Fairfield Schools Reopen, Hope To Bring Normalcy Despite Pandemic

FAIRFIELD, CT — Fairfield Ludlowe High School was alive with the hustle and bustle of a new academic year as students returned to campus Monday morning.

There was a sense of cautious optimism in the air. Students and staff alike expressed excitement to get back in the classroom full-time and in-person after learning in a hybrid model most of the previous year amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“There’s a lot more excitement this year than last year,” Head Principal Greg Hatzis said, although he noted he had hoped the school environment would be “a little bit more normal” by fall 2021.

With the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus spreading across Fairfield and Connecticut, masks are mandated in schools through Sept. 30 under an executive order from Gov. Ned Lamont. The requirement is one of many mitigation strategies the Fairfield school district is following in an effort to limit virus transmission.

“We are all waiting to see what happens with the delta variant and how much it spreads,” Hatzis said. “I think we’re all just waiting to see how that plays out in the schools.”

As of 4:30 p.m. Monday, one student and two staff members at Ludlowe had tested positive for the coronavirus and two students were required to quarantine, according to district data.

About 98 percent of Ludlowe students chose to return to the school under the full-time, in-person learning model, Hatzis said. There is no long-term remote learning option available in Fairfield for the new school year.

Students appeared happy to be back on campus full-time Monday, particularly after attending class in separate cohorts for much of the previous year.

“Now we’re all back together,” senior Reed Childers, 17, said.

Campbell Eckert, 17, who is also a senior, said she was looking forward to football games and other school spirit activities.

“We really just want to make the most out of the last year,” senior Megan Sullivan, 17, said.

Nonetheless, the pandemic was on their minds as they considered what their senior year might hold.

“There’s always a fear of getting shut down,” Campbell said.

Earlier in August, Superintendent Mike Cummings said he did not know what developments could lead the district to switch to a hybrid or remote learning model.

"These aren't things that any of us want to consider and honestly, at this point, we don't know," he said during a YouTube webinar Aug. 3.

In the meantime, Hatzis and his staff will be working to make the school year as normal as possible, he said, with a particular focus on social-emotional learning after students and staff spent more than a year in varying degrees of isolation. He said he expects relationship building to be the school community’s biggest focus for the year ahead.