Coronavirus: Bethel School District Goes All Distance Learning

BETHEL, CT — The public schools have moved to full distance learning as they are unable to fully staff classrooms, in the wake of a number of teachers quarantined following exposure to the coronavirus.

Superintendent Christine Carver announced her decision to families in a letter distributed Saturday.

"We will assess the health conditions within our school community by Wednesday, December 2nd to confirm the return date," Carver wrote.

If the go-ahead is given, Berry and Rockwell elementary schools will return Dec. 7 to full in-person education, and Johnson Elementary, the middle school and the high school will go back to the hybrid attendance model on the same date.

The latest move comes after the schools were notified Saturday of new confirmed COVID-19 cases: two more at Johnson School, one at Rockwell School, and one at Bethel High School. These exposures affected a number of students and staff, according to Carver.

Bethel Schools Assistant Superintendent Kristen Brooks notified families of another case at Johnson on Sunday, exposing a classroom and additional staff members.

As of Monday, 1.2 percent of Bethel's 3,600 public school students and staff have tested positive for COVID-19.

"Please know, we did not make this decision easily," Carver wrote in her letter. "We understand the impact it has on families."