This week, Branford Public Schools (BPS) rolled out an accelerated schedule to bring all students back to full time in-person learning instead of the current hybrid model. The accelerated plan was laid out by Superintendent of Schools Hamlet Hernandez during a special joint Communication/Teaching and Learning committee meeting of the Branford Board of Education (BOE) on March 10. The phased-in plan has all students back to full, in-person learning by Monday, April 5.

The plan, which spreads the return out over several weeks, prioritizes getting elementary students in grades K-4 back to school full time first at the town's three elementary buildings -- Tisko, Sliney and Murphy. It calls for grades K-1 to start attending classes in-person full time, five days a week, beginning Monday, March 22. The following Monday, March 29, grades 5 – 8 will return to full in-person learning at Walsh Intermediate School (WIS). Then, on Monday, April 5, grades 9 -12 will resume full in-person learning at Branford High School (BHS).

As Hernandez had noted during his presentation on March 10,  "...most importantly, this model also permits us to do this in phases, and to continually monitor the public health [metrics]. But it does get us all back in person... so it's real balance that we're trying to strike."

The acceleration actually began with on Wed. March 10, when the district added three in-person instructional hours for K-4 elementary students in the blue cohort at all buildings; with orange cohort K-4 elementary students set to attend an extra three hours in person on Wed. March 17.  Those are the first changes to the hybrid return to school model since it was initiated by the district in September 2020. The hybrid model calls for two cohorts for each grade level 1 - 12, allowing half of each grade level's students to attend in-person instruction two days per week by cohort; together with three days of remote learning. Students in kindergarten have been attending four days per week in person, with one day for remote learning.

As part of the return to full-in person learning, BPS, working with East Shore District Health Department (ESDHD) has also been working to assist all eligible staff and related school workers access to get the COVID-19 vaccine. As of March 10, 552 of the district's 753 workers had received at least the first dose of the vaccine, said Hernandez.

What's In the Plan

The phased-in return plan upholds district priorities of health and safety, supporting instruction and sustainability of staff and supporting social and emotional well-being of students and staff. It also considers additional input gathered from responses to parent and staff surveys conducted by the district several days before the March 10 meeting.

As also shared on March 10, BPS school buildings are being prepared to allow for a full compliment  of students to return. The added student numbers will require social distancing to be at three feet or less due the constraints of distancing within the geography of buildings. Ridership on buses will be back to full capacity, although Hernandez noted a better word would be "increased" ridership; and that a better idea of just how many students will be taking the bus will be clearer as the full instruction model resumes. All school buildings will continue with safe ventilation practices and enhanced cleaning protocols; and students will continue with established handwashing and bathroom-use protocols as well as continuing to wear face coverings, as will all school personnel.

The March 10 meeting also dedicated a good portion of time to allow school leadership to discuss some of the measures to implemented to continue the district's effort to support the social and emotional well-being of students, as well as providing support for staff.

In order to implement all of these changes during the return to full-in person learning, "...the day will have to go just a little bit slower," until everyone gets back up to speed, Hernandez said.

"I believe this is a heavy lift for staff and also for students," he said.

Speaking of Surveys

A total of 1,345 parents responded to the district's survey. During the March 10 meeting, some parents attending the meeting asked why the district is planning for the phased return even though the parent survey had overwhelming shown a preference for all students to return to all school buildings at the same time.

Resident Lynn LaCroix, a parent of two high school students, said she was disappointed that more wait time is being required of high school students and asked the BOE and school leaders why it was happening.

"It would seem that the high schoolers would be able to adapt more quickly to these situations; and it's just frustrating for us parents just to keep getting kind of slapped in the face," said LaCroix, adding of the high school students, "...they're crying out. If there's any reason or any way that you can get them back even a week sooner, please do it."

"Mrs. LaCroix, there are certainly no easy answers to this," Hernandez responded.  "During the presentation, we had indicated that the overwhelming response from the 1,345 parents that responded [to the survey] was to get the children in; and that was a consideration. If you looked at the staff [survey] piece, the teachers overwhelming preferred a phased-in [return] telling us they need additional time, logistically, to make these types of transitions. And we also want to be able to the measure public health data and the impact of introducing more community in our schools."

Other reasons for prioritizing elementary students returning first is the age group's low agency for self-directed learning creating a need for in-person instruction, and current COVID-19 metrics showing infection levels among 0-9 year-olds as significantly lower than for high school students. That being said, Hernandez further noted that, as of the past week, the leading infection rate age group in Branford was the 0-18-year-old population, comprising 25 percent of all reported cases; a significant factor when considering adding density of population to school buildings.

"So we have reason to continue to monitor the public health data. And I know it may be disappointing, but certainly, it was not random," said Hernandez of the plan to phase in students over the coming weeks. "It was something that we looked at very, very deliberately."