Ko Lyn Cheang file photo
The following letter was submitted by the New Haven Educators’ Collective, NHPS Advocates, and City Wide Parent Team to state officials in advance of Tuesday afternoon’s state panel hearing on the public schools’ bid to reopen entirely remote for the first 10 weeks of the school year.
Dear Governor Lamont, Commissioner Cardona, members of the State Board of Education, and Department of Education staff,
Both the Education Commissioner and the Governor have stated that districts can make the decisions that are safest and best for their cities regarding the ways schools reopen. In fact, when New Haven’s Superintendent Dr. Iline Tracey asked who would be making this decision, the Governor responded, “It’s going to be up to you. We’re going to give the discretion there.”
In a 6 to 3 decision, the majority of New Haven’s Board of Education members voted to begin the school year with 10 weeks of remote learning. This majority included both of the elected Board members and the two elected student members, in addition to two other appointed Board members. This was a democratically-made decision, and it should be honored by the state.
According the the State’s “Guidance for Decision-Making Regarding the Use of In-Person, Hybrid (Blended), or Remote Learning Models in Connecticut Schools during COVID-19” (pages 67 – 69), “Decisions on remote vs. in-person learning should be based on indicators of the spread and prevalence of COVID-19 in the community; and on the physical and operational ability of schools to implement critical mitigation strategies.”
The state is utilizing the guidance of the Harvard Global Health Institute in order to determine its leading indicator thresholds.
While New Haven county’s current infection rates put us into the yellow “Covid Risk Level” category, the state’s guidance deviates from Harvard’s scientific recommendations for that category, which clearly states that: “in the absence of conditions for pandemic resilient teaching and learning spaces, schools continue with remote learning.”
The Harvard Global Health Institute defines pandemic resilient learning spaces: “For all students, a healthy building with enhanced outdoor air ventilation and upgraded filtration is necessary, as are sanitation resources, hygiene practices, pandemic resilient bathrooms, physical and group distancing, and legibility of spaces.” New Haven Public Schools are not, by definition, pandemic resilient teaching and learning spaces.
The state’s secondary indicators for making decisions regarding school reopening plans have to do with the direction of change and the speed of change with regard to local Covid-19 rates. In New Haven county, this past week has seen a 64 percent increase in new cases compared to the previous 7‑day period.
Finally, based on “structural and procedural considerations within school districts” as outlined by the state, New Haven Public Schools does not have the funding, space, or staffing to meet the state’s recommended guidelines for safely reopening in person.
Many of our schools are overcrowded, making it difficult or impossible to properly distance in our classrooms, hallways, and our school entrance/exit areas. Additionally, most of our schools lack outdoor spaces.
Cohorting will not be possible, especially in our high schools. Even where it might be possible in some of our schools and classrooms, our buses will be operating at full capacity and students will be sitting close to students from different cohorts, neighborhoods, schools, and even cities.
Finally, most of our schools do not have windows that open, and most of our schools do not have well-functioning or maintained central HVAC systems.
In conclusion, based on New Haven’s leading indicators alongside guidance from the Harvard Global Health Institute, secondary indicators which are on the rise, and especially based on “Other Key School Characteristics” as outlined by the state, remote learning is warranted for New Haven Public Schools for the safety of our community.
State officials should not ask our community to take risks deemed unreasonable for decision-makers, given that the review meeting is scheduled to occur via Zoom rather than in person.
For all these reasons, we urge you to approve our district’s democratically-made decision to begin the school year with remote learning.
See below for previous op-eds about the school re-opening debate.
• Opinion: Schools Should Reopen On Hybrid Schedule
• Teacher, Parent, Student Groups Call For (Funded) Remote Learning
• Goldson: Why I Voted For Remote Learning
• The Case For Outdoor Learning
• Opinion: Don’t Open The Schools
• Opinion: Guv Blindsided New Haven’s “Road Map” To Schools Reopening