Middle Schools Set To Reopen

New Haven Public Schools sixth through eighth graders will have the option to attend some in-person classes starting on March 4, Superintendent Iline Tracey announced Tuesday.

This adds the later grades to many of the K‑8 school buildings in the district. Pre-kindergarten through fifth graders have had the option of in-person school since Jan. 19. All other students have been learning remotely since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We had originally articulated that we would go in phases. We are bringing in 6 – 8 grade levels in the hybrid model. There are many factors why we do this in phases. Parents have the choice of remote or in person. That hasn’t changed,” Tracey wrote in a text message.

About 50 percent of Connecticut school districts are offering fully-in person learning now.

Like fourth and fifth graders, sixth through eighth graders can attend in-person class two days a week. Half of the in-person students would attend on Mondays and Tuesdays, and the other half attend on Thursdays and Fridays. Wednesday is a deep cleaning day at the schools and a work catch-up and wellness day for students.

Board President Yesenia Rivera and board member Larry Conaway Tuesday expressed support for the move.

“Bringing back the remainder of the students in the K‑8 schools — which were prepared prior to the return of the PK‑5 students — makes sense. As Dr. Tracey stated in her email, we’re continuing to make these decisions in conjunction with the health department. We wanted to give parents a few weeks’ notice prior to bringing back those grades,” Rivera said.

While Rivera was ready to reopen schools in September, Conaway pushed for a 10-week delay to make sure schools were fully Covid-safe. He said on Tuesday that he was ready to support reopening schools in November and that the reopening steps since then have built his confidence in that decision.

“As long as everything is safe, I think this is the next logical and progressive step. The vaccine is coming out. We brought the lower grades back. The virus is reducing itself in this part of the country,” Conaway said.

The district reopened school for the younger grades, despite high community transmission rates of Covid-19 at the time, based on research that reopening schools for younger children does not increase community transmission.

The federal Centers for Disease Control’s most recent report calls for reopening classrooms.

Conaway has seen success in the reopening so far. He saw the district demonstrate caution by keeping West Rock STREAM Academy and Quinnipiac Real World Math STEM School closed. He still has concerns about nurse resignations and whether the schools have enough bus monitors to ensure safety on student rides to and from school.

“We have a year more knowledge of what’s going on. I never had the intention of keeping kids home and schools closed forever. We’re playing basketball with no fans. We’re opening restaurants back up, and we’re being met with some success I think. Do I think we’re out of the woods? Absolutely not. Do I think we should move forward? Yes, I do,” Conaway said.

Board member Darnell Goldson is still hesitant.

“My opinion is that everyone agrees that in the perfect world, in-class learning is probably the better option. None of us ever opposed that. We just want it done in a safe environment for everyone. I still have nagging questions about transportation safety, contact tracing, cleaning protocols, and — just as important — improved communication with those in the hot zones, our classrooms. Teachers don’t feel completely supported,” Goldson said.

New Haven Public School Advocates member Sarah Miller has been tracking the number of Covid-19 cases among students and staff in the reopened schools and doesn’t see the reopening as a success so far.

“I don’t understand how this is in line with CDC guidelines, given what our numbers are and given that there are clearly implementation issues,” Miller said. ​“There seem to be a lot of cases. We don’t really know how many cases, because the dashboard hasn’t been updated.”

Miller’s own children attend the soon-to-be renamed Christopher Columbus Family Academy as first and fourth graders. They are still attending remotely and have less live instruction than they did before.

“They’ve removed one of the live sessions, because in-person kids have to go to lunch. They have nothing on Wednesdays. It seems like there’s been a lot taken out of the remote experience. We’re looking at teachers in masks and face shields instead of at dining room tables,” Miller said.

Pre‑K Reopening Lessons

Jennifer Graves teaches preschoolers with autism at the Dr. Reginald Mayo Early Childhood School. Four of her students attend school in-person four days a week and two of her students are learning remotely.

She can see how much better in-person learning is for her students. At the same time, she has her own stress about working in-person.

“It’s definitely an uneasy feeling going to work. Following a lot of the district guidance isn’t feasible for my grade level. 3 to 5‑year-olds don’t stay six feet apart and don’t keep their mask on for very long,” Graves said.

Graves’ partner works daily at their father’s business. If Graves gets Covid-19, that could affect her mother-in-law, who is on oxygen at all times.

To manage, Graves wears higher-quality masks and wears a gown when she changes diapers on the children. She models mask-wearing to her students and reads books about the importance of wearing a mask.

She herself gets tested for Covid-19 every Friday morning before class at the old Strong School. It would alleviate her anxiety, and those of other teachers, if there were a broader testing program for students and staff. Rhode Island has kept its schools open since September and offers on-site Covid-19 testing at every school.

She is happy with the Covid-19 policies at her school but knows many teachers at other schools who feel differently.

“You can talk to a first grade teacher at every school and everyone has different procedures and protocols in place. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of universal strategies,” Graves said.

The New Haven teacher’s union signed onto a letter requesting a delay to the Jan. 19 school reopening because of the school-by-school control of these policies.

Graves sees transparency as the key to repairing teacher trust. Like Miller, she feels in the dark since the district’s Covid dashboard stopped updating. She sees other districts with dashboards with more information, daily updates and district-wide emails.

“Then you get a lot of social media rumors and a lot of gossip, because everyone is hungry for information that we’re not receiving,” Graves said.

Graves finds teaching both in-person and remote students at the same time difficult and has not gotten much professional development on how to juggle both. She is thankful that she has four students and a paraprofessional to help out. She finds she is most successful if she teaches a mini-lesson to the in-person group, sets them up with activities and then switches to the remote group.

“Hybrid instruction is sub-par teaching to two groups. We really should be focusing on one group at a time for far superior instruction,” Graves said.