www.berlincitizen.com
Volume 23, Number 6
Thursday, February 11, 2021
Community scavenger hunt More than $600,000 draws 300-plus participants in federal funds By Nadya Korytnikova The Citizen
Over 300 people participated in the Booking Around Berlin Community Scavenger Hunt, which concluded in January. In collaboration with the town’s Economic Development Department, the Berlin-Peck Memorial Library Children’s Department launched the hunt just before Christmas. The contest aimed to connect more residents with the library and encouraged them to visit local businesses during the pandemic. Jennifer Needham, head of Children's and Teen Services
at the library, said the event received overwhelmingly positive feedback from the public. She plans to host another scavenger hunt in the summer, this time with a different theme and possibly new businesses. “It has been a joy. We were so amazed at the level of participation, at how much people enjoyed it,” said Needham. “We couldn’t be happier. We did exactly what we set out to accomplish.” Following a special map, families visited 20 local restaurants, cafes, shops, and other businesses, all of which hung posters of popular children’s book titles in their windows.
awarded to schools
Children wrote down the book titles on their maps. Those who logged at least 15 could enter a raffle for a chance to win a gift card from one of the participating businesses. See Hunt, A17
By Nadya Korytnikova The Citizen
ing tutoring and summer school programs.
Berlin Public Schools received $641,868 from the latest wave of federal relief funding.
On Tuesday, Feb. 2 state Sen. Rick Lopes said the funding is vital in ensuring that schools have sufficient resources amid the COVID crisis.
Schools across the state were awarded a total of $492.4 million under the federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Funds.
“These relief funds will provide students with needed support and give schools resources to close gaps in educational opThe funding is designed to portunity the pandemic allow districts to reduce has widened,” said Lopes. educational disparities “Thank you to the Conamong students that have necticut federal delegation been further exacerbated for securing this funding due to the pandemic, and and advocacy for the incorporate additional needs of our state’s future classroom support, includ- leaders and innovators.”
Governing body drops sport-by-sport ‘risk’ categories CHESHIRE — The label of “high risk” is off the national high school sports table. So is “moderate risk.” So is “low.” The categories that have been used to gauge the risk of COVID-19 spread among high
school sports — and shaped decisions on which sports would play and not play — have been abandoned by the National Federation of State High School Associations. The NFHS, which oversees high school sports associations across the country, including the CIAC, an-
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nounced Tuesday, Feb. 2 that its Sports Medicine Advisory Committee has revised the COVID-19 guidance that has been in place since last May. It’s been replaced it with a new “Statement on Risk of COVID-
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19 During High School Sports.” The move was prompted by greater understanding of COVID-19, including growing evidence, according to the NFHS, that the majority of sports-related spread of the disease appears to occur from social conSee NFHS, A17
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By Bryant Carpenter Record-Journal staff