‘Stressful and confusing’
Parents have thoughts, questions on their kids going back to school
With schools poised to reopen in the not-sodistant future, parents of students at Taos Municipal Schools are asking for answers.
Will their kids be safe in the classroom? If kids do happen to go to school, who will be able to ride the bus? Will there be less of a burden on both parents and students when it comes to online learning at home?
These are just some of the questions that school officials will likely have to deal with as the school year inches closer.
When in-class schooling was canceled in March and students finished their studies online, those questions started to form.
Throughout the summer, parents, students and teachers awaited the decision from the state when it came to starting off the new school year.
Then, the New Mexico Public Education Department in June announced its plan for students heading back to the classroom for the fall – a proposed “hybrid learning” schedule in which students attend in-person classes for some of the week, and spend other days learning online.
Some parents in the Taos Municipal School District praised the plan for getting kids back into the classroom – but they also had concerns.
“I fully support students getting back into the classroom,” Yvette Cortez, the mother of Eddie Duran, an incoming senior at Taos High School, said. “As long as proper protocols are followed, I feel comfortable sending him back to [in-person] classes.”
One of the reasons Cortez would like Duran to attend in-person classes is that he doesn’t lose out on any learning. When schools transitioned to online only, she said Duran struggled to focus on his work because teachers weren’t as engaged as they were in person.
A viable source for internet access was another issue, since it was something their family couldn’t afford.
Mario Rafael, whose child will be an incoming fourth-grader at Enos Garcia Elementary School, said that he supports a mix of online and in-class learning, saying that technology has come a long way in terms of helping children get a valuable education.
“I personally like the idea,” Rafael said when asked what his thoughts were on his child learning online and also in-class. “With technology I think kids can learn the same way. The only thing that would give me concern is with helping children learn people skills, communication skills.”
Rafael added that he understands some parents might not have access to internet or a device to learn on and even child care.
Marissa Montoya, a parent of a student entering the first grade at Enos, said she sees future problems with sending her child to school, since her daughter usually takes the bus.
“The buses are supposed to be one kid for every other seat,” Montoya said. “But where I live, there are kids who share three kids per seat. In Taos, there is not a lot of funding for buses, much less teachers.
“Are they going to make the buses go four times on one road just to go to school? Are they going to change the hours for school to start? There are so many questions and no one wants to answer, and nobody knows how to answer. There’s too much going on here.”
Rafael added that by sending kids back to school full time, the novel coronavirus might spread like wildfire.
“Kids are sneezing, kids are coughing,” Rafael said. “My concern is that this virus might mutate. It might not be the best idea sending these kids to school altogether.”
Montoya said the entire goingback-to-school process has been both stressful and confusing.
A survey sent out to parents in the Taos Municipal School District didn’t reach Montoya, she said. She has been trying to get access to it to voice her thoughts on going back to school, but has failed to find anyone with a link.
“I’m on no registry to look at surveys they’ve been sending out all year long,” Montoya said. “I’ve asked to be put on, and they haven’t put me on there.”
Another point of concern for Montoya has to do with learning online. When schools were canceled for in-person learning, she said that the wireless internet hot spot provided by the school district was inadequate.
“It only worked for two days out of the month and a half we had it,” Montoya said. “When I asked for support from the school they never got back to me until it was time to turn the device in.”
Montoya, whose daughter will be getting tested for autism, said she is comfortable with sending her daughter back to school, mostly to help with teaching her how to communicate with others.
“She was having a hard time with interaction before this happened,” Montoya said. “Since this has all started, she has gone downhill and needs interaction, and she’s not getting it because of this distance thing. She needs school. If my daughter needs school that bad, I’m sure other kids need school that bad.”
Lillian Torrez, superintendent of Taos Municipal Schools, sent the analyzed data to the Taos News from the survey sent out to parents — the same survey that Montoya never received.
The survey asked questions such as how parents felt about sending their kids back to school “if today was the day to make your decision,” and scheduling options such as a mix of in-person and online learning or even full-time at-home learning. It also asked about child care, drop-off and pickup options, and if students have basic access to the internet and devices to access online learning.
Around 100 parents of elementary students responded that they, in fact, need child care for the upcoming school year — but only about half responded. When it comes to learning online at home, nearly 70 percent of respondents said that they would like to have their students participate in live instruction.
Over 90 percent of respondents said that their children will have internet access and a little under 70 percent said that their children have access to computer devices, according to the data.
There were nearly 300 comments from parents on the survey, many expressing concern over the spread of the novel coronavirus, concern for the loss of learning through online schooling and more.
One comment from a concerned parent read: “At-home learning is hard for a single parent to get your child motivated. My child was not taking it seriously enough, I’m afraid of failure. When the parent has to go to work, a child will not do this on their own.”
“We feel that the pandemic conditions are worse now than they were in March when students were sent home and education was done virtual,” read another comment. “Conditions are not expected to improve by August. Communal spread is on the increase.”
One way or the other, Taos Municipal Schools will get the school year underway on Aug. 12 –– even if it is a mix of online and in-class learning, or something entirely different.