Some New Haven public school students will return to their physical classrooms later this month for the first time since last spring, the superintendent of schools announced.
Superintendent Iline Tracey announced on the district website Thursday that officials are preparing for “a limited return of students to a hybrid learning model” starting Jan. 19.
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The New Haven district has been closed for in-person instruction except for some special-needs programs since the coronavirus pandemic forced schools across the country to shut down last March.
Officials in New Haven chose to keep school buildings closed in September as other districts in Connecticut offered either full-time or part-time in-person learning. A plan to reopen New Haven’s schools on Nov. 9 was shelved amid rising COVID-19 cases.
Tracey said schools will open on Jan. 19 to students in prekindergarten through fifth grade as well as students in special-education programs and programs for new immigrants at two of the district’s schools.
Two schools, Quinnipiac School and West Rock School, will remain closed because city health officials determined that a lack of ventilation renders them unsafe during the pandemic, Tracey said.
Dave Cicarella, president of the New Haven Federation of Teachers, told the New Haven Register he was pleased that the two school buildings would remain closed. “It signifies the district is taking health and safety very seriously,” he said.
