CT Teacher Unions Want Remote Learning Through Mid-January

CONNECTICUT — The state’s largest teacher unions are asking for all schools to go fully remote from Thanksgiving through Martin Luther King Jr. Day unless statewide protocols are put in place to deal with coronavirus in schools.

The Connecticut Education Association, American Federation of Teachers Connecticut and other unions are asking for a consistent process for coronavirus case notification, testing and quarantine guidance.

“Every district has a different, inconsistent process to respond to Coronavirus cases,” said Donald Williams, executive director of the Connecticut Education Association, in a statement. “We need strict, statewide oversight and assurances that districts are uniformly following the health and safety procedures established by the CDC and (Connecticut State Department of Education), because right now, they are not."

Every county in Connecticut except Tolland falls into the state’s highest risk category, which favors less in-person learning in schools.

The high-risk category learning model indicator is 25 new daily coronavirus cases per 100,000 population over a two-week average. The state as a whole is at 40.7, Fairfield County is at 49.3 and New Haven is at 43.6.

Connecticut schools reported more than 1,100 coronavirus cases among students and 487 among staff in a report released Thursday.

“We applaud those school officials who have worked in partnership with their employees and placed a high priority on health and safety,” said Jan Hochadel, president of the American Federation of Teachers Connecticut, in a statement. “Too many have fallen short on both counts, so more must be done immediately. It just makes sense to proactively close buildings rather than have students endure constant disruptions and upheaval.”

Gov. Ned Lamont has repeatedly said schools are one of the safest places to be due to strict mask use and other protocols and that the overwhelming majority of transmission happens outside of schools. Lamont ordered all club and youth sport activities to stop until January and the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference postponed high school winter sports until January. The decision came after 17 high schools were closed due to coronavirus outbreaks linked to sport activities.

The teachers unions are also asking for districts that fall into the red zone for coronavirus infections to move schools to a hybrid learning model or to go fully remote.

The unions are asking for school districts to make coronavirus cases public within 24 hours by school building, including the number of people exposed and quarantining. They want the information forwarded to the state education department immediately.

Unions asked that social distancing standards be strictly followed and an entire classroom quarantined if a member tests positive for the coronavirus and not just individuals closest to the person.

“We must ensure that strict safety measures and protocols are being followed in our schools, including six feet of social distancing at all times, proper ventilation, cleaning, mask wearing, and transparency in the reporting of COVID-19 cases,” said Carl Chisem, MEUI/SEUI Local 506 president in a statement. The union represents many paraeducators in Connecticut.

Currently, the state’s coronavirus school dashboard includes information about the number of Covid-19 cases by school weekly within three categories: no cases are reported as zero, cases between one and five are reported as “<6” and cases above five are reported with the actual number of identified cases. There is no information on the dashboard about the number of people quarantining.

School districts are handling increasing infections in a number of ways. Some like Danbury, Bridgeport and Waterbury have gone fully remote.

Others like Milford Public Schools have preemptively decided on a short remote learning period after Thanksgiving and Christmas break. Milford also its high and middle schools to remote learning through early January in an effort to keep elementary schools open for in-person learning as long as possible.

Stratford Public Schools is moving to full in-person learning for elementary schools, but nearly half of them were remote last week due to a high number of quarantines. The district’s high schools are on remote status until Nov. 30.