SEYMOUR — Parents are pressuring the Seymour School District to return to in-person learning.
The district has been on remote learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic since November (October for the Bungay School).
The plan was to bring kids back to the buildings on Jan. 19 in a “hybrid model.”
But Seymour’s COVID-19 statistics recently spiked, causing Superintendent Michael Wilson to send a letter Jan. 15 saying the district would remain remote until Jan. 25 — at which point the school would return to a hybrid model.
However, a group of parents said keeping kids at home does more harm than good. They want to scrap remote learning and the hybrid model, and have their children in the classroom full-time.
Parent Jessica Nunez is spearheading the effort. She wrote a letter to school officials, signed by 180 parents, urging for concerns not to fall on deaf ears.
“We are a unified body of parents who have deep concerns with remote and hybrid learning models,” Nunez wrote in the letter. “The decision to return to school full-time, remain in distance learning or otherwise is a public right which should be made by each individual family. In-person instruction is vital to the educational and emotional health and development of students in the Seymour School District.”
The Factors
Wilson isn’t making decisions on his own.
The state suggests districts look at a number of factors when it comes to schooling in the age of COVID-19. Those metrics include “indicators of the spread and prevalence of COVID-19 in the community.”
According to the state, one of the important indicators — the per capita infection rate over a two-week period.
Seymour’s per capita COVID-19 rate was 74, according to information released Jan. 14. A new data set was scheduled to be released Jan. 21. (Update: Seymour’s rate increased to 86. 1, according to data released Jan. 21, surpassing the rates in Naugatuck and Beacon Falls — see the red map at the bottom of this story, or CLICK HERE for a better view).
That’s the third-highest rate in the lower Naugatuck Valley (behind Beacon Falls’ 78.6 and Naugatuck’s 78.3), and is a higher per capita rate than Bridgeport and New Haven.
The stat covers Dec. 27 to Jan. 9. It’s the town’s highest rate since November.
According to state data, there were 1,955 Seymour residents tested for COVID between Dec. 27 and Jan. 9. About 9.5 percent tested positive.
How To Calculate Average Da… by The Valley Indy
Wilson’s letter to parents states the decision to stay remote was made in consultation with the district’s medical advisors, the Naugatuck Valley Health District, the district’s head nurse, the Town of Seymour’s emergency management director, the school board’s chairman and vice-chairman, and the town’s First Selectwoman.
As of Thursday (Jan. 21) 46 Seymour students and nine staffers were in quarantine, according to information posted on the district’s website.
“There is no one who wants our students back in school more than I do, and we are constantly monitoring our metrics to make this happen,” Wilson said Tuesday.
School board member Fred Stanek said he’s in favor of remote learning for the time being.
“I support his decision given the increased cases of COVID cases affecting our students, staff and the community at large,” Stanek said. “The delay will also provide more time for our staff members who wish to be vaccinated to do so.”
Parents Worry About Mental Health
While the town’s per capita rate was 74, the actual number of positive tests was 171.
Parents point out that more than 16,000 people live in Seymour and say that the chance of in-school transmission is low, especially given the precautions used.
“As taxpayers we insist that moving forward all communication to parents / guardians include scientific data comparing the risks of COVID to the risks of NOT returning to school,” the letter from parents states. “It is incumbent upon you to not only discuss the risks of the virus but also the consequences associated with children not being in the school building. We are requesting that full, in-person learning be an option effective immediately.”
Nunez, reached via email Tuesday, said her first grader Oliva, has always loved school, but remote learning has caused the young girl to become depressed.
She is more worried about her daughter’s mental state and education than COVID-19.
“My daughter hates school. She is depressed at six years old. She cannot focus while her sisters are playing in the other room. She cannot focus when the classroom is on a computer screen. How do you expect six year olds to navigate a computer system by themselves? Teaching is not only a full-time job for the teachers, it is a full-time job for the parents on top of what they already do,” Nunez said.
Other parents, including Tressyn Morgan and Kiana Machnicz, said Tuesday their kids are also struggling with remote learning.
While both praised teachers for going above and beyond in helping students having difficulties, there’s nothing that can replace full, in-person learning.
“Instead of seeing happy students come off the bus each day, I see sad and discouraged kids who are not learning properly,” Morgan said in an email. “They yearn to be learning in-person. It is not okay or normal for a 10 year-old boy to tell me, ‘Mom, I think I’m depressed.’ It is not normal for my 7 year old to have meltdowns on a daily basis because he can’t grasp what his teacher is trying to teach him through a computer screen.”
Morgan, a full-time dental hygienist, said she has been forced to work part-time so she can be home.
Machnicz concurred that her first and fifth graders are “drastically struggling emotionally.”
Machnicz said the country is in the midst of a pediatric mental health crisis since COVID-19 arrived last March, and that kids need the support provided by in-person learning.
Click here to read a report on the subject published in November as part of the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
The report concludes “Monitoring indicators of children’s mental health, promoting coping and resilience, and expanding access to services to support children’s mental health are critical during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The map below is hard to read. Click here for a better view, but keep in mind the map will change one week from the date of publication.
The latest COVID-19 per capita rate, issued Thursday.
