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Branford Switches Second Grade at Murphy School to Remote Learning Due to Staff Shortages

On the heels of a Friday, Nov. 13 notice bracing parents for possible staff shortages due to Branford's elevated COVID-19 positivity rate (see related story) Branford Public Schools (BPS) notified parents and the community on Monday, Nov. 16 that staff shortages experienced at Mary T. Murphy Elementary School required the school's entire second grade to switch over to remote learning. No time frame was issued with regard to when the second grade at Murphy will resume in-person instruction at the school. Murphy is one of the town's three elementary schools serving children in grades K - 4; the others are Tisko Elementary and Sliney Elementary.

In the Nov. 16 notice, Superintendent of Schools Hamlet Hernandez stated, in part, "We continue to experience an increase in reported COVID (+) cases.  The District was notified that two more members of the school community, one at Mary T. Murphy School and one at Branford High School, tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19), bringing the total number of COVID (+) cases to date to 18.  The affected persons were last in school on November 12, 2020 and November 13, 2020 respectively.  Each has been instructed to remain on home isolation for 10 days.  Anyone who would be considered a "close contact" of these people has already been contacted by school officials and/or public health officials and provided with instructions on the appropriate steps to take.

In collaboration with the East Shore Health Department, the District determined that there is no reason to close school but determined it was necessary to move the entire second-grade at Mary T. Murphy School only to remote learning because of staff shortages."

BPS students in grades 1 - 12 are currently in the district hybrid learning model which has grouped students by orange and blue cohorts which attend school in-person two days per week and attend online synchronous remote learning two days per week, with all students undertaking asynchronous online learning on Wednesdays.