Thomas Breen file photo
Supt. Tracey at Monday's press conference.
For the first time since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, New Haven public school students will not have to wear face masks when they return to the classroom this academic year.
New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) Superintendent Iline Tracey clarified that policy during a press conference Monday afternoon at East Rock Community Magnet School on Nash Street.
She said that the city’s public schools system has adopted a so-called “mask-friendly” policy for the school year that starts on Monday, Aug. 29. That policy has also been in place for the past two months for students attending summer school.
“We have a mask-friendly situation right now,” she said. If students or their parents want them to wear masks when they’re in the classroom, “they’re welcome to wear their masks.”
But wearing face masks while in class is “not required.”
Again, she said, “if parents feel uncomfortable, they can have students wear masks. … That’s up to the parents to make that decision.”
Tracey said that the city public school system had this “mask-friendly” policy in place for summer classes as well. Some students showed up in masks, some didn’t.
It marks a departure, however, from last school year — the first full year of in-person learning at NHPS since the start of the pandemic — during which students were required to wear face masks while at school, even after the governor dropped a similar statewide mandate.
“There’s no mask mandate” this year, Mayor Justin Elicker reiterated during Monday’s presser. He said the city Health Department is working with NHPS to make sure that the public school system is “following the governor’s guidelines” around Covid-19 safety and in-person learning.
“The school system will have test kits available” if a student is exposed to Covid-19 or if they have symptoms, the mayor said. “If they do have symptoms, they can test and go to school if they test negative.” If they’re exposed to Covid, he said, they’ll be “asked to wear a mask” until they test negative.
NHPS spokesperson Justin Harmon told the Independent in a follow up email that, if a student does test positive for Covid-19, they’ll have to “isolate at home for five days or until they are asymptomatic and wear a mask for five days upon returning to school.” He said their class assignments will be posted online during that time.
Harmon also said that NHPS does not have a requirement that students be vaccinated against Covid-19 in order to attend in-person classes, “but it is a recommendation, and we are offering free clinics.”
Elicker emphasized that same point during Monday’s press conference at East Rock School. An “important thing to remember is that every student has the ability to get vaccinated at this point,” he said.
Blatteau: "Mask-Friendly" Policy Strikes Right Balance
Maya McFadden file photo
Teachers union Prez Blatteau.
In a Tuesday afternoon phone interview, city teachers union President Leslie Blatteau praised the “mask friendly” policy as the right fit for the moment.
“I think we’re at a point now where supporting people to mask if they are feeling that is what they want for themselves and their family is a good thing,” she said.
She said that a strength of the current mask-optional policy is that the school system will monitor school-related Covid cases as the school year progresses. “I trust that the Health Department and Central Office will be responsive if they’re seeing upticks, and communicate that and adapt policy as needed if we see case numbers rise.”
“Some people are very happy that they get to go school without a mask,” she said. “And some of the members of our community that have health issues, and that are immunocompromised might potentially be” more nervous.
She stressed that, per the school system’s current mask policy, “people with symptoms must wear masks. That is reassuring.”
Overall, said said, this policy means that “people living their lives without masks will be able to do so.” And for people who are concerned about returning to schools without a mask mandate, they should be reassured that anyone with symptoms will still have to mask up.
Blatteau called on NHPS to “continue to distribute rapid tests and masks,” to continue to promote vaccinations as the safest way to minimize risk of getting seriously sick from Covid, and to “support the health of our community.”
"Attendance Does Matter"
Thomas Breen photo
Gemma Joseph Lumpkin.
The focus of Monday’s press conference, meanwhile, was to highlight a weeklong effort by top school administrators, teachers, and volunteers to combat “chronic absenteeism” by knocking on doors and encouraging parents of ninth graders and kindergarteners to send their kids to school this year.
“Attendance does matter,” Tracey said as she stood alongside Mayor Elicker, NHPS Chief of Youth, Family and Community Engagement Gemma Joseph Lumpkin, and Asstistant Supts. Paul Whyte and Viviana Conner, among others. “We know that we cannot teach empty seats. The students have to be there in order to be taught.”
Teams of canvassers plan to knock on doors every day this week in the runup to the start of school on Monday.
Joseph Lumpkin said that “chronic absenteeism” is when students miss 10 percent or more of days of school, or at least 18 days of the school year.
“The students must be present for us to educate them,” she said. When students miss so many days of class, she continued, “they are at risk for low academic performance and now, even, executive functioning is a concern. … We are very concerned about outcomes when students miss more than 10 percent of days” in class.
Tracey and Asst. Supt. Whyte.
While Tracey said that there are no specific disciplinary consequences to being chronically absent, Whyte stressed that the impacts on a student’s learning — and on their potential to graduate from high school — could be profound.
High School students need a certain number of “credits” in order to graduate, he said. “Attendance and grades turn into credits.” That means that “students need to be in school to get their credits. A few days in school can be the difference between understanding a concept, in which you’ll then be able to pass the class, which means you’ll get the credit and then move on to the next level.”
Asst. Supt. Conner.
Tracey and Conner said that NHPS has also recently hired “care coordinators” who will go out to families to find out “what the families actually need” — to find out, for example, if they suffer from “food insecurity” — in order to make sure that students are actually attending class.
These “wraparound services,” Conner said, should help “bring down the barriers that are preventing parents from sending kids to school.”
Click on the Facebook Live video below to watch Monday’s presser in full.
I am shocked to hear there are no specific disciplinary consequences for being chronically absent from school. Does anyone know if that is correct? I find that hard to believe. I attended both public and private schools, and there were serious consequences for both students and parents, not just for truancy but also for being tardy to class, rude to teachers, cheating, and so on. We had to sign an honor code, an ethics code, and agree to the punishments for breaking the rules in advance; it was very serious stuff and left an impression on all involved.
PS> Great news on the masks - that was long overdue.