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Adapt, Advance, Achieve: Connecticut’s Plan to Learn and Grow Together
3. Introduction
Guiding Principles
The following document is provided for local educational agencies (LEAs) as they begin planning
for the fall. Because experts are continuing to learn more about COVID-19 and the conditions
surrounding the pandemic are continually changing, this preliminary guidance will likely
evolve and be amended or supplemented. Individualized considerations based upon unique
circumstances in each school district may also be needed. Each LEA should use this document
as a guide and consult with all relevant stakeholders to determine the best way to proceed
consistent with the requirements.
As Connecticut schools plan to reopen, the guidance and considerations outlined in this
document are grounded in six guiding principles:
1. Safeguarding the health and safety of students and staff;
2. Allowing all students the opportunity to return to school full time starting in the fall;
3. Monitoring the school, students, and staff and, when necessary, potentially canceling
classes in the future to appropriately contain COVID-19 spread;
4. Emphasizing equity, access, and support to the students and communities that are
emerging from this historic disruption;
5. Fostering strong two-way communication with partners such as families, educators, and
staff; and
6. Factoring into decisions about reopening the challenges to the physical safety, socialemotional
well-being, and the mental health needs of our students when they are not in
school.
LEAs should enter into planning understanding that health developments may influence
decisions to transition to a different instructional model.
Specifically, LEAs must balance their planning with contingency plans to provide robust blended
learning or remote blended learning for all grades in the event that a school, district, or region
has to cancel or limit in-person classes due to health precautions. Guidance on standards for
quality blended learning is being developed and will be available on the CSDE website.
While the guiding principles of this document will require all LEAs to approach this with a certain
level of consistency, LEAs retain discretion in implementing the approach to full time reopening.
School boards are encouraged to develop local teams and secure input from all members of
the community regarding the complex approach to resuming classes in the fall. The CSDE will
stand ready to provide technical support and anticipates that this document will be followed by
ongoing support documents, resources, and a variety of templates to assist local planning.