Initial enrollment down at Tucumcari Elementary

Initial enrollment last week at Tucumcari Elementary School saw an 11% drop compared to last spring while enrollments at the middle and high schools were stable or slightly higher, according to numbers presented by their respective principals during a regular school board meeting last week.

Principals also reported on how well students and staff were adjusting to COVID-19 restrictions after the first official day of school last Monday. Students in prekindergarten through third grade and special education were allowed to take in-person classes last week, with the rest of the student body taking classes online through at least Sept. 8 because of the restrictions.

“We’re off to a decent start,” superintendent Aaron McKinney said. “We are going to have hiccups. I hope the board and parents can bear with us. We’re trying to get through this. We will get through this.”

McKinney said many teachers also were working 15-hour days.

Elementary principal Tonya Hodges said the first day of school “went rather smoothly,” with no frightened students and everyone wearing masks.

“I think students were glad to be back in school,” she said.

Hodges said 429 children have been enrolled, which was down 11% from the 480 enrolled last spring. She expressed hope a few more students would show up to enroll during the week.

Hodges said 29 students had withdrawn because their parents moved out of the area or were being homeschooled. Another 21 haven’t registered, and staff were trying to contact their parents.

Middle school principal Lendall Borden said 205 students had enrolled, with seven “in the process” of doing so. That put the total close to the 214 enrolled last spring. He said four students withdrew because they moved out of the area, but three or four students are new or returning to the district.

He said 77 students had signed up for remote learning and anticipated more would sign up for on-campus classes.

Borden said the middle school has a Facebook page and uses texts, but noted 25% of the households in the district lack text capability.

High school principal Nicole Bright-Lesly said 262 students were enrolled last week, compared to 257 last spring.

She noted the senior class of 42 students was unusually small, but the sophomore class of 72 was unusually large. Bright-Lesly said students were “on board and excited” about the school year, with lots of interaction with teachers online and via email.

Technologist Patrick Benavidez said he’s been “really, really busy” training teachers, helping students log in online and fixing internet issues during online instruction.

He said another 500 Chromebooks for students are on order and won’t arrive until December. In the interim, the district dismantled its computer labs and distributed tablet computers or laptops to students.

Benavidez said Plateau is offering $20-a-month internet service to students’ or teachers’ households if they resided within the company’s fiber network.

He said he soon would install Wi-Fi antennas in varying spots in town to provide free, wireless internet. Among the locations are the Quay County Courthouse and the school grounds. He said the antennas have up to a two-mile range in a featureless plain, but trees and buildings probably would drop signal down to a half-mile. The actual radius would remain unknown until they’re tested.

Benavidez said about 50 households with students lack internet access, and he hopes Plateau’s offer “can fill that gap.”

When asked about rural students, Benavidez said Plateau serves many of those areas. Absent that, he recommended packets, thumb drives or having students drive near the school and wirelessly download the data they need once a week.

Board member Matthew Pacheco asked about forming an internet-access partnership with local businesses, but McKinney said that would be “risky” to businesses because of viruses and other pitfalls.

Wayne Ferguson, dean of students and athletic director, said he’d finished nearly all of the sports schedules except for cross country, which proved difficult because of the limited number of teams and pandemic restrictions that prevent large meets.

Ferguson noted a contradiction in state mandates that allow 5-to-1 teacher-to-student ratios in classrooms but not with sports coaching. He said that mandate may change.

Administrative aide Veronica Hernandez said the district uses three disinfectors and has nine more on back order. The new units would be used to disinfect the gymnasium, central office and bus barn in addition to the three school buildings.

In other business:

• School board members Teresa Gonzales and Jerry Joe Lopez criticized district administration’s lack of clear communication before the first day of school.

Gonzales said communication was “terrible” to parents, students and teachers. Lopez said he people were “getting blindsided” by information from the district. When superintendent Aaron McKinney said he provided updates via superintendent reports during board meetings, Lopez replied: “I don’t want to wait until the next board meeting to be updated.”

Acknowledging the shortcomings, McKinney said “we have been working on” communications amid many and frequent changes coming from the state Public Education Department. He said “I can’t even keep up with my email right now,” noting 20 to 30 arrive each hour.

Gonzales also recommended the district use Facebook to get out its messages, with Lopez noting Logan Municipal Schools uses the platform. McKinney said the district’s legal adviser had recommended not using social media, but he would revisit the idea.

Gonzales also recommended McKinney take an anonymous survey of teachers and students in the weeks ahead to gauge how well things are going.

• McKinney said Lowe’s Markets recently donated a pallet of drinking water and $5 bags of school supplies to the district. The schools’ water fountains are turned off for health reasons, but students are allowed to carry bottles of their own drinking water.