Name: Distance learning will continue but Gov. Ned Lamont closes Connecticut schools for rest of academic year due to coronavirus pandemic
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Distance learning will continue but Gov. Ned Lamont closes Connecticut schools for rest of academic year due to coronavirus pandemic

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AdvertisementBy Hartford CourantMay 05, 2020 at 6:40 pmSchools in Connecticut will remain closed for the rest of the academic year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Gov. Ned Lamont said Tuesday, and they may reopen with a very different look this fall.AdvertisementLamont hoped schools could reopen for a short while this spring, but he said a variety of factors, including the closure of schools in states across the region, led him to cancel for the year. Students across the state have been learning remotely online since March 17.“We’re coming up on May 20 so we had to give some pretty clear guidance. We looked around the region, we looked across the state and saw an infection rate that was still rising," he said. “This was the right decision to lend some clarity to people.”AdvertisementState education commissioner Miguel Cardona said when schools open after the summer it may be under different circumstances. He mentioned split school days, limiting student group sizes and a possible combination between distance and in person learning as possible changes.“Our schools were not outfitted for social distancing," he said.Lamont closed schools with an executive ordered that was initially supposed to expire March 31. He extended that date twice, most recently to May 20, even as other states cancelled in-person classes for the duration of the year. Online learning that began in March will continue through June.Superintendents, many of whom had closed schools in March feeling certain they would not be returning until the fall, said the governor’s announcement, while sad, was the right choice.“We could not guarantee the health and safety of kids if we brought them back in June; there’s just no way. We are not prepared for that in terms of social distancing, in terms of [personal protective] equipment," Fran Rabinowitz, head of the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents, said Tuesday.In West Hartford, superintendent Tom Moore said the decision would allow administrators to start planning for reopening in the fall. He was optimistic that the last six weeks of school would go smoothly as students and teachers adjust to distance learning.“It doesn’t catch us by surprise, but it allows us to really begin planning for the fall and have that target date for what is going to be a really, really busy three months without trying to rush through,” said Tom Moore, superintendent of West Hartford Schools.Like many of their colleagues around the state, New Britain educators were pretty much expecting Lamont’s decision. The transition to distance learning since mid-March was difficult, but Superintendent of Schools Nancy Sarra emphasized that the schools made some unexpected advances – and she wants to continue them after this school semester wraps up June 12.Advertisement“We’ve engaged with some students who were not engaging in the traditional school year. We’re going to learn a lot from all of this - some students prefer to do work online, and it’s OK,” Sarra said. "I can tell you 100 percent of my staff have learned so much in these seven weeks around how to engage students and how to reach out through technology.”In Plainville, Superintendent Steven LePage said online education has worked well so far.Some of the toughest challenges have been at the kindergarten and pre-kindergarten levels, where children are accustomed to physical proximity, classroom aides and plenty of personal attention, he said. High school classes – either remedial or very rigorous – can also be difficult.“The upper elementary grades and middle school have really lent themselves best to this. Middle school has been a shining star,” LePage said. “The feedback we get from the large majority of parents is that kids are still connected with their teachers and classmates. The work being assigned seems to be the right mix of challenging and rigorous but not so much that it overburdens kids.''Mary Kay Rendock, a teacher at Carmen Arace Intermediate School in Bloomfield, said that even though everyone would love to go back to the classroom tomorrow, there are too many unanswered questions about how it would be done safely.“When you have 20 to 22 kids in a class there is no chance of social distancing."AdvertisementLamont’s announcement was welcome news for Tara Flaherty, a math teacher at Shepaug Valley Regional School in Washington who also has five children at home during the pandemic.“It was a relief and something we were expecting and hoping for,” she said. “It was still a relief to know the safety of our students and families are a priority.”As both a teacher and a parent of children ranging from kindergarten to college, Flaherty understands the struggles on both ends brought on by the lengthy closure, as teachers try to remain connected with students through distance learning and parents push to keep their kids engaged outside their classrooms.