Name: Schools in Connecticut could look very different when they reopen. Here are some measures the state is considering
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Schools in Connecticut could look very different when they reopen. Here are some measures the state is considering

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AdvertisementBy Hartford CourantMay 05, 2020 at 6:44 pmWith the need for social distancing expected to continue throughout the fall, schools in Connecticut could look very different when they reopen.Gov. Ned Lamont and state education Commissioner Miguel Cardona announced Tuesday that students won’t return to classrooms this spring and that online learning that began in March will continue through June. They also said students should expect changes when they do eventually head back in the fall.Advertisement“Our schools were not outfitted for social distancing,” Cardona said. “If anything, we tried to encourage, wherever possible, learning in community, we know that’s how students learn best.”Lamont said Connecticut may develop a hybrid plan where some students are in school and others are taught remotely.Advertisement“This is tough saying we won’t have traditional learning from now to the end of June, but we are going to be leaders when it comes to nontraditional learning right now," he said. "And I’m not quite sure how long online learning and Zoom learning is going to be nontraditional. My instinct is it’s going to be part of a hybrid plan going forward. ... Connecticut will continue to be a leader here. To the parents and kids out there, think of this as a new way to learn and this is not a lost opportunity. It’s a new opportunity. We are going to make sure this summer and this fall you are learning at your very best.”“We might go into school at a phased-in model,” Cardona added. “We know that distance learning will still be a part of ... programming.”Class sizes could be limited based on guidance from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state health officials.As it happensGet the latest updates on Coronavirus and other breaking news events happening across Connecticut &gt; “We’re still negotiating down in Washington, D.C., we’ll see what type of [financial] support we get," Lamont said. "They’re going to help us with this guidance, they may be requiring small class sizes, and that would mean we need some additional teaching support. ... So there are a lot of contingencies we’re thinking about. ... We don’t quite know what the rules of the road are going to be coming forward in September.”This summer, child care centers and camps in Connecticut are required to limit groups to no more than 10.Students may be split up into smaller groups, with the cafeteria, library and gymnasium used for teaching.“What we’re going to do is make sure that we take guidance from our health partners ... to make sure our buildings are safe for students and safe for staff," Cardona said. "And that might mean that we take spaces like the cafeteria and the gymnasium, and for part of the day when they’re not in use, we use them for learning spaces. Or that we look creatively at how we use big spaces like media centers, to split them up to provide opportunities for students to learn while maintaining that social distancing.”Cardona said the state is considering morning and afternoon sessions to limit the size of schools.Advertisement“Those are things that are being considered,” he said. “We have a lot of different options to consider what works for students, what works for school communities. And what we want to do is be conscious of the fact that if we’re making decisions in some communities, it has an impact on other communities. Because we know that a teacher might teach in one community but have his or her children attend a school in a different community. So these are all things that we’re considering, split days, what impact that has, how much of that is distance learning, how much of that is schoolhouse learning, to be able to comply with the health standards.”Russell Blair can be reached at rblair@courant.com. Advertisement

AdvertisementBy Hartford CourantMay 05, 2020 at 6:44 pmWith the need for social distancing expected to continue throughout the fall, schools in Connecticut could look very different when they reopen.Gov. Ned Lamont and state education Commissioner Miguel Cardona announced Tuesday that students won’t return to classrooms this spring and that online learning that began in March will continue through June. They also said students should expect changes when they do eventually head back in the fall.Advertisement“Our schools were not outfitted for social distancing,” Cardona said. “If anything,...

Schools in Connecticut could look very different when they reopen. Here are some measures the state is considering

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