Submitted by Holly Hageman, Superintendent, RSD #17.

Governor Lamont has appointed a Reopen CT Education Advisory Group. The members of the Group are listed below. Today, they held a public round table and began to respond to questions received from the public as well as share thoughts and concerns from their respective institutions. There is a website, linked below, where the public can email ideas and questions as this will surely be an ongoing, evolving plan. The RSD17 Board, parents and staff received this information today and it certainly makes sense to share this information and site with the wider Haddam and Killingworth communities. I plan to forward the information to Kathy Brown of HaddamKillingworth News to help get the word out.

The Reopen Connecticut Advisory Group is a panel of local health, business, workforce, and education experts who are consulting with the Lamont administration and legislative leadership on the reopening of Connecticut’s economy and education system as the nation emerges from the unprecedented public health emergency caused by COVID-19. The group is providing Governor Lamont with recommendations, which the governor is using to inform his decisions on the reopening of the state. There are also regional input/advisory groups, facilitated by the Directors of the state’s Regional Education Service Centers who will provide the CT Commissioner of Education with input.

Members of the public who have questions for the Reopen Connecticut Advisory Group regarding the impact of COVID-19 on schools can email their inquiries to reopen@ct.gov.

Group members include:

·         Mark Ojakian, President of Connecticut State Colleges and Universities

·         Dr. Joanne Berger-Sweeney, President, Trinity College (CCIC Chair)

·         Beth Bye, Early Childhood Commissioner

·         Miguel Cardona, Education Commissioner

·         Dr. Matt Cartter, Department of Public Health State Epidemiologist

·         Jan Hochadel, President of AFT Connecticut

·         Thomas Katsouleas, President of UConn

·         Rick Levin, Former President of Yale

·         Glenn Lungarini, Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference

·         Fran Rabinowitz, Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents

·         Rob Rader, Connecticut Association of Boards of Education

·         Don Williams, Executive Director of CEA