Santa Fe Public Schools Board of Education approves remote learning plan

Santa Fe school board OKs online classes for at least first nine weeks

Students will start the fall semester in virtual classrooms under a plan the Santa Fe school board approved Thursday night.

Children will complete their lessons online for at least the first nine weeks of the school year, which will begin Aug. 20. When staff returns Aug. 11, training will be done virtually.

The move comes as New Mexico has seen a resurgence in novel coronavirus cases, raising concerns over whether schools could safely reopen.

“I firmly believe we should err on the side of caution as the risks are too great,” board member Sarah Boses said, later adding, “This is a matter of life and death.”

Santa Fe Public Schools shifted to online classes in the spring at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Educators had hoped to combine in-person learning at schools with online learning after summer break.

But a sharp rise in infections in

recent weeks left district officials with little choice but to go with a remote learning option to start the year.

When the number of virus cases begins to level off, the district will look at resuming in-class learning. This will likely include a hybrid model in which students would split time between doing schoolwork virtually and in the classroom.

Dozens of people submitted letters urging the board to pursue a remote learning plan.

Jill Hutchinson-Bass, who teaches in the district, pointed out that neighboring states are overrun with virus cases.

“Let’s learn from their mistakes . ... This is entirely preventable with distance learning,” she said. “Start safely with distance learning and reassess after the first quarter.”

The district has given students electronic devices to complete their coursework online. But the Legislative Finance Committee found that after New Mexico switched to remote learning last spring, half the students in the state became disengaged. Analysts also reported that low-income, Hispanic and Black students had worse outcomes after the state moved to online classes.

“We all believe that the best place for our students is in the classroom . ... But these are not normal circumstances,” Superintendent Veronica García said.

Administrators learned from the district’s first go-around with remote learning, and “we’ve made many, many adjustments,” García said.

She assured board members that there will be clear expectations and supervision.

“We need our distance learning program to be better than it was,” board President Kate Noble said.

Santa Fe Public Schools won’t be the only district to start the semester with an all-virtual learning model. Schools in Albuquerque, Las Cruces, West Las Vegas and Los Alamos have also opted for a remote start.