NEW HAVEN, Conn. — As students in New Haven Public Schools get ready for the first day of school on Monday, Aug. 30, the FOX61 School Squad sat down with Superintendent Dr. Ilene Tracey to get a breakdown of the district's return plan.
Students will return to in-person instruction five days a week with no remote option being offered.
“Last year we did four days and Wednesday was a day for asynchronous learning and also health and wellness activities. We call it social-emotional learning activities and for teachers, professional development because this was something new to everybody, so we used all those Wednesdays to do that work," said Dr. Tracey. "This time, all days will be used. We're contemplating depending on where the pandemic lies right now with this new variant, we may consider Wednesday being a half-day so that the kids are still getting in their instructional time but we have not made that decision.".
What about any remote learning?
"We are not at this point offering a remote option like we did last year. It was very difficult for teachers to balance both sides and we've seen them in the classrooms, teaching their kids in person and they also have to pay attention to the kids who are at home so both groups were somewhat short-changed," said Dr. Tracey.
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Mitigation strategies from last year will remain in place, including cohorts where possible, contact tracing, social distancing, and masks.
"We're going to maintain the mask-wearing for everyone whether you're vaccinated or not. Everyone will wear a mask," said Dr. Tracey.
COVID-19 testing sites are being set up at schools.
"It’ll be a weekly test for students whose parents sign them up. And it's available to teachers and it's available to families also, and they'll sign up to get the testing at their schools and we believe that's another mitigation strategy that will help, especially for the age group that can't be vaccinated," said Dr. Tracey.
What percentage of New Haven Public Schools staff is vaccinated against COVID-19?
"According to my resident statistician here, he said about 70 percent of staff based on a survey about 70 percent said they were vaccinated. That survey was taken prior to us leaving for the school year," said Dr. Tracey.
There will be opportunities for students to get vaccinated throughout the school year.
“Just like this summer, we had over 200 plus recurring clinics throughout the city. We’re going to continue this effort throughout the fall, right at our schools, offering the vaccine on-site," said New Haven Director of Public Health Maritza Bond.
Contact tracing protocol is in place should a student or staff member test positive for COVID-19.
"The same protocol we used last year where we have someone if I'm close to you for example and I am exposed and I have tested as being positive and was close to you then you would have to quarantine and I would have to stay out until that period is over, 7-10 days period, then remerge with the school community," said Dr. Tracey.
What's the plan for students who must quarantine?
"For those students who we quarantine, we will make sure they get work to be done. When we start school, we will be giving back everyone their devices. We're looking into whether or not we're going to have teachers still work with them so that they're getting the live class or whether it's going to work to catch up because they're not going to be out for a very long time before they're back in the learning environment," said Dr. Tracey.
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