By Mary Alice Murphy

Silver Consolidated Schools Board Chairman Eddie Flores welcomed everyone on the call. More than 20 participants and listeners were on the Zoom call for the special meeting to address when to begin hybrid learning for students.

All board members were in attendance, Mike McMillan, Patrick Cohn, Ashley Montenegro, Dr. Michelle Diaz and Flores.

Superintendent Audie Brown said the purpose of the meeting was to set a beginning date for hybrid learning to start sometime after Sept. 8, under guidance set by Public Education Department Secretary Ryan Stewart. The document showing the requirements for re-entry can be found at this internet address: https://webnew.ped.state.nm.us/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/20NMPED_ReentryGuide.pdf

"Grant County is in the green, according to the PED liaison, for opening to hybrid learning," Brown said. "I thank the families who have reached out to me and to board members. I myself have gone back and forth on when is the best time to start some face-to-face learning. We are in the process of determining the best way to move forward. I've talked to many students, families and staff members. No matter what we do someone will not be happy. At this time, I recommend we move forward with the hybrid model with the caveat of reviewing it at the end of the first quarter. We know the impact remote learning is having on students. The majority of staff are willing to work in front of students. We are still offering all-remote to any family who thinks it is best for their situation."

Flores asked if any administrators wanted to give input. Shane Coker, who said he was speaking only for Silver High School as principal, agreed that whatever was done would not make everyone happy. "A lot of students have been cooped up. We have addressed all the safety issues and it will be beneficial for students to come back face-to-face. The transition piece to hybrid will be daunting, but we think it is best to get them back."

Coker said there would be adjustments for the students and that they would not be able to leave campus for lunch. Monday and Tuesday half the students will be in school and the other half on Thursday and Friday. "They will be expected to do all their assignments, whether they are in school or not. The other days will be virtual learning for them. We will have to tweak as we go. Going hybrid for a time is the best method to ultimately getting them back fully into school."

Cohn noted that class periods would be different, too. "I think we can train high school students to stay six feet apart and to regularly wash their hands."

All the signage is in for the hallways to be one way on one side and the other way on the other side. Masks will be required, as well as the six-foot distancing. "We will have 300 students at a time. It will no doubt be a challenge, but we will do what's best for the kids," Coker concluded.

Diaz said she had a couple of points. "I think everyone feels like the hybrid model is a mess, but we have to do the hybrid in order to ever go back to getting kids back in school the way it was. We're making sure we're looking at disease data, and yes, we will concentrate on what's best for the kids. We have to focus on the kids. And without teachers, education is nothing. Hats go off to the administrators. This is a big bold move, and we may have to backtrack."

McMillan said he would like to hear the results of the parent surveys.

Associate Superintendent Curtis Clough said each administrator had received the parent surveys and he had compiled them. "The response is by building and school. 58 percent were returned by parents presently in our system. 64 percent wanted hybrid and 36 percent wanted remote for at least the semester or the full year." He noted the Cliff Schools situation is different because of the transportation issue, with having problems with enough drivers on Fridays, as the school has been on a four-day week. Some high school parents also responded multiple times for their different students.

Sixth Street School Principal Bobby Trujillo said he had spoken to each teacher. "One doesn't want to come back, but others are willing to return. That will be how we decide what to do."

Harrison Schmidt Elementary School Principal Leslie Ormand said she had polled her staff and said overall most of them were ready to return. "We need to decide the day so the teachers can plan. We like starting it at the quarter. Parents told us they are just getting used to the remote learning."

Flores asked Brown what dates he was looking at, because the cafeterias will have to order food. Brown said October 9 is the end of the first quarter, with the fall break coming the following week, and Oct. 19 is the first day of the next quarter.

Travis Yurcic, José Barrios Elementary School principal, said he polled his staff and three will not be returning. "I am hearing that a lot of kids are having emotional issues. It would be important to get them back sooner rather than later."

Diaz said kids will be brought back to school, with the elementary students coming back first and the others later.

"If we begin hybrid after the end of the first quarter, the middle school and high school students could possibly come back at that time," Brown said. "They could possibly come back two weeks after the elementary or maybe four or six weeks. Pre-K through 6th grade will be the first ones coming back."

