Summer Camps Allowed To Open; Summer School Uncertain

Youth programs can begin to host small numbers of children on June 29, as long as they follow public health restrictions set by the state. The fate of summer schools amidst the Covid-19 pandemic is less clear.

State Early Childhood Commissioner Beth Bye explained the logic behind this decision on Monday, during an education-focused Zoom panel hosted by Gov. Ned Lamont’s Reopen Connecticut Advisory Group.

“There is not always a right answer. There is often a less worse answer,” Bye said. ​“For many families, summer camp is their childcare.”

The Office of Early Childhood runs the 2 – 1‑1 Child Care hotline. Bye said that more than half of the calls to the hotline are from hospital workers. Nursing home workers are the next most in need.

The state has already allowed childcare facilities to stay open as part of the public health response, Bye said. Summer camps fall into a similar category and would be allowed to serve 30 children per day, with temperature screenings and small class sizes. Camps can seek a waiver to host more kids if they have a particularly large campus. (Read the full guidelines here.)

Summer School Forecast Unclear

State leaders have yet to announce a green light for summer schools. The decision on whether to allow summer school will depend on infection trends and the most up-to-date knowledge on how Covid-19 spreads, Education Commission Miguel Cardona said.

State epidemiologist Matthew Cartter said that communities will continue to see Covid-19 cases through the summer and a second wave of infections will likely happen in the fall. Because of how difficult it is to predict the virus’ impact, educators need to be ready to change plans quickly, Cartter said.

“Thinking about an epidemic is not like a weather forecast,” Cartter said.

The experts on the panel represented teachers, superintendents and school boards. All said that distance learning has not been as effective as in-person learning and has left out major sections of school populations, despite the best efforts of teachers and social workers.

To get back to school, however, districts need more help on how to maintain students’ safety, the panelists said. Will they need to maintain smaller class sizes? Do they need more buses? Should they do a hybrid of in-person and distance learning? How will they afford these new measures?

“Teachers want to get back into the classroom, but they want us to do this right. The last thing we want is for schools to serve as a center for re-spreading the virus,” said Don Williams, executive director of education lobbying group CEA.

Not Ready To LEAP In-Person

LEAP will definitely hold its youth programs this summer. Whether they will all be online depends on how possible it is to translate the public health restrictions on summer camps into reality, said Executive Director Henry Fernandez.

If summer 2020 were like any other summer, LEAP would host 500 children and 100 young teens at its five sites. Around 120 high school and college students would get paid to run those programs.

LEAP wants to get as close to those numbers as possible, Fernandez said.

“Each of those groups really matters to us,” Fernandez said. ​“We recognize how many young people rely on LEAP for employment and how many families look to LEAP for a high-quality summer program.”

LEAP has already moved its school-year programs online. In the process, the nonprofit has lost around half of the students it would be serving.

Fernandez said that LEAP has run summer camps for 27 years in New Haven. Running a virtual summer camp is a completely new challenge.

“How do we run a virtual program that kids might actually want to go to? That’s a big thing — getting kids to show up when they could be outside running around,” he said.

Meeting state guidelines may mean some amount of in-person, outdoor camps with virtual programming for the rest of the week, Fernandez said.

LEAP and other youth nonprofits have questions about what the state is recommending that they do. Does each of LEAP’s sites count as a separate program, with its own 30 person cut-off? Will the New Haven Public School buildings LEAP normally uses be open? Will the state help camps find face masks, cleaning products and hand soap to keep kids and staff safe?

Bye is scheduled to talk with the New Haven youth organizations on Wednesday to flesh out some answers, Fernandez said.

Finding a way to get kids out of the house is important too from a health standpoint, Fernandez emphasized. He said that New Haven organizations have seen serious impacts on youths’ mental health from Covid-related anxiety and bars on interacting with kids their own age.

“We all want to err on the side of safety and health. We also need to understand that in the context of mental health and safety,” he said.