Impacts from the Aug. 27 storm which tore through Branford have also pushed back the start of the new school year by one day. The district’s 2020-21 hybrid school schedule will now begin with the first day of school on Thursday, Sept. 10.

Superintendent of Schools Hamlet Hernandez issued the news to parents and guardians in a letter distributed on Aug. 29.

The district was closed on Friday, Aug. 28 following the storm, which also damaged the roof of Tisko Elementary School due to a large fallen tree. Hernandez said he would keep parents apprised to the status of that school building.

In addition, the closure of the district on Aug. 28 delayed staff reopening training and some scheduled orientations. Moving the first day of school to Sept. 10 allows “...all the professional development and school opening activities to take place,” Hernandez noted.

Kindergarten students and grade 1 - 4 students assigned to blue cohorts will be the only students arriving in-person for the first day of school at their assigned buildings on Sept. 10. All other students in the district through grade 12 will start school remotely on Sept. 10.

On Fri., Sept. 11, kindergarten students and students in grades 1-4 orange group cohorts will be in-person at their respective elementary schools; with all other district students learning remotely. Beginning Mon. Sept. 14,  grade 5 - 8 students at Walsh Intermediate School will begin attending in-person by cohort groups. Beginning Mon. Sept. 21, grade 9 - 12 students at  Branford High School will begin attending in-person by cohort groups.

From that date, and until/unless health protocols dictate otherwise, based on their assigned cohort groups, Branford students in grades 1 - 12 will attend in-person classes two days a week, remotely connect to classes two days per week, and participate in asynchronous (outside classroom format) online learning every Wednesday. Kindergarten students will receive in-person instruction in buildings four days a week and online learning Wednesdays.