Emily Hays File Photo
Literature class back in in-person session at New Haven Academy.
All New Haven Public Schools students will study in-person, five days a week starting on Aug. 30, for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic began.
Assistant Superintendent Paul Whyte revealed the details of this plan to the New Haven Board of Education on Monday evening.
Students will continue to wear masks and stay as far from one another as possible within classrooms. Wednesday will return to the school week as an in-person class day instead of the deep cleaning and teacher preparation day it has been this year.
New Haven Public Schools has been the Connecticut district most reluctant to return fully during the pandemic. The district reopened elementary, then middle, then high schools, ramping up the number of days students could return to school over time. Students could choose to study in their classrooms or at home.
This choice will vanish, as Tracey has indicated in previous conversations. Karen DuBois-Walton has called for five-day school as part of her mayoral campaign. Her rationale is that four-day school weeks create difficulties for many working families.
Remote school will linger as an option only for snow days, when the superintendent will make the call among full closure, early dismissal and remote school.
This will make teaching less exhausting for teachers, who have often created different assignments for their remote and in-person students.
To view the draft fall reopening plan, scroll to page 109 in the board meeting materials.
That's nice, but what will the metrics for closing be? COVID is low now, partly due to the vaccine, but mostly due to the weather. It will come back this fall. Will schools close again for weeks if they have two cases?