Unlike 2020-21, eligibility for temporary remote learning in the academic year that opens next week will be limited to those who are in isolation or quarantine due to COVID-19 virus, district officials said Monday.
While fully vaccinated students are not required to quarantine if they remain symptom-free, when unvaccinated people return from travel, guidance from state and federal officials dictates that they”self-quarantine for a minimum of seven days with a negative test on or after the third day,” according to Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi.
“So that poses challenges,” he told members of the Board of Education during their regular meeting, held in the Wagner Room at New Canaan High School and streamed via the district’s YouTube channel.
“Certainly as we start the school year here, coming in from the summer break, we’ve got a four-day break around Labor Day this year and then we’ve got families who travel for various reasons,” Luizzi said. “So the CDC and their guidance is still strongly urging unvaccinated people not to travel. And it really says right at the top of the guidelines that that is their recommendation. If travel is a necessity, then certainly we will ask folks to follow the Department of Public Health guidelines and quarantine, get tested and return. In those instances, we will provide a live-stream opportunity for students to participate in their classes as we did last year.”
Yet the type of “day-by-day remote learning” that was on offer last school year will not be available for 2021-22, he said.
“Last year, if students didn’t feel well or were home for any reason—or even on a college visit, other things—they were contacting the school and requesting to be on remote on that day,” he said. “And that’s no longer really available for students and families. It is really for COVID-related absences that are due to isolation or quarantine, or those other reasons that we discussed before.”
As Luizzi outlined the prior week and in an email to the New Canaan Public Schools community that’s available in the district’s continuously updated operating plan online, full-time remote learning will be offered in rare cases for medically complex students, following families’ private consultations with school principals and medical staff.
His comments this week came during an update to the Board on plans for reopening for the 2021-22 school year. The district is expecting to welcome all students K-12 back for in-person learning, while adhering to public health guidelines set by state and federal officials as well as executive orders from Gov. Ned Lamont, including a requirement (currently extended through Sept. 30) to wear masks inside school buildings.
While many guests had taken to the podium at the prior meeting to share their opinions on the mask requirement, just one speaker, Alexandra Sullivan, addressed the school board Monday.
Sullivan said she was “extremely uncomfortable that I’ve had to share my name and where I live” in order to participate in the public comment period of the meeting.
“I believe in the right to choice and freedom of speech, but today neither of those are acceptable unless you choose and believe a certain narrative,” she said. “I am fearful of speaking today because a lot of members in this town have denigrated those with feelings or opinions other than their own. But if I don’t stand up for my children, who will? It disheartens me that people who are asking for a choice of agency over their bodies and how they choose to live their lives are being vilified. I ask that we all take a step back and recognize that everyone is entitled to their feelings. And we can agree or disagree, but no one has the right to tell someone that their feelings are wrong.”
Sullivan urged Luizzi and the Board to think creatively with respect to mask-wearing.
“If masks are here to stay, then how do we now address the concerns of parents who have real issues with them for their children?” she said. “Last year the cast of ‘Oklahoma’ did an entire two-and-a-half hour performance singing and dancing in clear masks. It broke my heart to see them this way, but my God, what an unbelievable amazing experience we were able to have as a result. And so I ask, if mandates are now the way of the world, and freedom of choice is gone, can we please mandate these masks for teachers in our public schools? Surely if masks are good for the community’s physical health, then clear masks on teachers are good for our children’s education and mental health. Let’s get imaginative. Let’s find ways to make things better for our kids and many concerned parents. And if your answer to this is ‘Great, but we have to give teachers a choice,’ then I think the school district and this Board’s priorities need to be reconsidered.”
With respect to teachers, Luizzi noted during the meeting that Lamont on Aug. 19 announced that he signed an executive order requiring that school staff receive at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by Sept. 27.
New Canaan already is “down the road on this, as a district,” Luizzi said.
“We had already started collecting the vaccination status of our staff so that we could look at a similar program,” he said. “So this should hopefully help to accelerate the work that we’ve been doing. And we’re beginning to talk with employee groups to talk about how we operationalize this expectation and requirement here in our schools. This includes contractors, so it does include, for instace, DATTCO [school bus] drivers and others who come into our schools to work with the students, work with adults and do other things for us.”
Asked about the results so far of a survey of district staff and faculty, Luizzi said that while 100% of administrators are vaccinated, about 90% of the faculty is vaccinated.
“We are still collecting results of the survey sent out and we will expect everyone to respond in the next week,” he said. If the district doesn’t receive a response, it will assume the NCPS employee is not vaccinated and will enroll that individual in weekly testing, as per Lamont’s order, Luizzi said.
Board Chair Katrina Parkhill opened the meeting by reminding attendees that masks are required inside school buildings and also referred to a Board of Ed policy regarding “civility and relations between public and school personnel on school property.”
“The Board of Education expects respect, civility and orderly conduct among all individuals on school property,” Parkhill said, citing the policy. “This policy promotes mutual respect, civility and order conduct among Board members, district employees, parents and the public. It is not intended to to deprive any individual of his or her right to freedom of expression but only to maintain to the extent possible and reasonable a safe, harassment-free environment for students and employees. In the interests of presenting Board members and district employees as positive role models to students as well as the community, the Board encourages positive communication, and discourages volatile, hostile or aggressive action. The Board seeks public cooperation in this endeavor.”
It wasn’t clear whether an incident prior to or during the Board’s meeting prompted Parkhill to refer to the policy.