Partial return to classrooms delayed by many districts

Officials still cautious as state paves way for mix of online, in-person instruction

The door is open for public schools to open their doors to students, but many districts are proceeding with caution.

Though the state’s Public Education Department announced last week that all but 10 New Mexico counties could begin a hybrid model of instruction for elementary school students starting this week, school districts and state-run charter schools in Northern New Mexico are sticking to their original plans and waiting to let students into the classroom amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Most districts and charter schools are opting to implement the hybrid model — in which students split time between in-person and online instruction — after the end of the first quarter of the school year.

That means students will not enter the classroom until October.

“We are sort of being cautious in how we move forward,” said Chris Eide, the interim head administrator at Turquoise Trail Charter School.

Santa Fe Public Schools Superintendent Veronica García said the district will not begin its hybrid mode of learning until after the nine-week period ends Oct. 9.

Many administrators cited the transition from online learning to classrooms in the middle of the first nine-week grading period or the need to strengthen their safety and sanitization plans as reasons for holding off on reopening schools. García said the district negotiated its start date with the National Education Association-Santa Fe teachers union and has not considered changing the date.

“We have our plans, and we will continue to move forward with it,” García said.

Other administrators said they just want time to make sure all of their protocols and guidelines are ready to go before welcoming back their students.

“Our No. 1 priority is student and staff safety,” said Los Alamos Public Schools Superintendent Kurt Steinhaus. “That’s driving everything.”

To that end, school districts are trying to ensure they have enough cleaning supplies, hand sanitizer and face masks. Steinhaus said his district has 1,200 cloth masks and 4,000 disposable masks for students, plus 1,600 cloth masks, 1,925 face shields and 27,000 disposable masks for faculty and staff members. Plus, there’s 300 gallons of hand sanitizer and 5,000 containers of disinfectant wipes.

Española Public Schools Superintendent Fred Trujillo said his district, which has more than 25,000 disposable masks and more than 500 gallons of hand sanitizer, was caught off-guard by the Public Education Department’s requirement for two cloth masks each for students and teachers. However, the department is providing some of those masks to each county to distribute to their school districts, he said.

“I was in the process of typing up an email to appropriate staff members to get a quote on cloth masks in case they are not received by the county,” Trujillo said.

Another issue administrators are trying to tackle is meeting social-distancing requirements while setting up classrooms. Sarah Tario, director of McCurdy Charter School in Española, said there are plans to bring in kindergarten through second grade students in its hybrid model, but classrooms allow for only seven or eight students. So, some grades will have two instructors instead of one.

“The PED said last week that we can only have 50 percent of students in a

REOPENING DATES

The expected elementary school reopening dates for public school districts and state charter schools in Northern New Mexico.

Santa Fe Public Schools — Oct. 15 Turquoise Trail Charter School — TBD Pecos Independent School District —

Oct. 2

Pojoaque Valley School District —

Jan. 4

Española Public Schools — Oct. 19

Los Alamos Public Schools — Oct. 16 McCurdy Charter School — After Sept. 30

Peñasco Independent Schools — Oct. 19

Taos Municipal Schools — Oct. 14 Questa Independent Schools — Oct. 9

West Las Vegas School District — TBD Las Vegas City Schools — Nov. 1

classroom with 6 feet of social distancing,” Tario said. “We already had planned for less than 50 percent because our rooms can’t handle more than that.”

Eide said the classroom setting for Turquoise Trail will have no more than 12 students per classroom when it brings back kindergarten classes. Complicating matters for his school, though, is an older HVAC system that needs to be updated, leaving the reentry timetable in limbo.

“We’re all learning about HVAC filtration systems in an in-depth way right now,” Eide said. “And I don’t know many schools that are up to code. We’re proceeding and following the updated guidelines and preparing as soon as we can to prepare for our kindergarten to come back.”

Some school districts, though, are stymied. West Las Vegas School Superintendent Rick Gutierrez wrote in a text message the district will remain in remote learning until San Miguel County’s coronavirus caseload decreases in the district’s ZIP code.

“Our county is in the green, but our ZIP code is in the orange,” Gutierrez wrote, referring to the color-coded system the Public Education Department is using. “We had 30-plus cases in the last month.”