Rolling responses to COVID-19 at regional schools

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Region One schools switched to distance learning on March 17, with the last day of in-person instruction on March 13.

Gov. Ned Lamont issued an executive order closing the state’s public schools on March 15. That order was subsequently extended until, on May 5, Lamont ordered the schools closed for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year.

The six K-8 schools in the Region One towns of Cornwall, Falls Village, Kent, North Canaan, Salisbury and Sharon held scaled-down eighth-grade graduation ceremonies outside, with masks and social distance. Housatonic Valley Regional High School’s graduation was held in drive-through fashion at the racetrack at Lime Rock Park.

The schools reopened in August with in-person learning at the K-8 schools, and a hybrid model of in-person and distance learning at the high school. Families had the choice of participating or sticking with distance learning.

Region One Superintendent Lisa Carter (who was interim superintendent until she was voted in by the school boards as superintendent in December) maintained a steady stream of updates regarding positive COVID-19 tests in the various schools, and what if any measures were being taken in mitigation.

Things came to a head in December, however. On Dec. 7, the high school switched from the hybrid schedule to an all-distance schedule, expected to end on Tuesday, Jan.19.

At an emergency meeting of the Region One Board of Education on Dec. 3, Carter said contact tracing for exposure to COVID-19 had become increasingly difficult and complicated; at the same time, more students and families were opting for distance learning anyway. 

With the Thanksgiving break over and the Christmas break approaching, Carter said that it was a good time to go to distance learning for “a short period of time” (roughly six weeks).

And on Dec. 20,  with several middle school teachers at Lee H. Kellogg school in Falls Village out with illness, the decision was made to switch to distance learning for the entire school, starting Dec. 21 and with a planned return to in-person learning on Jan. 5, and later extended to Jan. 19.

Students arrived wearing masks to Salisbury Central School for the first day of in-person classes  in the Region One School District. Photo by Patrick L. Sullivan

Housatonic Valley Regional High School met the spring’s unusual circumstances by holding graduation as a drive-through event held at Lime Rock Park in June 2020. Photo by Patrick L. Sullivan

Students arrived wearing masks to Salisbury Central School for the first day of in-person classes  in the Region One School District. Photo by Patrick L. Sullivan