Superintendent's Message April 29, 2021

Good afternoon,

We have received Interim Guidance for Remote Learning for the 2021-2022 School Year from the Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE). This guidance speaks to the importance of in-person education and states:

There is no current requirement under Connecticut or federal law that after the period of emergency this school year, school districts are mandated to provide all students voluntary daily access to remote learning at the unilateral request of the student/family. The requirement that school districts provide temporary remote learning opportunities for all parents and students provided in the Adapt, Advance, Achieve: Connecticut's Plan to Learn and Grow Together, and Addendum 1, Temporarily Opting into Voluntary Remote Learning Due to COVID-19 will no longer be in place after this school year. At this time, DPH and CSDE do not anticipate the need to mandate, due to public health necessity, that all school districts provide an option for students and their families to opt-in to a voluntary remote option after this school year.

Considering this, and as stated during the 2021-2022 budget process, the Remote Learning Academy will not be offered beyond the end of this school year.  Further, there will not be any other option for voluntary daily access to remote learning.  We will continue to follow all mitigation and quarantine requirements as required by CSDE and DPH.

The CSDE is currently working to draft standards for long-term changes around the use remote and virtual learning.   As these standards become available, we will provide more information on the strategic use of remote and virtual learning for Fairfield Public Schools.  For more information, please read the attached guidance.  

Thank you,

Mike

 

Michael Cummings

Superintendent of Schools