Two options were up for consideration for adoption by the school board. The first option, which had been the principle plan that had been under development for weeks, would re-open the schools, while reducing classroom sizes, enforcing mask-wearing, and maintaining social distancing.

Under this plan, the student body would be divided into two groups, A and B, which would attend in-person classes on separate days, thus reducing the number of students in the school at any given time. Group A would be present in the buildings on Tuesdays and Thursdays and Group B would be present on Wednesdays and Fridays during the week. All students would have a virtual on-line day on Mondays, via zoom, recorded lessons, and assignments.

A third group would essentially consist of students whose parents do not want them to attend in-person classes during this stage of the pandemic. The school would also provide Chrome Books to students who have no computer of their own.

Reducing the number of students in school at any given time would also result in less-crowded buses and allow for social-distancing to be enforced during transit. The finer details of this plan entail cleaning/disinfecting procedures and enforcing mask-wearing and social distancing in the classrooms and halls.

But district Superintendent Michael Adamek appeared to have thrown the board for a curve when he introduced a new second option, that being simply to hold a virtual school for all grades with all students attending virtual classes from their homes.

Adamek told the board he was concerned that the number of COVID-19 cases in the Fairfield zip-code area continue to rise and are not leveling off. He said rather than bringing the students back into the school, which could potentially trigger a spike in infections, he was recommending that all students take their classes virtually for at least the first marking period of the school year.

He noted that, under state mandates, if two to four students appear in the school with the virus. That the entire district has to be shut down for three days. If five or more students contract the virus, the district has to be shut-down for two weeks, His reasoning behind the all-virtual learning was to avoid the risks of exposure, and the possibility of multiple shut-downs during the course of the school-year.

However, at the end of a three-hour meeting, the majority of the board voted to proceed with the initial option of opening the school, using the reduced-attendance plan.

More than 130 district residents logged-into the virtual ZOOM school board meeting to hear the board consider its options, or to add their own real-time comments to the conversation. Despite of the fact that discussions of school re-openings have often been contentious, everyone involved in the Fairfield meeting, board-members, school staff, parents, and residents, were surprisingly civil and respectful, even when disagreeing with one another.