New guidelines concern Logan officials

The superintendent and board of education for Logan Municipal Schools voiced consternation for the state’s new COVID-19 guidelines about face coverings, class sizes, random testing and climate-control air filters announced days before the start of the school year.

The Public Education Department issued new school re-entry guidelines and a COVID-19 Toolkit Assurance plan Sept. 3, just before Logan was scheduled to begin school Sept. 8, said superintendent Dennis Roch at the board’s regular meeting last week. Logan schools delayed the start of the school year after COVID-19 infected three school employees in mid-August.

The new rules apply to in-person classes, which Logan and other Quay County schools cannot expand until it improves its coronavirus case numbers and test positivity rates. The county had been in the red zone in that criteria and now is in the yellow. The county must improve those numbers to go into the green zone before expanding in-person classes.

One of the new PED guidelines for in-person teaching is not only must students maintain 6 feet of social distancing, but the number of students in each class must not exceed 50% of each grade’s roster. That includes small grades of 10 children or fewer. The state recently amended its public health order that allows up to 10 people in a gathering, compared to five previously.

School board president Scott Osborn laughed derisively upon hearing the new requirement.

“That lack of logic and inconsistency as it applies makes zero sense,” Roch said, agreeing with Osborn’s viewpoint.

The state also requires a surveillance COVID-19 program where 5% of a district’s staff are randomly tested. Roch said such tests may violate constitutional rights because such tests would be a condition of employment. He said several teachers also expressed reluctance to be tested again because of discomfort caused by the nasal swab.

Roch said the state’s COVID-19 Toolkit plan changed requirements for facial coverings for students and staff. He said bandanas, neck gaiters and face shields no longer are suitable.

He said PED made the change “after thousands of dollars were spent statewide” by districts and parents statewide, he said, including Logan buying face shields.

“This is very, very frustrating,” Roch said.

Studies emerged in August that questioned the effectiveness of face shields and synthetic-fabric gaiters compared to cloth masks.

Another new recommendation is schools’ climate-control systems must use MERV 13 or equivalent filters. He said such filters not only are expensive, but must be changed four times as often. Roch said such filters also are backordered six months. Such filters are incompatible with some climate-control systems, he added.

He said the changes were “arbitrary” and “not feasible.”

“We’ve got to get some flexibility,” he added.

He said the superintendents association expressed concerns about the new guidelines.

“It seems way too little, too late — particularly when people have been planning for months, spending thousands of dollars, for reopening,” Roch said.

When board member Laurie Strebeck asked whether the PED had inspection officers to ensure districts comply, Roch said the agency planned to partner with the state fire marshal’s office for enforcement.

When asked by board member Tom Humble whether Logan could reopen and ignore the guidelines, Roch said the insurance authority said it would refuse to defend such districts from liability claims.

Osborn leveled criticism on PED over its recommendations.

“That’s kind of like a blackmail deal,” Osborn said. “You do what I want, or we won’t fund you.”

Board members said they weren’t inclined to sign the mandates until they received more clarity or science on PED’s reasoning. Osborn also instructed Roch to get the faculty’s opinions about random COVID-19 testing.

Because Quay County is not in the green zone and cannot expand in-person teaching, the recommendations are moot for now, Roch said.

Roch said the county’s test positivity rates may be inflated if out-of-state health providers don’t report negative COVID-19 tests to New Mexico. In an email the previous week to the Quay County Sun, governor’s spokeswoman Nora Sackett said testing laboratories in other states report positive and negative results to the New Mexico Department of Health.

“NMDOH goes to great lengths to ensure that they have as complete a picture as possible of the COVID-19 data in New Mexico, including working to have redundant ways of getting information on testing and cases,” Sackett wrote. “Additionally, the reporting of test results for New Mexicans who were tested out of state would not affect the average daily case number, which is also one of the criteria for a county's school reopening status, and it is the case rate that guides NMDOH's understanding of the amount of disease in a community.”

In other business:

• Roch said the district was tinkering with its online instruction after acknowledging it didn’t meet expectations. He said teachers didn’t set up remote classes the same way, causing friction and frustration with students. He said faculty would meet to create more consistency in its online courses. He said another online learning platform caused confusion when it recommended the unnecessary purchase of equipment or printing of materials.

• The board approved an amended resolution from the Department of Transportation’s Local Government Road Fund program. The board approved the resolution during an earlier meeting but the agency later found an error in it. The project is for resurfacing the parking lot at the football field for $21,417, with a district match of $5,354.

• Athletic director Billy Burns said the district may charge a fee to livestream high-school games if spectators or charging admission isn’t allowed during the pandemic. He said the district needs revenue to help pay for referees.

• During her principal’s report, Crystal Burns said masks were “not a huge problem” for young children attending in-person classes. “I believe the kids are handling it better than the adults do,” she said. She said the biggest obstacle for pupils and staff members was maintaining 6 feet in social distancing.

• The board approved a second reading of policy revisions that conform to the state Attendance for Success Act. The policy primarily deals with attendance recording and consequences and remediation for absences during online learning during the pandemic.

• Roch said the district was evaluated by Moody’s Investors Services. He said it showed “no immediate credit risks,” with strong finances, low debt and a good cash balance. He said its credit rating was only “fair,” which reflects high pension debt all New Mexico public school districts are required to partly assume.

• Roch said the district recently added prekindergarten students to morning bus routes after they picked up no more than five students in other grades. He said the additional students still would keep the buses well under occupancy restrictions.

• A water leak developed in one of the middle school’s wings during the COVID-related shutdown and continued undetected for two weeks. Roch said an insurance adjuster declared carpeting and a sink a total loss. The only cost to the district is the deductible.