HARTFORD, Conn. — As the Omicron variant makes its presence known and cases rise, Connecticut schools are weighing their options for the return to school in 2022.
FOX61 reached out to school districts and education leaders across the state to find out their plans for the new year as the pandemic shifts.
Right now, Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents Executive Director Fran Rabinowitz said the plan for the districts she’s been in contact with is to return in person on January 3.
“They indicated to me that they don’t have data yet that talks about staff shortages but they are planning to use whatever available staff they have--central office, etc.—to go to the schools and man the classrooms if needed,” Rabinowitz said.
Last week, Winchester Public Schools moved to distance learning before Christmas after they said a number of staff and students tested positive for COVID-19.
Gateway Community College in New Haven is also shifting remote for the next couple days after the CEO said they saw about a dozen cases within the last week.
“We know that the positivity rate in the state is also up so we were just concerned and out of an abundance of caution, just wanted to shift to virtual operations so we could still continue to serve,” CEO William “Terry” Brown, Ph.D. said.
GCC has not made its plans for the Spring 2022 semester as the CEO said the situation is fluid.
Rabinowitz said public schools are keeping an eye on the data, but she told FOX61 it would likely take direction from the governor to shift back to remote.
“I think we would have to look at staff shortages and safety, but frankly, to return to remote learning we do need an executive order from the governor. Right now, the present legislation does not allow us to do that,” Rabinowitz said.
New Haven Public Schools and Bloomfield Public Schools district officials told FOX61 they also plan to return in person.
Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) expressed the importance of going back to school during a news conference Wednesday.
“We need to avoid, at all costs, another lockdown where kids are learning remotely or attempting to do so and people in effect are out of work and our economy is plummeting,” Blumenthal said. “We need to enable kids to go back to school, people to go back to work; testing is a means to that end, because Omicron, for people who are vaccinated, can be a lot less severe.”
The state plans to set aside 2 million COVID rapid tests for K-12 schools across Connecticut
Elisha Machado is a reporter at FOX61 News. She can be reached at emachado@fox61.com. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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