Four days after the city of Meriden issued a public health alert due to rising coronavirus cases, the Meriden Public Schools responded with a move that the state of Connecticut specifically advises against: the district barred some of its highest needs students — those who can’t wear masks — from their classrooms.
For Max Kish, a kindergartner at Hanover Elementary School, the decision pushed him over the edge. The 5-year-old, who has autism and is blind, can’t tolerate wearing a face mask because of his disabilities. When the school district used that as a reason to send him into fully remote learning, Max regressed almost immediately, according to his parents Bobbie and Frank Kish.