Westport Public Schools Superintendent Mr. Thomas Scarice, Bedford principal Dr. Adam Rosen, and Coleytown principal Ms. Kris Szabo decided on Sunday night, Nov. 15, that Westport’s middle schools would go virtual until after Thanksgiving break. 

Middle schoolers had spent Thursday and Friday last week distance learning after quarantined Bedford teachers left the school without adequate staffing available. Last Friday, Mr. Scarice shared that he hoped to open Bedford again for a hybrid learning model on Monday, Nov. 30. He outlined that nine teachers were being moved from Staples High School, which had already decided on virtual learning through Thanksgiving break, to meet coverage demands at Bedford, but on Sunday night, he amended his position.

In a letter published on WestportNow, Mr. Scarice explained what went into the decision. He wrote that, “Over the weekend, we became aware of 17 additional positive cases of COVID-19 in the District.” These cases resulted in more staff quarantines, which made “adequate supervision” difficult. At Bedford, three pod teams of teachers and nine encore teachers are quarantined because of close contact with a COVID-positive case.

Across the entire district, there are 48 staff and students who are isolating because of a positive COVID-19 test and 1004 staff and student isolating because of close contact with a COVID-positive case. This rise in COVID cases corresponds to county-wide trends. According to the Westport Public Schools COVID-19 Dashboard, COVID risk went from “Moderate” to “High” on Nov. 5 in Fairfield County, while it jumped from “Low” to “Moderate” in Westport on the same date.

Right now, Dr. Rosen and Ms. Szabo state that they “anticipate the school reopening on Monday, Nov. 30th in the Hybrid Model.”