ADAPTING TO CRISIS
Private schools turn to distance learning as efforts underway to help with tuition costs
Trout hatched earlier this semester at Santa Fe Preparatory School are now swimming in the Pecos River. They were released because there was no one left in the science room to care for them.
Rehearsals for an original Prep student production have moved online.
At St. Michael’s High School, the morning prayer is still held at 8:30, and students in Janet Chitwood’s English class are still reading Shakespeare. Instead of gathering in her classroom, however, they are logging into online prayers and lessons from home.
With much of the news now focused on a battle to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus, “it can be nice to step into Hamlet — even if it’s a tragedy,” Chitwood said.
The city’s largest private schools, like public schools, are adapting to a statewide shutdown amid the pandemic, largely by offering distance-learning programs that allow students to connect with teachers and continue their studies for the last couple of months of the academic year.
In some ways, private schools have an edge. Their smaller sizes can make them more nimble.
While Santa Fe Public Schools started a districtwide distance-learning initiative this week — and many public schools in the state won’t start until at least April 8 — some private schools in the city are now in their second week of home-based learning.
Teachers and administrators at Santa Fe Prep and St. Michael’s, which both serve students in grades 7-12, said they were able to quickly shift to an online curriculum. They also face challenges that public schools don’t. As an economic recession looms, straining parents’ budgets, tuition costs could lead to a drop in private school enrollment.
This year, tuition at Santa Fe Prep is nearly $24,000. Head of Learning Jim Leonard said 38 percent of the school’s students — 123 of the 325 kids enrolled — qualify for a combined $1.5 million in tuition assistance. That number could grow.
Tuition at St. Michael’s is lower, $9,500 this year, President Taylor Gantt said. About 80 percent of the school’s 450 students are on a monthly payment plan, and the school offers a tuition assistance program for those in need.
Gantt expects the need to grow as the statewide and national shutdown, in response to the pandemic, continues.
Donors so far have raised a “five-digit response” to help families pay tuition, he said.
It can be nice to step into ‘Hamlet’ — even if it’s a tragedy.” Janet Chitwood, English teacher at St. Michael’s High School
“We do anticipate some families are going to have trouble,” Gantt said. “We’ve had some say, ‘We’re not going to be able to make payments.’ We’re not really sure how this will impact out enrollment. We’re expecting an impact, but we’re not sure what extent.”
Leonard voiced similar concerns. “It’s obvious some families will be really rocked by this,” he said.
The school might have to discuss tuition changes next year in response to the economic crisis, he added.
Both schools have provided technology assistance to ensure all students can participate in online learning programs as they remain isolated in their homes with their families.
Leonard said Santa Fe Prep distributed around 30 laptops and 10 Wi-Fi hot spots last week to students who needed them.
Gantt said his school passed out around 35 laptops.
Teachers are optimistic students will continue learning remotely.
Santa Fe Prep science teacher Robin Koval, whose students hatched and raised the trout that were released into the Pecos River, said she won’t be able to cover quite as much material online as she could in a classroom.
“I can’t do demonstrations in the lab like I had planned. We won’t be all dissecting a frog together,” she said.
But, she added, “I think they will understand the material we do cover.”
Koval teaches four sections of seventh grade science; they average fewer than 15 students each.
“I still see their faces online for around an hour a couple times a week,” Koval said of her students. “I’m not worried about them academically. I’m more worried about social isolation.”
Chitwood, who is leading lessons on Romeo and Juliet for her freshman students at St. Michael’s and Hamlet for seniors, requires them to send notes they have taken while reading the plays. She has been receiving around 200 emails from students and parents each day.
Gantt and Leonard both said math teachers might have the toughest jobs during the pandemic.
Ann Erickson, a parent of three students at St. Michael’s, agreed.
“It sounds like math is the most difficult class to transfer over,” she said. “The two math teachers we have are really putting in an effort to keep up.
“I think the smaller classes help teachers get back to students quickly,” Erickson said. “I don’t think that would be possible in a larger class.”