3,000 Return To School; Families Relieved

It's about time! Those kids should have been back in school! Shout out to Dr. Tracey for putting her foot down.

Much love to the teachers, administrators, bus drivers, and school staff for making this possible.

50% said NO, according to the article. Parents who put their child's safety first will find a way to keep them home.
Let's Call it what it is for some parents-- they want to be rid of their kids, they won't help them at home (whether online or in person), they want to get back to work/phone/ General Hospital/telenovelas.

So now that kids are in school-- when will the State lift the rental payment moratorium???? Or is the plan to crush landlords proceeding as planned?

1- we are risking a lot for only 25 percent of students

2-remote students (75 percent!) are asynchronous in many schools for two weeks.

3-What is the quality of education like for students under the hybrid model?

Now let's get those High School kids back!

My child had a great first day back at school! The teachers and staff did a wonderful job welcoming everyone into a warm environment, and the kids were happy to connect with each other despite the physical distance. I echo the thanks to everyone who worked hard to make this possible. Outside of school, our family are doing our part by following public health guidelines and getting weekly testing for our child and others in our family.

Schools throughout the state and country have been open since the fall. Keeping schools closed because \teachers' unions have a stranglehold on city politics is an insult to the children who deserve a quality education.

@CityYankee "they want to get back to work/phone/ General Hospital/telenovelas."

Shaming parents for wanting to get back to work? For real?! Of course I want to get back to work...how else am I supposed to feed my family and keep a roof over their heads?!

The opening of schools bringing "a sense of normalcy" for students is a myth. There is nothing normal about the way students will experience school and/or learning and/or "their social group" while we are in the middle of a global pandemic. Only 3,000 students returned to in-person learning in 32 schools. An average of 94 students per school returned to in-person learning. Get real people.

Dear Madeline 17--- this is even a better way to see what a waste this is. Now- water , heat, electric etc have to be used for a tiny fraction of the students.

Weird timing, but at least having kids in school is moving forward. I think it would have been better to wait until spring, but let's face it, the crew opposed to in-person schooling will be opposed for one reason or another going forward regardless of timing.

I understand the union agitating on behalf of the teachers. Everyone else seems to have a grab bag of agendas, intense anxiety, and egos. Why should a whole city of kids be held hostage to every single person's opinions, fears, and beliefs?

I'm glad to see some forward motion on getting the little kids some in-person instruction for parents who choose it. Might be fewer angry people if it were March, but they'd still be there.

A new strain, which is more contagious. CDC projections of the current upswing 3 to 4 weeks out from a peak that will strain hospital capacities, and service facilities for the deceased. And this could not wait? Those that want to gamble with the lives of not just children, but teachers, school aides, all school staff, will not be in the schools. Let me repeat that: THEY WILL NOT BE IN THE SCHOOLS THEMSLEVES. Yet this is their decision. The ability of very young children to maintain the strict standards being placed on them: wear the mask all day, don't be within 6' of other students of adults(that standard will not be kept on the first day. All one would have to do is to walk into any classroom at any time, and ring a class bell for movement, and it becomes easily visible that it will not be done.) Gambling of any type is looked on as a vice. Gambling with the lives of children, teachers, should never happen. But this administration has chosen to do this. An accurate symptom of belief that some lives are expendable, and policy will be made, and proceeded with, once those in city hall have decided who's lives are worthless.

Kids should be back in school. Period. New Haven's the only one who kept schools shut down. You really think New Haven is so much smarter than everybody else in the state? Than the data and research? In fact, research shows covid spreads more in home than out in the public. Shutting down has not worked at all. The economy should be opened up again too. And for xxxx sake, open the parks and roads. I'm quite sure those aren't super spreaders either.

Thanks, Mary Brown and 06511. Thank you all for making this happen.

CityYankee: work, phone, telenovelas?? ignorance at its best. Unfortunately, our society is set up in a way that we actually have to work to survive, believe or not... You obviously are a very lucky individual. You should contact state government for relief. The article can only indicate 50% of the people that READ the article.

NHteach: 25% of the kids is still A LOT of kids. As far as I know, Asynchronous is only once week. And it was the same from March until June, even with pre k, so please spare us. You are entitled to your opinion but small children belong in school, as safely as possible.

Madeline17: you get real, 3000 is still a lot, specially when it comes to small children and kids that require special assistance. you don't know the particular conditions of the 3k kids that went back. It may not be normal as we know it, but kids also need to learn how to live, socialize and learn during a global pandemic. Our teacher today told us that there is now a wait list for children to get back to school, specially little ones,

All of you complaining that you don't want to take your kids to school: please stop; you know very well that you can keep them home, and you have, so please do not assume that everyone's circumstances are the same and pretend to know it all. Some children (if not all) should be attending in person in one way or another and you know this, but I guess based on these comments that's it's easier to complain rather than get things done. It will serve you well not to generalize and look at the bigger picture. We know that some teachers have valid health issues and concerns, but it's not all of them, and they should have been talking to their unions over the last 10 months to solve any issues. The rest of society is working: you do go to supermarkets, you do get take out food, you go to the courts, you have traveled, you have gathered, newspapers are reporting. How: by being safe

CityYankee,

I wish I had the power - 'Ghost of Christmas Present'- style - to invisibly whisk you into some of these households you imagine, where 'parents are desperate to get rid of their kids to watch telenovelas.'

There you would see many immigrant families who value little else above their children's education, watching week after week as the assignments pile up because they are not differentiated for English Language Learners, and even if they were it is a near-impossible task to remotely teach children who barely speak English and may not be literate in the Latin alphabet because their native language is Arabic, Chinese, or Pashto.

