HARTFORD, Conn. — School districts across the state are at a pivotal decision point as they decide whether to scale back or expand in person education.
Gov. Lamont says schools are safe.
"The classroom is one of the safest places you can be because you are with the same group and they are all wearing the mask," he said.
Patrice McCarthy, the Deputy Director for the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education agreed, "We have not seen instances of this virus spreading in the school environment."
But over at the Environmental Sciences Magnet School in Hartford, seven students have tested positive for coronavirus.
After closing briefly, they reopened for two days. Now they are reversing course again and made the decision to close for two weeks.
The Hartford school district overall is also contemplating going to a hybrid learning model.
"I talked to Mayor Bronin about that. He’s watching the situation," said Gov. Lamont.
Just a few communities away, Windsor Locks is doing the exact opposite. Schools there are adding more students to the classroom.
The board of education made the decision to scrap the hybrid model.
"Boards of education around the state knew that as we began the process of reopening school and moved through the fall that there would be opportunities to modify the learning models that they were using," said Patrice McCarthy. "In some cases, they’ve had to pull back and go to a full distance learning and in other cases they found that they have the capacity to accommodate health and safety needs and provide a full in person learning experience."
Some teachers say they don’t feel safe. Brian Deming is a teacher in Windsor Locks
He said, "Our voices are not being heard, our concerns are not being addressed and our student's health and safety are being put at risk."
While other teachers like Rochelle Brown of Windsor say they do feel protected. "I feel pretty safe. I keep my distance, I wear an apron to cover my clothes I wear gloves a lot of the time, I wear a mask all the time and I’ll put a face shield on and we try to space the desks out as much as we can."
The Governor's office says that the 69,000 rapid tests that the federal government promised just arrived. The state will now work to deploy those.
Connecticut should have a million more of those tests by the end of the year.