New Canaan Coronavirus: Public Schools Approved For Distance Ed

From New Canaan Public Schools: NEW CANAAN, CT — New Canaan Public Schools announced that it has been awarded a waiver by the State of Connecticut Board of Education, which will recognize as official school days the fourteen days it is implementing its Distant Learning Plan. NCPS was notified bythe state about the waiver Monday evening.

The State Board of Education waiver permits New Canaan Public Schools to treat its Distance
Learning days as official days in session, and they will count towards the school year’s 180-day
minimum requirement. When schools reopen, NCPS will finish whatever days are required to
reach the 180 in its school buildings, counting the distance learning days in the total.

NCPS has been making preparations for Distant Learning, or E-Learning, for the past several weeks and announced it would begin the program on March 12, closing schools for fourteen calendar days as a precautionary measure due to the coronavirus outbreak. Teachers and students K-12 have been communicating remotely since that time. Classes are taking place online with E-Learning resources for students and teachers provided on the district’s website.

To date, the program has had remarkable results, and feedback from both students, families,
faculty and staff has been overwhelmingly positive.

“While nothing can replicate the amazing classroom experiences that we provide to our students
each day, the learning experiences provided through Distance Learning thus far has been nothing
short of spectacular,” said Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi. “Our thoughtful and
thorough preparations are certainly paying off, and as we continue E-Learning with over 4,100
students district wide, I have never been more proud to be an educator than I am now.”