HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Gov. Ned Lamont said Tuesday he is canceling in-person classes at all Connecticut K-12 public schools for the rest of this school year amid the coronavirus pandemic, requiring districts to continue distance learning.
The Democrat said schools will also be required to continue providing to-go meals to children under the school lunch and breakfast programs. He was expected to sign a new executive order later in the day.
Lamont said he is working with state and local education officials to determine whether summer school programs should be held. More details are expected later this month. The governor and his education and early childhood commissioners will provide more information about Tuesday’s decision at an afternoon briefing.
“I know how important it is for so many students and teachers to finish out the school year, and I was holding out hope — particularly for high school seniors — that we’d at least be able to complete the final few weeks, but given the current circumstances and to protect everyone’s safety, it has become clear that it’s just not possible,” Lamont said in a written statement.
The state’s largest teachers union, the Connecticut Education Association, praised Lamont’s decision. The union understands “the emotion and sadness regarding closing schools and missing certain milestones and celebrations” but protecting the health of students and staff should be the top priority, CEA President Jeff Leake said.
Meanwhile, Lamont said efforts are still underway to distribute remote learning resources, including 60,000 Dell laptops and 185,000 Scholastic book packs. They’ve been arriving in waves because of the global supply chain shortages due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough, that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, or death.
In other developments related to the coronavirus:
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VOTE BY MAIL
An election reform advocacy group is praising Secretary of the State Denise Merrill’s plan to make voting safer amid the pandemic, including providing absentee ballot applications to all eligible voters for the August primary and November general election. Common Cause in Connecticut, however, said there’s “real urgency” for action to be taken by the governor or the General Assembly to allow all voters to vote by mail.
Cheri Quickmire, executive director of Common Cause in Connecticut, said while Merrill’s plan is “an important first step,” an executive order, legislative approval or both are still needed.
“When Governor Lamont proposed ‘stay safe, stay home,’ he didn’t just call for people at high-risk to stay home. The same smart strategy should be applied to voting rights, making vote by mail a public health imperative,” Quickmire said in a written statement.
Under Merrill’s plan, her office will send an absentee ballot application to all registered voters in Connecticut with pre-paid postage. But at this point, it’s unclear if fears about contracting the coronavirus would be a reason for obtaining an absentee ballot, given the state’s rules for voting by absentee will still remain in place. The only voters who qualify are those actively serving in the U.S. armed forces; those out-of-town for the entire day of voting; those who are ill, have physical disabilities or are forbidden by religious beliefs from voting on that particular day; and those working as a poll worker at another polling location during voting hours.
Merrill previously sent a letter to Lamont seeking an executive order that temporarily removes the restrictive absentee ballot language in Connecticut’s statutes. She has also called on the General Assembly to vote for an amendment to the state’s constitution, something she proposed last year, that removes the restrictive language and also allows early voting.
Senate Republican Leader Len Fasano, however, said the constitution shouldn’t be changed until there’s a bipartisan discussion about how to guarantee that fraud will not occur.
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