Emily Hays Photo
Sixth graders at ConnCAT hub on Tuesday.
The room of students was quiet, with only the occasional swivel of a chair or clacking of a keyboard to break the silence.
School was in session in person at 4 Science Park — for public-school students whose official learning had gone remote.
It was the first day of a new learning hub “Safe Space” launched by Connecticut Center for Arts and Technology (ConnCAT)’s to prevent students from falling behind during the pandemic.
With New Haven Public Schools online-only for 10 weeks, and district officials struggling to engage students who fell behind during remote learning last spring, community organizations like ConnCAT are filling the gaps to make sure students have help and social time during their Covid-era virtual school day. It’s part of a nationwide quest to offer urban kids what some students in wealthy suburbs have been getting during the pandemic: Small-scale, safe in-person “pods” with adult help with learning when school buildings are closed.
“Kids want to see each other and be seen,” said ConnCAT Chief Operating Officer Genevive Walker.
In-Person Help
Families drop off their children in the morning at ConnCAT’s door at 4 Science Park. Students and staff get temperature checks and have to sign a log whenever they enter or exit the building.
Students then separate into three rooms by grade level. There are a total of 32 students, who span sixth through ninth grade. Each student gets either a desk to themselves or one side of a long table.
In one corner of the largest room, Coletta Cordoba (pictured above) was on break.
The Wexler-Grant sixth grader likes math but sometimes struggles with it. Her grandmother signed her up for Safe Space to get extra help in the subject during her remote classes.
By early afternoon, Coletta’s math class was already the highlight of her day. She had set a goal with her teacher to learn how to divide larger numbers. In general, she wants to get all As this year.
She navigated to the list of her teachers on Google Classroom and introduced one of her favorites, who keeps class light and silly.
“She’s so happy when she sees us, I can’t even tell you,” Coletta said.
In-person school makes a difference to Coletta, who said she wanted that option for herself. For now, it helps having a ConnCAT staff member come over to ask her how she is doing.
One staff member supervises each grade level. One rotates between classes so the others can take their lunch break.
Briana McLean (pictured above) runs the ninth grade room. She said that many of the ninth graders have already encountered difficulties in their classes. McLean then helps them figure out how to ask their teachers for help or offers them help herself.
In a normal school year, McLean is an assistant teacher, most recently at James Hillhouse High School.
“They miss asking more questions of their teachers,” McLean said. “Sometimes [the content] needs to be said in a different way.”
Making New Friends
In the room dedicated to eighth graders, Danielle Sepulveda and Joshua Algarin were on their fourth round of Connect Four. So far, Joshua had won twice and Danielle had won once.
Joshua dropped a yellow piece into the grid and then realized that Danielle had him beat. No matter where he placed his next piece, she would get four red pieces in a row.
The two contestants had not known each other beforehand. Danielle and Joshua normally attend Davis Street and Brennan-Rogers schools, respectively, on opposite sides of West Rock Ridge State Park.
The two eighth graders’ class schedules and breaks happen to align — a feat among class schedules that vary by school, grade level and teacher, ConnCAT has found.
Walker and her Safe Space co-organizers were hoping for more similarity between students’ schedules, because one of their goals is to promote social engagement between students. When ConnCAT began planning for Safe Space in earnest in July, they heard from both students and parents that students were lonely and missed their friends.
“It’s challenging. There aren’t large windows of time,” Walker said.
All of the ConnCAT staffers spent much of the first day learning the students’ schedules, and they were unable to coordinate group lunches. However, lunch waves are part of the plan. Eight students will be able to sit in one open room at a time, each at their own table and spread eight feet apart. They get hot food made by ConnCAT’s culinary students and graduates at the on-site Orchid Cafe.
They want to incorporate outside breaks as well, in all types of weather, so students can take their face masks off occasionally. When Walker met a student walking back from the bathroom, she encouraged her to use her time alone in the hallway to give herself a mask break.
The Connect Four game was the best part of the day for Joshua, who was reluctant to join Safe Space. He said that his mother told him to try it for a day, since he did not have anything better going on at home. He has been meeting friends since the pandemic began, but one of his closest friend just moved out of the neighborhood.
Now, Joshua has decided he will come back to Safe Space for a second day.
When Danielle had to return to her virtual classes, the eighth grade supervisor, Glenn Evans, slid into her seat to match up against Joshua.
Part of Evans’ role is to add fun where he can. He has the students pick one song to start off the day.
“If they’re bored, they won’t want to be there,” he explained.
Room For More
ConnCAT’s Steve Driffin and Genevive Walker.
Walker is happy to offer tours and tips to anyone interested in setting up a similar learning hub.
“Thirty-two students is [only] a drop in the bucket compared to the need,” Walker said.
She said that the budget for the hub is $60,000, all covered by the Dalio Education foundation. The dollars were particularly important for upping the WiFi capacity and covering staff and food costs.
Walker, ConnCAT Youth Program Manager Steve Driffin and ConnCAT’s director of programs have been considering how to reopen their center to young students since the pandemic began. They started planning in earnest after hearing in July that New Haven Public Schools would likely be online-only.
Walker and Driffin plan to keep Safe Space open as long there is a remote school option for New Haven students.
“It’s about being creative,” Driffin said.
The team still has lessons to learn. They opened Safe Space at 8 a.m. and heard from parents that some children start school at 7:30 a.m. or earlier. Driffin said that he will continue to check with the staff members and students about what they need from the program.
Ninth graders at work.
The NHPS Board of Education’s decision has prompted other organizations to spring into action.
The Boys & Girls Club of New Haven has signed up around 30 students for their learning hub, which opens on Wednesday. They welcome more registrants and can host a total of 54 students, according to the club’s Interim Executive Director Barbara Chesler.
The students, ages 6 to 14, will divide into four spaces. The plan is erect cubicle-type dividers and keep each room to a maximum of 14 students.
“We decided as soon as we heard the public schools were not going back,” Chesler said. “There are so many parents who have to go to work. They just can’t be at home with these kids during the day.”
Chesler is still looking for donations and grants to offset the club’s projected costs for the program. Without more dollars coming in, the program will not last beyond Nov. 20, around when schools would start to offer some in-person classes in the current plan.
“We’re optimistic. We felt it was so very important that we were willing to take a risk,” Chesler said.
Like Walker, Chesler emphasized that it’s a good thing that many churches and nonprofits are considering how to create something similar.
“We can only take, at a maximum, 54 children. There are thousands of them out there. There’s plenty of room for everybody,” Chesler said.