Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
One phrase in new COVID-19 guidelines — “to the greatest extent possible” — is one significant signal that New Mexico education officials are loosening constraints on school districts to allow the return of in-person learning, including Tucumcari this week.
Education Secretary Ryan Stewart announced last week all public schools in the state could fully reopen their campuses by April 5. The state is phasing out hybrid-learning models that combine in-person and remote learning in favor of full-time classroom teaching. Students who use remote learning can continue it.
Tucumcari Public Schools, which used a hybrid model since August, didn’t wait until April. The district returned all students to full schoolroom instruction Monday if they so desired.
Regular bus routes resumed, and Tucumcari’s elementary and middle schools began classes at more traditional times, from 8 a.m. to about 3:45 p.m. The high school held regular instruction from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., with tutoring and enrichment classes from 2 to 3 p.m. after lunch.
Other schools in Quay County didn’t use a hybrid model in recent weeks because their class sizes or enrollments were small enough that it wasn’t necessary.
Tucumcari assistant superintendent Dave Johnson during a phone interview Thursday zeroed in on a statement from the PED’s website: “Under the PED Reentry Guidance Document for full reentry, all students are eligible to return to the building each day. COVID-safe practices as outlined in the updated NMPED Toolkit are still in effect, and schools must practice social distancing to the greatest extent possible.”
“The key phrase is, ‘to the greatest extent possible,’” Johnson said. “‘We’re trying to open things up so kids can come back to school. We’re not trying to put restrictions on so where you can’t come back to school.’”
Johnson indicated the COVID-19 guidelines that recommend 6 feet of social distancing between students no longer is ironclad.
“The regulations say ‘to the greatest extent possible.’ We understand that in some rooms, it’s going to be 5 feet apart instead of 6” feet of social distancing, he said. “But we have big enough classrooms in all our buildings, we can have almost all our kids 6 feet apart to begin with. We don’t think it’s going to be that much of a problem.”
Johnson said temperature screenings of students also will take place in the first-period classroom instead.
“Before, we had to check it before they got on the bus or before they walked into the building,” he said. “Rather than make someone wait out in the cold or delay those buses for long periods of time, we decided the most feasible way would be the first period of class.”
Students who use remote learning can continue to do so through the rest of the school year. Johnson said he was unsure how many Tucumcari students will opt to stay home for their online lessons, and officials won’t have a clear picture of that for at least a few days.
“I don’t think it will be quite as high of a percentage as we’ve had,” he said. “More and more will come back as things get more relaxed and people feel more safe. I think more parents will think they’ll be better off in school than at home.”
Johnson said this week and the coming days will look as normal for student instruction as they have since pandemic began a year ago.
“If we hadn’t had COVID and we’d started in August, it’s what we’d look like now, except we’re trying to keep them 6 feet apart and a mask on everybody,” he said “The COVID-safe practices will be in play. Other than that, we’re going to try to be as close to regular school as we can get.
“There is some worry and concern, and that’s OK,” he continued. “But I think once they get here, by the end of the first week, we’ll be in a pretty good routine. For the most part, I think most people are excited to get back into school. We know students are behind, and we’ve got a lot of work to do. There’s still lots of questions to be answered, but when the students and teachers get here, it’ll work itself out.”