Parents To Hold Rally After School Reopening Delayed In Fairfield

FAIRFIELD, CT — A group of Fairfield parents is planning a rally after the school district delayed a return to full-time, in-person learning.

The event will take place at Sherman Green on Monday — the same day Fairfield elementary school buildings were initially scheduled to begin transitioning to a full reopening. The district last month pulled back on its reopening plan and opted to continue using a hybrid learning model when the town was briefly placed in the state’s red-alert zone for coronavirus infections.

“Fairfield has an excellent school system, and it’s kind of falling apart before our eyes,” said Kristen Frame, who has three children in the district.

Frame was impressed with the district's initial response to the coronavirus pandemic in March, but said that more recently, the reasoning behind school officials’ decisions related to the virus has seemed vague and subjective.

“We simply want transparency and a plan communicated,” she said. “… Parents are getting increasingly frustrated.”

Anthony DeMartino, a father of three Fairfield students, agreed.

“No one is minimizing the fact that we’re in a global pandemic,” he said. “… Really, what we’re trying to get is a framework and a plan for — if we meet certain criteria — this is a plan to go back to school.”

DeMartino and Frame also expressed concern about the hybrid model exacerbating student issues related to mental health, inequity and time spent on devices. They worried their children might be at a disadvantage when competing for opportunities against students who are learning full-time, in-person; or in more interactive distance learning models.

Several of the arguments made by DeMartino and Frame echoed those of parents who commented via teleconference at a school board meeting in late October, not long after the district's move to delay a full reopening at the elementary level. While many at the meeting spoke in favor of a return to in-person, full-time school, others defended the district's decision.

Earlier in October, a letter signed by more than 300 Fairfield families was submitted to school officials requesting an immediate return to full-time, in-person learning. An online petition in August seeking a full-time classroom option received nearly 800 signatures.

Andrea Clark, director of communications for the district, said that while she was aware of more than 200 people likely to attend the rally, there were 3,500 families with students enrolled in Fairfield Public Schools.

“As vocal as this particular group is, we have received feedback from many families who trust the decisions being made and are relieved that we are not reopening based on the current health data,” Clark said in an email Friday.

Superintendent Mike Cummings told parents last month that the state had changed its instructions regarding learning model decisions, directing districts to consider 14-day data windows instead of one-week windows, and to include town-specific data, as opposed to the previously required county data.

"I don't think there's a universal green light, as it were," Cummings said last month to the school board.

In a message to parents, Cummings cited the need for a decreasing trend that demonstrates the spread of the virus is under control.

As of Thursday, Fairfield was in the state’s orange coronavirus zone, with an average daily rate of 14.9 cases, according to state data. The cutoff for the red zone is 15 cases per day. On Oct. 22, the day the school district pulled back on its reopening plan, the town’s daily case rate was 19.6.

DeMartino said he hopes that by taking the conversation about how to reopen schools off social media and onto Sherman Green, parents will persuade school officials to produce a more concrete plan.

The rally is expected to start about 4:15 p.m. Its organizers request that those who attend wear a face mask.