Danbury shuts schools
Staff absences push district to cancel classes for Thursday, Friday as COVID cases rise
Danbury schools are closed Thursday and Friday while they face staffing and transportation issues, largely tied to COVID-19.
School Superintendent Kevin Walston notified parents Wednesday night of the plan. The district initially planned to institute a two-hour delay throughout the week “giving us the time needed to plan for the safety of our students and to preserve teacher and support staff ’s ability to adequately plan for their day.”
That plan changed, however.
“As mentioned in previous emails, we continue to struggle with staffing in all areas,” Walston said in a memo to parents. “As a result, we will not be able to run our schools safely on Thursday, January 6, and Friday, January 7. Danbury Schools will be closed for these two days. We plan to open the following week anticipating improved staffing.”
Danbury schools had 296 staff members absent Monday and 322 out on
Tuesday, according to school district data. That’s almost a 160 percent increase from the Monday after holiday break the prior year and a 142 percent rise from the Tuesday after the break in 2021, according to the district’s figures. A dearth of bus drivers also meant several buses not running this week for the Danbury district.
The staffing issues come as the state sees a rapid increase in COVID-19 cases. State officials reported Wednesday that 10,344 COVID cases were found in 45,760 new tests for a positivity rate of 22.6 percent. That is among the highest rates since widespread testing began weeks into the pandemic in 2020. A net of an additional 114 COVID patients were also admitted to the hospital Wednesday, for a total of 1,676.
The continued increase prompted Dr. Robert Fogerty, the director of bed resources at Yale New Haven Hospital, to predict that state hospitals could exceed 2020’s peak hospitalization figure “within the next two weeks.”
State officials reported Thursday that 7,612 new COVID-19 infections were reported for students over the last week, along with 2,338 staff members. The last week before winter break, state data showed 3,691 students and 742 staff reported new infections, which made for a significant jump from one week to another.
Still, Gov. Ned Lamont reiterated this week his commitment to keeping schools open for in-person learning.
“If I have a message for you, it’s: 24 percent infection rate is lousy and it may get worse before it gets better. But we have the tools in place — provided you take advantage of the tools, the masks, the vaccinations and then the testing — we have the tools to keep you going safe and keep going about your lives,” Lamont said at a Tuesday press conference.
Schools in some other districts have similarly opened on a delay, while Ansonia opted to cancel school for the week as it dealt with staffing shortages.
Lamont and the state Department
of Education have opted to not allow school districts to teach remotely. Only students who test positive are allowed to learn from home on their laptops.
“I am going to do everything I can to keep kids in the classroom safely,” Lamont said. “There’s nothing that compares to a great teacher in the classroom.”
Danbury teachers’ union president Erin Daly, however, warned last month that “things are not good” when it came to staffing and COVID-19.
“Our teachers are limping along to try and make it to the winter break due to severe staffing shortages, increased responsibilities, and the uptick of student and staff COVID cases,” she said.
State officials also issued new guidance for school districts this week tied to COVID-19. The guidance, which Danbury planned to implement, shortened quarantine to five days of isolation instead of 10 and ended contact tracing in schools.
While Walston said the abrupt closure of schools created “an additional burden” for families, the Danbury superintendent said he appreciated the “flexibility under these difficult circumstances.”
“We will continue to keep you updated on staffing, transportation, and weather-related decisions to the best of our ability,” he said.