By Elio Gugliotti, Editor
PROSPECT — Region 16 elementary and middle school students won’t be returning to in-person classes five days a week in the immediate future.
The Region 16 Board of Education, which oversees public schools in Beacon Falls and Prospect, opted Feb. 10 to maintain the status quo when it comes to the hybrid schedule for the elementary and middle schools.
Elementary and middle school students now attend school in-person every weekday except Wednesdays, which are typically virtual learning days for all students in the region so staff can clean the schools. Students also have the option to remote learn at home full time.
School officials looked into returning to in-person classes five days week, which Superintendent of Schools Michael Yamin said received mixed views from staff.
There weren’t any mixed views among board members, who said the region’s COVID-19 plan has been working well and they want to keep the schedule the same.
Board member Nazih Noujaim said the region is already past 100 days of school. He said the safety of students and staff is the top priority and the schedule should stay the way it is.
Board member Robert Dyer said it would be more prudent for the region to wait until teachers can get vaccinated before returning to in-person instruction five days a week.
Since schools opened in early September, Woodland Regional High School students have followed a hybrid model of learning that divided them into two groups. Students attend school in-person two days a week — either on a Monday-Thursday or Tuesday-Friday schedule — and distance learn the other days.
This is unlikely to change until the state’s pandemic guidelines are lifted, because many of the classrooms at the high school are too small for all students to return and maintain social distance.
