First Day Of School May Be Delayed In Greenwich

GREENWICH, CT — As they prepare for students to return to school buildings while adhering to a number of coronavirus safety guidelines this fall, Greenwich school officials are considering delaying the first day of school.

During a special Board of Education meeting held Monday night over Zoom, Superintendent Toni Jones said she is proposing the first day be pushed back from its originally planned date of Wednesday, Sept. 2. (To sign up for Greenwich breaking news alerts and more, click here.)

"We have so much professional learning to do when we come back in the fall," Jones said during the meeting.

According to the superintendent, teachers will need time to not only learn new school building protocols, but also train on some of the schools' new programs and set up their rooms, among other necessary tasks.

In light of this, Jones proposed making Sept. 1 and 2 professional learning days and holding orientation on Sept. 3. Students would then start school Friday, Sept. 4.

Some board members said there seemed to be little value in starting school the Friday before the Labor Day holiday weekend, and instead suggested starting school on Monday, Sept. 8.

Board Secretary Karen Hirsh said it "seemed a little odd" to start school right before a long weekend and agreed that staff could use as much extra time to prepare as possible.

"I think that our staff definitely needs time to readjust, set up their classrooms and really learn all the new protocols," Hirsh said. "I know that there's going to be a lot of new questions and concerns from our educators that we need to address at that time."

Board Chair Peter Bernstein said he also didn't see the value in starting school right before a holiday for "timing purposes."

Board member Peter Sherr said the Friday before Labor Day would likely be a "low attendance day," and agreed teachers could use that extra time to prepare. He also said he would like to see an employee calendar that is "a little more front-loaded" to benefit teachers.

Jones acknowledged that starting school before the long weekend could be problematic and said they would discuss the calendar adjustment further when the board meets again Thursday evening.

A video of Monday's meeting can be viewed in full here.