Remote Learning Rally Planned For Next Week In Fairfield

FAIRFIELD, CT — Fairfield community members are expected to rally Monday in support of a remote learning option for families in the school district who are at high risk from the coronavirus.

The protest will begin 11 a.m. at the Town Hall complex, 725 Old Post Road, according to its organizers.

The move comes as cases rise, the highly transmissible delta variant spreads, and students prepare to head back to school full-time and in-person at the end of the month.

Face masks, social distancing, contact tracing and quarantining are planned for the new academic year in Fairfield, but long-term remote learning similar to the Remote Learning Academy the school district developed in 2020 will not be offered. Superintendent Mike Cummings has said the school system does not have a definitive sense of what changes would prompt the district to switch to hybrid or remote learning.

The Board of Education signed a letter to Gov. Ned Lamont in June, asking, to no immediate avail, for an end to the school mask mandate and funding for a state-run remote academy.

Fairfield parents have been vocal for months about their concerns for their immunocompromised children and, in some cases, their own risk of severe infection.

"Until herd immunity has been achieved, it will not be safe for children with medically vulnerable family members to return to the school building," said an online petition, created by Fairfield parent Marney White, which asked state authorities for a remote education option.

In Fairfield, just under 65 percent of the full population has been vaccinated, but only about 61 percent of children ages 12-17 have received the vaccine, and even fewer — 53 percent — of adults aged 18-24 are vaccinated, according to state data. There is no vaccine option for children under 12, but Dr. John Schreiber of Connecticut Children’s Medical Center predicted a vaccine from Pfizer could be available to all school-aged children as soon as the fall.

In the meantime, cases are on the rise in Fairfield. As of Thursday, there was a total of 5,448 recorded coronavirus cases in town, an increase of 178 cases compared to a month prior, according to state data. Between June 11 and July 12, the town's case total went up by only 19.