Full-Time, Hybrid Or Remote? Fairfield Schools Planning For All 3

FAIRFIELD, CT — As some parents push for a plan to return to full-time classroom learning and officials worry Fairfield schools may need to revert to fully remote education, the district is planning for multiple scenarios.

Officials are working to create a structure that will allow teachers and students to switch rapidly between full-time, hybrid and remote learning models as needed amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Fairfield schools have been in a hybrid model since September. A plan to bring elementary students back to the classroom full-time in November was delayed by an October spike in virus cases. Now, officials are starting to have conversations about the possibility of school becoming completely remote, based on virus-related developments at the state level.

“We don’t want to be caught unaware of that,” Superintendent Mike Cummings told the school board at a meeting Tuesday, adding the district will do whatever it can to remain in hybrid. “… This is not a Fairfield-only conversation.”

Officials hope to put a system in place that allows the district to pivot from one learning model to another within a week of receiving health data trends that indicate the need for a change, although their efforts are still underway. Chromebooks remain on order, work is set begin this month on $300,000 in Wi-Fi upgrades at the elementary level, and staff need professional development to execute the district’s plan for synchronous instruction of students in the classroom and at home.

There’s also the question of when and how virus data shows the need for a learning model change.

“It’s going to be very difficult to pick a number at this point,” Cummings said, adding he hoped to see more guidance from the state on how best to identify upward and downward trends.

As of Wednesday, 26 students and 13 staffers had the virus and 223 students and staff members were in quarantine, according to the district. Virus transmission in schools had begun to occur across Connecticut, Cummings said, although he was not aware of in-school transmission happening in Fairfield.

Cummings on Tuesday addressed concerns from parents, many of whom were among a crowd of about 80 people who rallied Monday on Sherman Green to demand a more detailed plan for a full school reopening. The district’s reopening committee is reviewing an updated version of the reopening plan developed over the summer. The revised plan will be available to the community once it’s compete.

Officials are also working to respond to complaints about the continued use of Wednesdays as a remote learning day, a topic about which board member Jennifer Maxon-Kennelly felt strongly.

“I fundamentally do not understand why Wednesdays are not gone,” she said.

Maxon-Kennelly later argued school should be in-person and full-time in Fairfield, noting some countries have chosen to lock down most components of daily public life in an effort to prevent virus transmission, while keeping schools open.

“Based on science and based on facts, we should be back in school,” she said. “… I would hope that we would be full-in as soon as possible.”