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Schools in Brookfield and Milford will all be switching to distance learning - some through the rest of the year - due to new cases in students and district staff members.
In Brookfield, the entire public school district switched to remote learning as of Wednesday, Nov. 18 due to staffing shortages, before returning to its hybrid model on Monday, Dec. 7.
"While we have no evidence of in-school transmission, the decision to transition to full remote learning is driven by the pattern of rapidly increasing community spread," Schools Superintendent John Barile said. ”This spread is occurring within families and youth sports.
“Additionally, we have significant concerns in regard to adequately covering quarantined staff who are critical to the operation of the schools.”
Milford Schools Superintendent Anna Cutaia said that by shifting around staff and going remote, it will allow the elementary schools to stay open as long as possible as the district faces a staffing shortage.
This week, 181 staff members reported absent at one point, Cutaia said.
Beginning on Monday, Nov. 23, all middle schools in the district will be going back to distance learning through at least Jan. 8, 2021. The move came after all of the district’s high schools already made the switch.
“Milford Health Department data continues to demonstrate that we are not seeing sustained in-school transmission among students and staff,” she added. ”Rather, contact tracing confirms the increase in transmission is largely due to attendance at large social gatherings outside of school and the natural trending seen when in a pandemic environment.”
Correction: A previous version of this story misrepresented information regarding cases and closures at the Fairfield School District, which has committed to sticking to its hybrid model as long as possible.
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