Parents lobbying for more in-person schooling

Some Flagstaff Academy middle school parents want the charter school to move faster in getting students inperson four days a week instead of the current two days.

The PK-8 Longmont school announced this week that its current hybrid model for middle school is likely to continue to at least mid-April. A hybrid allows the school to split its middle school student body in half, reducing class sizes and making physical distancing easier. Elementar y students have the option to attend four days a week in person.

Donna Campiglia, who has two seventh-graders at the school, said she and other parents plan to lobby Flagstaff to follow the St. Vrain Valley School District’s timeline.

“There are many upset parents, and we are working to mobilize,” she wrote in an email.

St. Vrain Valley is planning to allow middle and high school students to attend class four days in person after spring break, star ting March 29. Now, they’re attending two days in person — though some have had the option to attend four days in person where class sizes are lower.

While St. Vrain Valley’s six char ter schools are overseen by the school district, they have their own governance systems and operate independently. It’s up to each charter’s own school board to decide when and how to return students to campus. Some moved faster to return to in-person classes than the school district,

while others have moved slower.

At Flagstaff, Executive Director Wayne Granger listed some of the hurdles in getting middle school students in person full time in a weekly video update to families. Those include vaccine delays, facility-related challenges, financial constraints and staf fing issues.

A planned joint teacher vaccination clinic with Twin Peaks Charter Academy had to be pushed back a week because of weatherrelated delays and was rescheduled to Friday. Eight of the school’s staff members also are quarantined after exposures and can’t attend the clinic, he said.

That means it will be early to mid-april before the school’s teachers and other staff members are fully vaccinated, defined as two weeks after receiving the second dose.

As a small school, he said, Flagstaff also doesn’t have the same resources as the much larger school district. But the school still needs to follow the same public health guidelines and requirements to keep ever yone safe, including allowing teachers at-high risk for complications from COVID19 to teach remotely and finding space in a “packed” building to maintain distance, he said.

“No one wants our school to return to the amazing, successful school of the last sixteen years more than our teachers and staff,” he said in a written statement. “Our entire staff and community has shown tremendous perseverance during this school year, and we look forward to returning as many students to in person learning as possible.”

Flagstaff board president and parent Cary Lynch said she’s received regular communication from the school that has reassured her of her student’s “safety, wellbeing and academic growth.”

“I have seen transparency and a desire to provide intentional and impactful support no matter the circumstances,” she wrote in an email.