CT Schools Will No Longer Be Required To Offer Remote Learning

CONNECTICUT — New guidance from the Connecticut State Department of Education releases schools from the obligation of providing remote learning opportunities for students after the end of the current school year.

The new guidance stresses the importance of the "educational opportunity, social-emotional learning, access, and equity support the return to in-person learning," but also leaves the door open for a "change pending the outcomes of the 2021 legislative session."

School districts had been "mandated to provide all students voluntary daily access to remote learning at the unilateral request of the student/family" during the 2020-21 school year, according CSDE guidance issued in July. Even as the coronavirus pandemic eased and more schools returned to full-time in-person learning, many families kept their children home and took advantage of the remote learning opportunities.

The CSDE said they "know that it is critical to learn from the disruption caused by the pandemic to make forward movement to evolve the approach to PreK-12 education, rather than return 'back' to what education was like before this worldwide crisis." The intention of the educators is for Connecticut to remain an innovation leader in the area of virtual learning, but stressed that remote education options would only be deployed "judiciously" going forward, "where it is supported by CSDE standards, current law, or anticipated legislative action."