half or one-third of the cost the district has seen at commercial properties, Walston said.
Negotiations are ongoing, but Danbury may be asked to care for the grounds, security and general maintenance, while the church would handle major pieces, like the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system, Walston said.
The church is asking for a twoyear lease, but the district hopes to negotiate to one, he said. The district may need the building longer, however, if enrollment growth continues, he said.
Richard Jannelli, school board member, said he’d like to see a longterm lease to reduce class sizes.
“At least we have one year or two years to operate with some sanity and to be able to figure out the future,” he said.
The school has 13 classrooms, with the district planning to use two of those for support staff and special classrooms. A library and media space could be used for occupational and physical therapy, Walston said.
“It would be absolutely perfect if it was in Danbury,” he said.