Day 1 Dismissal Difficulties Create Chaos

John Robinson circled around Dunbar Hill Elementary in search of his two daughters.

“This is too stressful!” he exclaimed. His 4‑year-old nephew clung to his neck while the voice of his worried wife echoed in his ear.

Monday marked the first day back at school for Ariya and Alayah Jackson, two of Robinson’s four children, after over 12 months of remote learning. As in half of Hamden’s public school families, their parents kept them home for the 2020 – 2021 academic year to protect themselves during the pandemic.

On Aug. 30, the two girls, aged 5 and 6, finally returned to brick and mortar education. That meant their father also began readjusting to the 3 p.m. practice of picking them up at a physical parking lot — and found himself disappointed in the school’s end-of-day dismissal system.

“This is chaos!” he said, walking quickly from door to door amid crowds of parents and bus lines in hopes of locating his kids. ​“The school should let parents know how and where to get their kids. This is the first time this has been so hectic.”

Robinson wasn’t alone in racing amid confusion at dismissal time during the first day back at Dunbar Hill.

“We had triple our usual number of parents picking up their kids in person today,” Principal Laura Rodríguez said with a sigh an hour later, sinking into her office chair after sending off the last of Dunbar’s students. Next door, a ride-less preschooler drank an iced water after exhibiting signs of dehydration and lightheadedness.

“The first day of school is always a little crazy,” Rodríguez noted. This year, nationwide shortages in bus drivers, Covid-19 controversies, and psychologically and procedurally challenging transitions from remote to in-person learning posed even more challenges than usual, especially at afternoon pick-up. And not just at Dunbar.

The school’s media specialist, Jackie Church, led teachers in ushering around 200 students into buses. More than one third of enrolled students’ guardians — an unprecedented proportion — walked or drove independently to the school to pick up their kids.

Rodríguez speculated that many families may have bypassed busing because of mass confusion this past weekend over student transportation. Just days before classes began, over 300 out of 5,407 enrolled students across four schools — Hamden High and Middle Schools as well as Bear Path and West Woods elementaries — were informed that their busing services had been temporarily canceled or were running behind.

Superintendent Jody Goeler said that the hundreds of families who did not receive transportation at all on Monday were encouraged to reach out to others in their communities to arrange carpools that morning.

“Everybody really pulled together” in the end, he said.

In early August, Goeler was informed by First Student, Hamden’s student transportation provider, that the town’s school system would be down from its usual 83 drivers to only 73 due to labor shortages across the country. In response, Goeler and his team consolidated bus routes to split among available drivers.

On the Friday before school started, Goeler learned that seven additional drivers had canceled. That meant that, on short notice, parents became responsible for figuring out how to get their kids to school on time.

And as drivers figured out how to manage extended routes, students arrived at and left from classrooms 20 to 40 minutes late.

“It was nothing horrific,” Rodríguez said, noting that Dunbar Hill was the least affected by the bus driver situation out of all of Hamden’s schools. ​“At least we didn’t lose anybody!”

Rodríguez reflected that before the ​“rough” dismissal, it had been a ​“smooth” day back for the new academic year.

“Teachers are so happy to have their students, many of whom they haven’t seen in over a year, back,” she said.

Goeler dropped into Hamden High, Dunbar, Ridge Hill, and Bear Path to observe classrooms in action. He said that ​“everything that we could control went really well.”

“Every kid and every staff member was wearing a mask,” he said. Because over 1,500 students had attended free summer camps at Hamden Schools, Goeler noted, many of them were trained in and comfortable with the current Covid-19 protocols.

Teachers were also instructed to facilitate distancing of three to six feet between individuals while indoors. Students sat alone in alternating seats on buses to reduce the likelihood of possible transmission.

By understanding what is out of their power, Goeler said, he and other school leaders will tackle this year’s unique obstacles.

“It’s a layered approach,” he offered. ​“I explain any mitigation strategy as a piece of swiss cheese. Three feet distancing, masking, and handwashing won’t be perfect. Each slice of cheese has holes in it, but when you put them on top of each other the holes are usually covered.”

Tom Ariola, Hamden schools’ chief financial officer, pointed out that he and other administrators have no power over national transportation trends, similarly to how they cannot change Covid-19 case levels. But, Ariola said, ​“we will do anything money-wise to protect our students.”

Ariola told the Independent that First Student has identified seven substitute drivers to fill in on Tuesday morning, meaning that all children should be guaranteed a ride. He said he and other administrators have worked out plans to provide teachers with overtime to stay after school and supervise any students whose transportation home is delayed.

Still, Ariola and Goeler noted that regular tardiness will be expected for the foreseeable future until First Student finds and trains more drivers to cover fewer routes.

John Robinson said had originally felt secure putting his kids back in school after a year of homeschooling. The choppy dismissal shook his faith in teachers’ and administrators’ abilities to know and enforce Covid-19 protocols.

He added that he was ultimately glad his daughters were able to go back to studying in person. ​“You can’t keep kids cooped up and on the computer,” he asserted. ​“My kids passed their classes last year, but they definitely didn’t learn as much as they could’ve.”

About half an hour after dismissal, Ariya and Alayah made their way out of the school building.

Ariya said she had had a similar experience to her father’s that morning. ​“I was really scared and nervous, ​‘cause I didn’t know what to do or where to go!” she recalled. ​“But then I got to draw.”

She said her teachers gave them an assignment: to write about whether, why, and how they missed their homes.

After working through those emotions and spending some time with her teachers, Ariya said she felt ​“calmer.”

“Of course you missed your home!” Robinson replied, starting the car and expressing his eagerness to return to their house and get off school grounds.

“It was a good day,” Ariya said out the back window with a smile.