Hartford Public Schools Shifting to Orange Status Learning Model on Monday

Hartford Public Schools will be changing its learning model starting next week as the city and state continue to see a rise in COVID-19 cases.

"We are shifting to the Orange status beginning next Monday, November 16," said Superintendent Leslie Torres-Rodriguez.

The district had previously announced the planned change in learning status on November 2 and confirmed the move Thursday based on growing concerns over the coronavirus.

The district has had 165 total positive coronavirus cases since the beginning of school year, including 88 students and 65 staff members, the superintendent said. The district has a 1.3% test positivity rate among its students.

With 28.1 cases per 100,000 population being reported last week in Hartford, the school district made the decision to change to the orange model, which will cut back on in-person learning time.

For Pre-K students, they will go in-person four days a week and remote on Wednesdays (instead of having an early release). Montessori schools will go to a hybrid model.

For kindergarten through ninth grade students, they will be divided into A, B and C cohorts. The students will now go to in-person two days per week, instead of five days. They will have the opportunity for live instruction most remote days.

For students in grades 10-12, they will continue in a hybrid learning model. Torres-Rodriguez said it's possible to keep those students safely distanced.

There is no correlation so far that shows any consistent community spread of coronavirus within the schools themselves based on contact tracing, according to the superintendent.