by the Stratford Board of Education
Stratford students returned to the classroom part-time on September 9th. The district’s plan is to have students back in school two days a week despite the coronavirus pandemic.
Instead of a full-time in-school schedule, students will be separated into two groups. Cohort A will attend school in-person Monday and Tuesday, while Cohort B will be in the classroom Thursday and Friday. During the remaining three days, the students will learn remotely, with Chromebooks available to all. School buildings will close Wednesday for deep cleaning.
The hybrid model will allow for smaller in-person class sizes of about 10 to 13 students per room. High schoolers will move from class to class throughout the day, but middle schoolers will not, with most teachers coming to them. Music and art teachers will also travel to cohort classrooms, and gym will be outdoors when possible.
Strict safety protocols have been put in place. Face masks will be required, with outdoor mask breaks. The district will give each student two cloth masks. Students will be required to use hand sanitizer whenever they enter or exit a classroom. Hand washing and social distancing will be prioritized, and extra crews will clean the schools throughout the day.
If a student shows symptoms, they will be isolated at the school nurse’s office, sent home and asked to get tested. Their classmates and teacher may be required to quarantine for up to two weeks.
If there are no local coronavirus spikes after schools reopen, the district may return to full-time in-person education. If cases do increase significantly, students will revert to the distance-learning-only approach that was introduced early in the pandemic. Either potential change is most likely to happen in October.
The entire protocol may be found here.
Editor’s Note: To date (October 21st ) Wooster had about 85 students and two teachers in quarantine. Community members at Bunnell and Stratford high schools, Flood Middle School and Lordship Elementary School have also tested positive for the virus.
