Teachers Take Their Message to the Streets in Safety First Car Caravan Rallies Across the State

From Stamford to Stonington, Hamden to Hartford, and two dozen towns in between, teachers, students, parents, and community members joined School Safety First Car Caravans demanding safety and health precautions and hybrid learning for school reopening plans.

“Nothing is more important than the safety of our students, our teachers, and our school communities,” said CEA President Jeff Leake. “CEA are AFT Connecticut organized the car caravans to amplify teachers’ voices against state plans to reopen schools in person and at 100 percent capacity while the coronavirus is still not fully under control.” While the state has since agreed to some flexibility in school reopening plans, CEA and AFT are demanding safety for students, teachers, and staff in all schools.

Drawing teachers from multiple districts, the largest caravan was in Hartford, where 1,000 vehicles traveled to the home of Governor Ned Lamont. In nearly two dozen other cities and towns—including Bethel, Bridgeport, Brookfield, Danbury, East Hartford, Greenwich, Haddam, Hamden, Naugatuck, Norwalk, Norwich, Putnam, Seymour, Stamford, Stonington, Stratford, Vernon, Willimantic, Wolcott, and Woodbridge—many caravans traveled to the offices of local boards of education. Cars were decorated with signs that read, “I can teach from a distance, but not from a coffin,” and “I don’t accept incomplete work. Please resubmit your plan with necessary revisions.”

“No one wants to return to school more than our dedicated educators,” Leake explained, “but during a global pandemic, we owe it to our students and educators to put their health and safety first.”

CEA urges the state to listen to teachers’ concerns and adopt the actions outlined in CEA’s Safe Learning Plan, which focuses on health and safety standards, including CDC protocols and commonsense approaches to keeping our school communities safe.

Bolton music teacher Dan Ayer said, “Teachers know that the best learning happens in person, but the current plan is not safe for kids or staff. We need to send a message to the governor and the public that we need to reevaluate our priorities.”

“As educators, we cannot consider moving forward with a plan that will compromise the health of our students and staff,” said Peter Borofsky, president of the Vernon Education Association, whose members traveled from Rockville High School to Lake Street School, passing every school building in the district. “We should not reopen,” said Borofsky, “until we can provide this basic safety requirement to our schools.”

Cheshire art teacher Jillian Puckett, who attended the car rally in Hartford, said she and her colleagues were there to raise public awareness about myriad school reopening issues. “We feel supported in our town, but we are hamstrung by the lack of support at the state and federal levels.”

“Reopening schools safely will cost significantly more than in pre-COVID times,” Bridgeport Education Association President Ana Batista, noted, “We are a high-poverty district, and without additional funding, our schools cannot implement the CDC safety protocols necessary to ensure safe teaching and learning environments. Plus, when students return to school, they will have increased needs due to learning loss, trauma from the pandemic, and time away from school, and will need additional resources and supports.”

“The safety and well-being of our students and educators has to be our first priority,” Stonington Education President Michael Freeman agreed. “We can’t implement CDC safety protocols, including smaller class sizes, sanitizing stations, daily disinfecting, social distancing guidelines, and more, without additional funding.” Stonington teachers participated in a car rally that wound its way through Mystic and Pawcatuck, starting and ending at Stonington High School.

Amity High School social studies teacher Leeann Browett, who participated in the Hartford rally, said, “It makes my heart happy to see so many teachers united together.” Her goal was to persuade the governor to give teachers and students that same safety measures that have been allowed for consumers and businesses in Connecticut’s slow, phased-in reopening.

“So many of us are not comfortable with the plans put out so far, and we need to keep getting the governor’s attention on this,” say Mansfield middle school math teacher Sue Kamienski, who attended the rally with Mansfield music teacher Liz Whitely. “The governor so far has been great in his response to COVID-19, and we need to extend that to our schools and make it safe for teachers and kids to come back. It’s not feasible for all students to return at once.”

“With less than a month before school starts, we still don’t know what’s happening or how our schools will get the funding needed to implement CDC safety protocols to keep us all safe,” said Hamden Education Association President Diane Marinaro. “Hamden is looking to go back with a hybrid model. If we have to go back, we need to know that every step is being taken to protect our health and safety. The state needs to recognize the funding issues so that all student and staff are protected.” Dozens of Hamden teachers participated in a car rally that wound its way through local neighborhoods and ended at Hamden Middle School.

See hundreds of photos of the School Safety First car caravans around the state on CEA’s Flickr page.

Check out the extensive media coverage of the car caravans.

• Fox 61 – CEA, AFT-CT Teacher Unions Hold Dozens of Car Caravan Protests Calling for Safety Priorities for Fall Semester
• NBC Connecticut – Connecticut Teachers Take to the Streets to Sound Off on State’s Back to School Plan
• NBC Connecticut -Hamden, New Haven Teachers Join State Call for Funding
• News 12 Connecticut – Educators Rally for Funding to Implement Safety Measures for New School Year
• Channel 3 – State Give Districts More Freedom on Back-to-School Plans
• Hartford Courant – Teachers Rally Across Connecticut to Call for Stricter Health and Safety Measures for School Reopenings
• Journal Inquirer – Teachers Rally for Safe Return
• Greenwich Times – ‘Not Worth the Risk:’ Teachers in Greenwich Caravan Demand COVID Safety Measures
• New Haven Register – ‘Don’t Kill My Mom:’ CT Kids, Teachers Oppose Plan to Reopen Schools for In-Person Education
• CTNewsJunkie – Teachers Call for Greater Safety Measures in Reopening
• Danbury News Times – ‘It Will Be Much Safer’: Danbury to Start School with Hybrid Model as Teachers Demand State Funding
• CT Insider – Teachers Drive Home the Message That Full, In-School Instruction Is a Bad Idea
• CT Post – Caravans of Teachers Take to Streets to Demand Safe School Reopening
• The Day – Teachers Demand Safe Reopening of Schools
• CT Mirror – Lamont Doubled Down on Opening Schools – but Says the State Won’t Enforce It
• Stamford Advocate – Stamford Teachers, Left Out of School Surveys, Make Their Voices Heard in Caravan Protest
• Stratford Patch – Stratford Teachers Union Rally Draws Over 100 Cars
• New Haven Independent – Teachers Hit the Road for Safe Reopening
• The Hour -‘Funding Is Needed’ to Safely Reopen Norwalk Schools, Union Leader Says
• The Westerly Sun – Stonington Teachers Form Rolling Rally to Highlight Safety Issues With Return to School
• Naugatuck Patch – Naugatuck Teachers League Participates in Statewide Car Caravan