Ko Lyn Cheang
Pre-school teachers Donna Goglia and Paola Suero at recent protest.
The Board of Education has decided to start the school year with remote-only learning — assuming it can convince the state to sign off.
The board made the decision in a 6 – 3 vote at a special meeting Wednesday night.
Zoom
The Board of Education Zoomed in for a special meeting on Wednesday.
The majority supported board member and former Principal Larry Conaway’s motion to start the school year with 10 weeks of distance learning and then transition to a hybrid of in-person and distance classes. Conaway said that delay would give the district time to handle transportation logistics, teacher training and Covid-19 testing that would make reopening work.
“If we can ever get out of this mess, we can figure out a way to catch students up. But we can’t catch them up if they aren’t here,” said Ed Joyner, who broke away from his usual coalition to vote with Conaway, Tamiko Jackson-McArthur and Darnell Goldson.
“One of my biggest concerns around transmission is asymptomatic kids,” said Jackson-McArthur, who is a pediatrician.
Goldson argued that the New Haven and Connecticut have kept Covid-19 rates low by “doing it right” — unlike states that reopened schools too soon and saw infection rates soar.
The argument echoed calls from teachers, parents and paraprofessionals in recent weeks who have said that the one life lost from reopening early is too many. Joyner also agreed with recent protests that New Haven does not have enough resources to open safely. (The district’s chief financial officer has said that NHPS’ full wishlist of Covid-preparation items would cost $5.5 million more than the district has gotten through coronavirus relief.)
Both student representatives, Anthony Fiore and Lihame Arouna, voted with the majority in favor of the delayed hybrid model.
The three votes against the delay came from Mayor Justin Elicker, Board President Yesenia Rivera and Matt Wilcox. Elicker and Wilcox talked about how the Covid-19 pandemic is projected to last through the spring and into multiple years. They said that they supported the hybrid plan, which Superintendent Iline Tracey and her team prefer.
“I’m strongly leaning towards the hybrid plan, because of what students are missing if they don’t go into school even a few times a week. There is a significant mental health impact of being isolated or being at home in potentially problematic situations,” Elicker said.
Elicker pointed to moments where the strategies in the hybrid plan — frequent hand washing, wearing masks and staying six feet apart — have worked to prevent the spread of Covid-19, like in recent Black Lives Matter protests where thousands took to the streets of New Haven.
Elicker argued that it will be harder to transition to the hybrid model as the fall progresses because of the flu season, when more students will exhibit symptoms that could be interpreted as Covid-related.
Tracey posited the hybrid plan as a way to give families choice. Families could send their children into school in smaller class sizes and spend some days at home, or they could choose to keep their child home learning remotely.
After the board’s decision, Tracey asked them to help her argue the case to a state panel. City health director Maritza Bond said that the state is requiring this of local districts who choose remote schooling despite being below thresholds for the spread of Covid-19.
The Lamont administration has given local school districts the right to choose how to open in the fall — but with only two options: Full in-person learning. Or a hybrid of some in-school and some remote learning.
Connecticut State Department of Education Communications Director Peter Yazbak confirmed this approach on Thursday afternoon:
“As we announced on Monday (scroll to bottom of release), should a district determine not to provide an in-school option while in the low or moderate risk-level categories developed by the state, the respective district superintendent will come before an exception review panel with representatives from the State Department of Education, the Department of Public Health, and a member of the State Board of Education. The superintendent and panel will discuss why the district believes a full remote learning model is their best option,” Yazbak wrote by email.