First Day Of School Pushed Back In Wallingford

WALLINGFORD, CT — The Wallingford Board of Education has decided to push back the first day of school by three days, to Sept. 3, to give staff more time to prepare for the start of the school year. The school board also approved the district’s voluntary distance learning plan at last week’s meeting.

Superintendent of Schools Salvatore Menzo said the decision to delay the start of the school year was based on receiving new information from the state on a weekly, if not daily, basis.

“We do not believe that starting on (Aug. 31) would benefit our staff at all levels in order to make the best scenario available for our students and staff on the first day of school,” Menzo said during Thursday's meeting.

The first two days of school for students in grades kindergarten through grade 12 will be Thursday, Sept. 3 and Friday, Sept. 4 will be shortened days for students.

Menzo said the early release days will give the students the opportunity to get back into the schools, along with giving teachers the opportunity to meet in the afternoon and reflect on what worked and what changes will need to be made.

The first full day for grades K-12 will be Sept. 8 and the district’s preschool program will start with students on Sept. 9.

“This will provide our teachers and our administrators, all staff at all levels, ample opportunity to best prepare for students on the first day,” Menzo said of the new calendar.

Although the state recently waived the 180-day requirement, allowing districts to schedule 177 days for the school calendar, Wallingford will remain at 180 since it traditionally schedules a 183-day calendar. The projected last day of school remains June 11.

Wallingford still needs to make a final decision on which model will be implemented for the reopening of schools. Parents have until Aug. 10 to fill out a survey on whether they will send their children to school in-person or register in the distance learning plan or homeschooling.

Menzo said he has received feedback from parents, thanking the district for their work and appreciating that they are taking their time in making the best decision for students.

“I know it’s stressful,” Menzo said. “The thing is though we don’t want to have it where we put out a plan and then you’re all wed to it and then two days later it gets changed because of things out of our control… Our goal is to have everything in place so that we can get the students their schedules, we can have kids on their distance learning, we can have students connected with their teachers… It takes time.”

Menzo said all the recommendations have been made in concert with the teachers’ union.

Teachers will still report Aug. 23, so they will have eight days of professional development, which officials believe is more than warranted in these circumstances, according to Menzo. He also said all staff — including paraeducators, aides, nurses, food services — will report the same day as teachers.

“We need to have all hands-on deck so that everybody is truly prepared for whatever model we open under come Sept. 3,” Menzo said.

The board also approved the district’s Voluntary Virtual Learning Experience in Phase I. Read details on the plan from Menzo below:

Key Plan Factors

Students are still enrolled in Wallingford Public Schools and are expected to adhere to all district policies and guidelines.

Students will be assigned a teacher(s) who has been designated to provide distance learning instruction. This teacher will be selected by the district for the purposes of voluntary distance learning.

Students will participate in a mix of live Google Meets (synchronous learning) and previously recorded sessions with learning activities (asynchronous learning).

Students will be required to use an assigned district issued device for distance learning purposes. Tech support will not be provided for personal devices.

Students must actively engage in remote learning sessions per the schedules, signing on, being present and participating in synchronous learning during the designated times.

Students are required to attend the distance learning classes per the district’s attendance policy and are required to be on camera during live sessions.

Students will use the norms for online learning during all live instructional sessions.

Students will communicate with their teachers and peers via email, chat and Google Meet using their Wallingford Public Schools account.