West Hartford’s superintendent said public middle schools and high schools will remain in hybrid mode for the foreseeable future, but despite the town’s move into ‘orange’ range, elementary schools will remain full in-person.

By Ronni Newton

The Town of West Hartford is one of 53 communities now in the “orange” range according to data released by the state Thursday, meaning the community has experienced an average daily positive case rate of between 10 and 14 over the past two weeks, but Superintendent of Schools Tom Moore said Friday that elementary schools will continue in full in-person mode.

The secondary schools, however, will remain in hybrid mode for the foreseeable future, with a shift to a significantly-enhanced Hybrid 2.0 model that administrators have been working on over the past several weeks. That plan, and accompanying schedule changes, will be rolled out to families by each school’s principal next week, with the transition expected to begin Nov. 11, Moore said.

West Hartford’s elementary schools returned to full in-person learning on Oct. 21, a week after initially planned after further analyzing the COVID-19 metrics. Moore said the current decision to keep elementary schools open as is, while keeping the secondary schools in hybrid, have been made following conversations not only with other superintendents but also with the state Department of Public Health and municipal leaders.

Keeping schools open is a priority for the town, and town as well as state officials are concerned that Halloween celebrations could lead to a further spike.

With Halloween on a Saturday this year, however, there is even more to worry about and Moore expressed an extra note of caution.

“The numbers are concerning, and I hope our community is very careful this weekend,” Moore told We-Ha.com Friday.

“I really hope on Monday we aren’t seeing Instagram posts from kids at Halloween parties that parents are allowing in their basements,” Moore said. “For us to be able to keep our schools open, which is my top priority because it is so important to keep our children engaged, we have to be willing to make some sacrifices.”

Town leaders have suggested safe ways to celebrate Halloween, and have planned activities for people of all ages.

The state reported a 6.1% positivity rate Thursday, and there were seven new cases of COVID-19 among the 1,319 statewide. Friday’s statewide positivity rate was much lower, 2.5% (761 cases out of 30,554 tests), but West Hartford had 12 more cases.

Moore said that while the state’s COVID-19 metrics are “sobering,” data indicates that in-person learning has not been a source of spread – in West Hartford or statewide.

“The fact is, here and across the state, we are not seeing spread in elementary schools,” Moore said in a letter to the community Friday. “Positive results that come in are the result of community contact and spread, not through schools. As Governor Lamont said yesterday, ‘in-classroom time is proving to be a low risk activity.’ Recent studies presented in NPR, the New York Times, and The Atlantic have stressed that based on what we have learned since August, both here and in other parts of the world, schools do not seem to be super spreaders.”

Moore said he met with elementary schools principals on Thursday, and they were passionate about the “social and emotional growth” of the students since they returned to full in-person learning.

The majority of other nearby districts are also planning to keep their elementary school students in school full-time, Moore said.

West Hartford Public Schools had just one positive case this week, at Hall High School, and Moore said that individual was already in quarantine due to exposure from another family member, so the school community was not otherwise impacted.

The number of individuals in quarantine has also dropped this week, and as of Friday totals 65, down from 91 on Thursday. About a two-thirds of those in quarantine are at the elementary level, and Moore said all of those quarantines should expire over the weekend.

While cases are not spreading in West Hartford’s secondary schools either, due to the density and sheer size of the school populations, they will be remaining in hybrid mode.

While hybrid learning is difficult for elementary school students and their families, it can be effective for the older students, and the district has been considering tweaking the delivery plan to increase class time for all students, increase engagement for students who are not physically in school, and move to a greater utilization of streaming.

The district has been in constant contact with other districts, and will be adopting elements of some other plans that have been working well. Other districts, like West Hartford, are using the natural break of the end of the first quarter to roll out changes.

Hybrid 2.0, which will become effective Nov. 11, will include schedule changes at the middle and high school levels. Specific details, as well as sample schedules, will be communicated directly by each school principal to families next week, but Moore outlined the following plans:

• Middle school students will be in class until 1:30 p.m. every day, including Wednesday
• Middle school grab and go lunch will be available at the end of each day
• High school students will be in class daily, including Wednesdays, until 1 p.m.
• Grab and go lunch for high school students will be available at dismissal
• Students who are on an at home learning week will be required to attend all classes that are being streamed during the day, and attendance will be taken
• Students who are learning at home will also need to sign in again for afternoon “individual small group classes with their teachers,” beginning at 1:30 p.m. for high school students and 2 p.m. for middle school students. Those small group classes will not meet on Wednesdays to allow for professional development for teachers.

Moore said there will be some schedule changes for students who are enrolled in the Remote Learning Experience as well, because some teachers are involved in both models.

“I have had one goal since the beginning of this pandemic, which is to make decisions using the best data available, while remaining flexible,” Moore wrote in his letter to families on Friday.

“We know a lot more than we did in the summer, and since the start of school in September. There are warning signs ahead, and we will listen to our Department of Public Health both at the state level and our local health district as we move forward. If we have to change, we will, but my goal, for planning purposes, is to get to the Thanksgiving holiday, and then look at the time between Thanksgiving and December break and make decisions for that timeframe.

“I know that we all need consistency for planning purposes, while also being able to react to changing situations, and evidence. Spikes in hospital capacity or evidence of spread in schools could change our plans. Lastly, please make sure that your children are safe this Halloween, that we all make good choices, and that we all do our part to bring down our numbers.”

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