Stonington — School principals told the Board of Education on Thursday night that the reopening of schools this week has been a big success, with the exception of a few traffic and computer issues that they are working to rectify.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, students here are attending school in hybrid fashion, with half in school on Mondays and Tuesdays and the other half Thursdays and Fridays, with everyone studying remotely the other three days. School began Tuesday.

Superintendent of Schools Van Riley praised school staffers for the successful reopening. “Everyone just did a wonderful job,” he said.

He then rattled off a long list of officials, organizations, businesses and residents who donated and loaned items and made other contributions to the reopening.

Each principal updated the board on their school, reporting attendance and remote participation in the high 90 percentiles.

Jennifer McCurdy said that at Deans Mill School, reopening has been flawless except for some remote learning issues that have been decreasing each day. “Students always show more resiliency than adults when adapting to change,” she said.

At West Vine Street School, first year Principal Kathryn Irvine said the school feels joyful and calm. “The students feel comfortable to be in school, to be with their friends,” she said.

At Stonington Middle School, Tim Smith said dismissal time is challenging due to the extensive pipeline installation by Aquarion Water Co. He said morning arrival was smooth Thursday but the school is working on developing a good system for afternoon pickup.

Smith also praised his teachers, saying they have "hit it out of the park" when it comes to getting students engaged in distance learning. “We’re off to a great start,” he said.

High School Principal Mark Friese said the goal is to make things as normal as possible. “Talking to kids, they are just happy to see people,” he said, pointing out students have not been in school since March 13. “The most important thing to us is to reestablish connections with students."

Riley reported that the estimated additional reopening costs due to COVID-19 have decreased from $878,000 last month to $646,000. The school system returned $447,000 to the town from its 2019-20 budget and that money is available to offset those costs after discussions with the Board of Finance.

He also told the board that seven metrics will determine when students can return to more in-person learning.

j.wojtas@theday.com