“We [teachers] are finding a groove but I now think that with schools closed for the rest of the school year, things might change for some students,” Flaherty said. “Sometimes things are easier when you have an end date. I think we are going to find some families will struggle maintaining the distance learning for the rest of the school year … I am hoping my kindergartner can maintain, but it’s tough.”For parents, the governor’s decision did not come as much of a surprise either.Windsor parent Maggie Hasbrouck Essex said she agreed with the decision because the logistics of keeping everyone safe would be difficult, if not impossible.Advertisement“But it’s heartbreaking to see my daughter in tears because she won’t be able to see her teacher or her school friends,” Hasbrouck Essex said. “She’ll still be at Oliver Ellsworth [Elementary School] again next year so will be able to see her teacher from this year at that point, but it won’t be the same.”Ann Marie Caouette, who has a graduating senior and a junior at Windsor High School, said it has been a difficult year for her kids.“I just hope there is some way to support them through the emotional aspect of no graduation, not getting to say goodbye,” she said. “My junior is struggling with the idea that suddenly she’s a senior, missed the college planning work they were starting in school and no goodbye to the outgoing seniors.The Connecticut Education Association, the state’s largest teachers’ union, praised Lamont’s decision to keep schools closed and urged state and local officials to begin planning for reopening in the fall.“This crisis is not over,” President Jeff Leake said. "And experts say a resurgence of the virus could occur this fall. We must use the next few months to ensure that safety procedures and protocols are in place before students, teachers and staff re-enter the classrooms.”Students will continue distance learning for the rest of the year. In April, some school districts were still struggling to reach hundreds of students who hadn’t logged onto their online classes or interacted with their teachers. Lamont and Cardona said Tuesday that every effort would be made to make sure students have access to the technology and educational materials they need.AdvertisementThe state is still working to coordinate the delivery of 60,000 laptops from the nonprofit Partnership for Connecticut, and more than 185,000 Scholastic book packs for prekindergarten to eighth grade students donated by Indra Nooyi, the former PepsiCo CEO and a top economic adviser to Lamont, and her husband, Raj.Amy Dowell, state director of Education Reform Now CT, said the prolonged school closure raises concerns about educational equity and how prepared students will be to resume school in the fall. She hopes the state will plan to measure how much learning students lost while schools were closed."Now they’ve lost a third of their year of school and it’s really challenging to have the expectation that if you’re in second grade you’ll go back as a third-grader even though you’ve missed a third of your academic year.”As it happensGet the latest updates on Coronavirus and other breaking news events happening across Connecticut &gt; Dowell, who is also a parent to a kindergartner and fourth-grader, said Tuesday’s announcement was a “gut punch.”“There will be a lot of important work to be done for students when they get back to school," she said. "School is part of the social safety net of our state and country and without public schools being open and children missing out on that contact and experience is a significant challenge. We hope all the resources will be in place in the fall.AdvertisementFollowing Tuesday’s announcement, Cardona said the state is looking at summer school and resources it can provide districts to mitigate learning loss because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The state department of education is developing online tools for school districts, but Cardona said there has been no decision on summer school.“Summer will start as soon as the reopen committee develops some guidance on how to provide summer school safely. We’re hoping to have summer schools open in July. But a lot of that is dependent on the trends in Connecticut," Cardona said. “We want to get it as early as possible, but not so early it is unsafe.”Kathleen McWilliams can be reached at kmcwilliams@courant.com. Advertisement

AdvertisementBy Hartford CourantMay 05, 2020 at 6:40 pmSchools in Connecticut will remain closed for the rest of the academic year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Gov. Ned Lamont said Tuesday, and they may reopen with a very different look this fall.AdvertisementLamont hoped schools could reopen for a short while this spring, but he said a variety of factors, including the closure of schools in states across the region, led him to cancel for the year. Students across the state have been learning remotely online since March 17.“We’re coming up on May 20 so we had to give some pretty clear...

Distance learning will continue but Gov. Ned Lamont closes Connecticut schools for rest of academic year due to coronavirus pandemic

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