Group Lobbies at State Capitol for School to Be Virtual

A group of teachers, parents and students who feel it’s too risky to return to the classroom are holding a rally in Hartford at the State Capitol Wednesday to make a case for schools to operate remotely.

Some teachers said the state’s reopening plan fails to address the needs of minority students and underfunded district will be forced to continue to do more with less.

One school district that has expressed interest in starting the year online rather than in person is New Haven, which proposed to have all-virtual learning for the first 10 weeks of school.

“We know that there’s not going to be testing in our K-12 public schools so that’s a worry for teachers, family members and community members. Not to mention, the threshold that the state has set for how bad it has to get before we go to remote learning is far too high for my comfort or anyone’s comfort here,” Leslie Blatteau, a New Haven teacher, said.

State officials want districts to try in-person learning and said they’re are using a metric the department of public health developed to keep communities safe.

The educators who took part in the rally said they want the state to fund remote learning, make sure the students have the supplies they need and encourage the state to offer childcare subsidies for families.