All Stonington students to return to more in-person learning by April 5
Stonington — Superintendent of Schools Van Riley has finalized a plan that will have all Stonington students returning to four days of in-person learning by April 5.
Riley created the plan over the weekend with school administrators after parents and school board members again pressed him last week to bring students back to in-person learning faster than what he has proposed in several earlier plans. They pointed to other area school districts that had plans to bring students back faster.
The plan now calls for grades 2 and 3 to return this coming Monday, with grades 4, 5, 7 and 10 returning on March 29 and grades 8, 11 and 12 on April 5. Students in kindergarten and grades 1, 6 and 9 already returned this past Monday. The school system will have its spring break the week of April 12.
Since September students here have attended school using a hybrid learning mode, in which they go to school in person two days a week and learn remotely three days, to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Initially Riley said students would remain in the hybrid mode through the end of the school year, then modified that with phasing in plans in which the last group of students would not have returned until late April.
All families now will be given the option of returning to four days of in-person instruction with Wednesdays reserved for distance learning so the schools can be cleaned, or remaining in full distance learning.
In a letter to staff on Monday, Riley wrote that school board members have said the parameters of his new plan meet their expectations for a return to school. He said all phases of the return will be monitored to assess if they need to be modified over the coming weeks.
He told staff that principals will be working with them on issues of concern needed to implement the return schedule.
Meanwhile on Thursday, the newly created Board of Education Advisory Council on Return to School will hold its first meeting virtually at 6 p.m. Members will discuss the current plan to return to school as well as issues regarding the start of the next academic year in September. Information about the meeting also can be found at stoningtonschools.org.
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