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Date: 12/22/2021
GRANBY – The Granby School Committee met to give an update on masks in schools and discuss the future of winter sports spectators at their Dec. 14 meeting.
According to Superintendent Stephen Sullivan, Granby Public Schools continue to implement mask wearing. None of the schools have reached a vaccination rate of 80 percent and therefore are not eligible to remove masks, as the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s (DESE) mask policy still stands.
Sullivan said that, currently, DESE’s policy is in place until Jan. 15.
“I have not heard any potential changes on that at this time,” he said.
The meeting also discussed the future of allowing spectators at winter sports games. ` Sullivan said that the district will be imposing a new rule that only home fans are allowed at indoor athletic events until further notice.
“In an effort to comply with the current Granby Board of Health mandate, which does require 6 feet of distance when possible, we are proposing that we only allow home fans at indoor athletic events until further notice,” said Sullivan.
He said that, given the recent rise in COVID-19 cases, this is the best option to continue to play winter sports safely.
“Considering we are in a surge at this point, Granby’s up 20 something cases since yesterday, we just want to make sure that we can continue our season because our student athletes did lose a lot last year not being able to participate,” said Sullivan.
The question of implementing the policy of home fans only arose as well. Some School Committee members recognized that it might be hard to enforce. Sullivan said that they will do their best and will rely mostly on the honor system when it comes to this.
“It’s not my expectation that we’re getting into confrontations with people at games or anything like that, but I think really we want to show good faith and that we’re doing our best to comply with that mandate,” he said.
In the end, the School Committee voted to approve this new mandate. Sullivan said that it will be revisited again in the future.
Granby Junior Senior High School also earned a grant from Project Lead the Way, according to Sullivan. They were awarded $10,000 to add a cyber security class to their program of studies in the 2022/2023 school year.
Sullivan said that this is the fourth grant the school has received from Project Lead the Way. They have received about $40,000 in total.
“We’re trying to find ways to get resources and materials that we need without having to put it all on our operational budget,” said Sullivan.
The School Committee also celebrated the success of the most recent COVID-19 vaccination clinic hosted on Dec. 8. Sullivan said that 170 vaccinations were given out and that between 55 to 60 of those were pediatric vaccinations.
Granby Public Schools will be hosting another vaccination clinic on Jan. 8. This will take place from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the East Meadow School gymnasium.
Those interested in viewing the Granby School Committee meeting in its entirety are encouraged to visit the Granby Community Access & Media YouTube page.