You might also see many parents with differently-abled children who are struggling with the isolation and stress of being at home but will thrive in an in-person setting where they have access to added stimulation and, above all, the services of trained educators and care givers.

And yes, you might very well see parents who are relieved at the opportunity to get back to work and provide for their families in some way, now that their children have at least some time in school.

Maybe then you would be inspired to retract some of your Scrooge-like comments - but I'm not holding my breath.

When the infection rate was below 2% it made sense to have pre-K-5 attending school in a hybrid model. We have consistently had rates of around 6% and higher since the post holiday infection rates began to spike upwards. Now the new virus variant which is more contagious even with the proper precautions is spreading through the country rapidly, and is predicted to become the dominant strain by March. There is some preliminary research that shows children are more likely catch and to spread this variant. The more the virus circulates through people, the more it mutates, and it may mutate to a more deadly variant at any time. We are looking at vaccine timeline for people age 65-74 and people age 17-64 with a preexisting condition and front line workers (who include teachers and many of the parents and other household members who work in essential and front line non-medical jobs,) not becoming eligible for their first vaccine shot until late February or early March. So their second shot won't be until around the end of March, but considering how many people fall into those categories, it may be well into April before that eligibility class completes their second shot of the vaccine. The timing on this back to in-person learning policy couldn't be worse for public health and does not help to stop the spread of the virus. This is a foolish caving in to political pressure and is not based on the current scientific research and the projected course of the pandemic and the vaccine rollout timeline.
I sincerely hope that this move doesn't result in death or permanent post covid-injuries in the students, the staff, and the student's households and family members. If any infections are spread in the NHPS system, the blood is on the hands of the administrators and officials who made this foolish decision.

@ Rocks: The goal of a functional society would be to eradicate a GLOBAL PANDEMIC not to learn to live with it.

@ Birds: We are not "opposed to in-person learning." We are opposed to unnecessarily exposing families to a deadly virus.

Madeline17: the virus will continue to mutate and we don't know if we will need to be vaccinated annually to tackle the mutations or not. There are many unknowns and no assumptions should be made that this current vaccine is the end game. The virus maybe eradicated over time or we may neutralize some of its potency, etc. Science and research is a long and slow moving river and understanding and tackling Covid and all the mutations to come are not a 2021 project only. In the meanwhile, kids need to learn to read and ESL learners need to learn English (just two examples).

I do think the timing of going back now is not great, but even in the fall, when the Covid numbers were very low, the same people and groups agitated to not reopen schools then. At a certain point, it looks disingenuous to say you're in favor of in-person school when you can't name an end point for getting back to school that corresponds with reality.

I saw last fall that the goal for some is something that will likely never be possible: no risk. Life is all about managing risks. Each time we drive a car, agree to a medical procedure, swallow a drug for the first time, go to a store during a pandemic, walk under swaying trees on windy days, we are accepting risk. Education is as important as any of that and it's one of the only (and best) ways to leave poverty behind and create opportunities.

Ultimately, what I think doesn't matter very much. The decision was made by those people who were hired and/or elected to do so. It matches the decisions made by urban and suburban districts across the region. It's was overdue and backwards in New Haven, but it finally happened and I'm cautiously optimistic. New Haven kids deserve the same opportunities as kids in other cities and areas.

@ Birds: You have a way of presenting things in sweeping generalizations. All of the teachers I know DO want students physically back in school and we have wanted this from the beginning. Unless one has worked within a school in NHPS, day after day, it is impossible to understand why we did not believe it was safe for us, our colleagues, and our students to return in the fall,. The claim by the powers-that-be is that these issues have been resolved. It should not have taken a global pandemic for these issues to be addressed, but that is what happened. Now that these issues have been mostly resolved, I do believe the time is coming for the return to in-person teaching/learning, but it should not have happened with the positivity rate as it is. With the vaccine on the horizon and many building issues mitigated, it would make sense to have waited a bit longer to open. Unfortunately, we now have new strain with which to contend and this may keep the positivity rate high. Until everyone faces the uncomfortable reality of what we are up against and does what is needed to contain the virus and its mutations, we will struggle indefinitely. I agree, life is full of risks and a smart person does not take these risks when there are workable alternatives, even if those alternatives are not perfect. Lastly, I would thank you not refer to me and/or my colleagues as disingenuous.

So happy to be back!!!

My son returned back to school. He said it was "amazing". Thank you to all of the teachers and staff. He said he could actually focus while at school. He was the happiest I have seen him in 5 months. He is only able to go 2 days per week as he is in fifth grade. He was really struggling at home, especially when my husband and I both have to work outside of the house. My older child is jealous and desperately needs to get back in school. Kids are depressed and need to have social interaction with other kids.

The current projection is that it will be February 2022 before all who want to be vaccinated can be. Biden's claim to be able to speed things up (something I am wary of) will mean December 2021. Moreover, we have little idea how long the vaccine induced protection will last. It could be as short as a year. Keeping schools closed is extremely damaging to children, including those whose caretakers watch telenovelas rather than help their children. Those are the children who most depend on schools for social as well as academic growth. Moreover, there is nearly zero risk to healthy children. Not a single death in children or teenagers in CT since schools re-opened in the fall. The risk to working age adults is also low, and near zero for healthy working age adults. Look at the CT DPH data. Listen to the FDA advisory panel presentation on the EUA for the Pfizer vaccine.
As far as vaccinating teachers and staff, we have little idea when they will be eligible. The CT advisory committee failed to do its job, and included more than a third of the state in its 1B priority group. The best projection is June, another semester lost, before teachers can all be vaccinated.