Adolf determined to stick to in-person learning

Community can help schools stay open, supt. says

RE-1 Valley School District Superintendent Shila Adolf is going to fight to keep in-person learning going for students. She spoke about the possibility of being forced to return to remote learning during the school board’s regular meeting Thursday.

“I feel like right now, I don’t know how to get around that we’re going to have to mask, social distance and use hand hygiene and

I’m worried about us becoming the only entity that they could force to shutdown,” Adolf said.

With the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment moving Logan County to Level 3: High Risk on the COVID-19 Safer-at-home-Dial, if cases in the county continue to rise there is a possibility that the state will ask schools to return to remote learning. Adolf is determined not to let that happen and as such has reached out to her fellow superintendents and all of the lobbyists she knows to try to get the school districts in Logan County a personal phone call with Gov. Jared Polis to talk about why students really are safer at school even though the county has moved on the dial.

“I don’t want it to come down to the end of the month and then we’re kind of in the middle of this mess and I don’t want to be in the middle of politics of the commissioners and those kinds of things, but I am just kind of pleading with at least our staf f, because right now I think we’ve been really quick to mitigate and keep things open, I think 2,000 kids for 10 weeks and only had three classrooms (shutdown) is pretty great of our team,” Adolf said.

She encouraged the community to its part to help keep schools open by remembering the Big 3: wear a facial covering, social distance and wash hands frequently, noting that if staf f becomes ill it’s going to become harder to navigate staying open.

Adolf spoke about the importance of being able to have in-person learning, which was witnessed firsthand when the district held a practice remote day on Oct. 16, as teachers saw students that were alone and didn’t have anybody to help them get online or they didn’t have food.

“I’m really pushing back on that the infection spread is not us, it isn’t us and I think we’re actually more of a help to the community than a harm,” she said. “I think we’re keeping kids safer for a longer duration of time than what they would do if they were on their own with remote and I also feel like we’re quick mitigators, because we’re in constant communication with a lot more community stakeholders than they would be online.”

With that in mind she’s going to push to make the state let the district work its plan, which they spent three months writing and are now are ready to test.

“We knew October, November were going to be the worst months for (COVID-19 spread), whether their upset with our county because we’ve been threatened with this I think five weeks now of being moved on the dial and it finally happened. I don’t want to get caught up in their response, but I want our response to be pretty stern that it’s safer to have them here. I firmly think it is, I don’t think I’m putting kids at a greater risk by having them here, I think they’re actually doing better when they’re here,” Adolf said.

During her superintendent’s report, Adolf also mentioned a concern that’s been brought up about the amount of time students have to spend on the bus, particularly on the Caliche routes. It’s a concern for her as well, but it’s something that’s been happening for three years due to lack of bus drivers and the district is struggling even more this year to find drivers due to COVID-19.

“I do feel like we need to figure out a plan on not only updating our buses, but also tr ying to change that salar y enough to recruit some drivers,” Adolf said.

She shared that as the district has had bus drivers test positive for COVID-19 they are faced with possibly having to shut down a route, because they won’t be able to provide a qualified driver who has the training required.

“I think we’re very close to potentially having to do that, which I feel like in essence most parents are aware of that because the first few days of school they had to get their kids to school, but I also hate it because I know it’s one barrier for kids. But, we are at the max substitute drivers as far as I can tell, so if we have another one go out for any reason prior to those others coming back from it then (we’re going to have to shut down a route),” Adolf said.

Additionally, she notified the board that she has chosen to use the alternative student count day on Nov. 4. Student count day is when all public schools in Colorado tally the number of students they have attending their schools. Those numbers are then used to determine how much funding the district will get from the state. Usually count day is held between Oct. 1 and 5, but Adolf said at that time the district had 87 students quarantined, some were members of two classroom cohorts that were shut down and others were staying home because their parents tested positive, and she didn’t want to risk an issue with recording their attendance.

“We are going to be down enrollment again and I don’t want to have even a little hiccup on our part hit us,” she said.

Adolf also updated the board that the district has reached an agreement with Northeastern Junior College in regards to funding for the med prep program. NJC had approached RE-1 about providing an additional $18,000 in funding due to Merino and Fleming not having students participate in the program this year; however RE-1 was concerned about having to pay that much. The superintendent thanked NJC President Jay Lee for partnering with them and being willing to accept half of what was requested.

Under action items, the board appointed Deb Japp, who they interviewed at their last meeting, to fill the open District 6 seat.

Additionally, they approved several policies on first reading. Policy GBEBA, staff dress code, had been gutted and Adolf recommended they use model policy guidance since it is a policy required by law.

“I would say the majority of staff, this is fine if they’re doing a great job and wearing appropriate dress, but when a staf f member isn’t in compliance there’s no guidance,” she said, explaining that under the recommended policy the teacher dress code is similar to the rules for students.

Policy IKF-2-E, graduation guidelines, was revised to go back to model guidance on these requirements instead of using the more rigorous requirements that were place.

Lastly, policy JICA, student dress code, was put for th for review. Adolf wants the district’s Student Leadership Advisor y Committee to weigh in what the rules should be.

“I am going to be more strict about student dress codes. There’s certain amount of our par ts that we shouldn’t share or show in public and so I’m going to make sure that, that is enforced and we’re stepping up the game,” the superintendent said. “I feel like now that there’s newer board members, as well as myself being new, new teachers, we need to revisit it and make sure it’s representative of what we want.”