Diaz proposed Sept 21 or 28 for the elementary and then the secondary students coming back after the fall break. "We are allowed to start any time after Sept. 8 for pre-K through 6th grade."

McMillan thanked all the parents who reached out with emails. "I read every one of them. At the last meeting, I was promoting remaining with online learning. But since then I've seen how frustrating and what a struggle it is for all kids. They may have problems with the devices or internet issues, maybe with the platform and connectivity. I would like to see the hybrid start as soon as possible. Give the teachers time to prepare their classroom, but we need to get to hybrid at 50 percent capacity as soon as we can. Can we maybe start Cliff sooner or with special education students first and then phase in K-3?"

Montenegro noted that it was out of the schools' control, because PED will make the decision on when secondary students can return. "On Cliff, it's clear that if the facilities have enough room for social distancing, they can come back sooner. There are options, but there are also state mandates."

Cohn said his own kids are having a bit of a problem with remote. "My kids want to come back to school. How do the teachers explain that they can't go back to normal? If we go hybrid, we are not dealing with the little things. Parents will have to explain to their kids about the masks and that they can't always talk to their friends when they want to."

"We have to teach our kids about adapting," Diaz said, "that school is a privilege and that if numbers of cases go up, we have to explain the guidelines and that we may have to backtrack and close the classrooms again, if students don't follow the rules."

She talked about the success of bringing kids back for athletics. They were able to work in the five students to one coach with no problems. "Did they want to talk to their friends? Of course, but gentle reminders took care of that.

"I think kids are better at adapting than adults," Diaz continued. "I can vouch for that as an adult. Yes, there will be issues. Let's be realistic. But we can't look at this solely from a liability perspective. There are always liabilities. But with flu season and colds, this can be used then, too. We have to be able to maintain the social stimulation the kids need."

She said the sped (special education) kids can fall through the cracks. "I'm wondering if we can bring back these kids, even at the high school for hybrid learning. We can troubleshoot it."

Ormand said one of her suggestions would be to bring back the high-need students as early as Sept. 8.

Cliff Schools Principal Janean Garney said they are prepared to clean the classrooms thoroughly after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. "I have the majority of my elementary and high school staff ready to return. We do need time for spacing the desks. On top of our tech issues, we have need of support on how students can get in remotely. We want them back with us as soon as we can."

Brown said he wanted to say how much work has gone on behind the scenes. "Teachers have gone through a lot of training. It's extraordinarily tough to teach online. Over the summer, we have been helping our teachers learn how to teach students remotely the best they can. We are one of the few districts that has been able to provide a device for every student. My hat's off to IT. It has been an incredible team effort. We have also been working with Kimberly Hopwood on Sped needs. We want to bring students back as safely as possible. We are trying to meet the needs of every student based on what the parents think is best for their students. Our food staff has kept the kids fed. The custodial staff is working overtime. We are doing everything, including cleanliness of the facility. The custodial staff has gone through several trainings. We're working hard to welcome the students back, while continuing remote learning where needed. The business staff is working hard with a challenging budget."

Ormand said one of the elementary principals had suggested bringing back pre-K-3 one week and then the next week expanding to include 4-6. She said Sept. 8 is too early to bring back kids, "but the online platform is entirely challenging to a lot of the kids."

Diaz asked if insurance would pay for COVID-related needs. Brown replied that an email was sent out saying if there were a situation where procedures were not followed that the teacher may not be insured.

Michele McCain of the Silver Schools Business Office reported that the school's risk insurance is wanting everyone to follow all health guidelines or they can find themselves at risk if someone gets sick. "If you don't agree with the guidelines, it doesn't mean you don't have to follow them. Don't go against the governor's orders."

Jason Ping, G.W. Stout Elementary School principal, said: "On behalf of the Stout staff, we are ready to be with the students. We just need time to prepare. Sixty percent of our staff would like to see the kids back in class. Some staff are not comfortable with in-person teaching, so we will need to fill some holes."

Hopwood said: "We've been allowed to bring sped kids back five to 1 teacher. We had about 50 that were not able to connect online in the spring, but now they have devices and connectivity. The potential plan with those frustrated with online or just can't do online, is to bring back small groups. Our teachers have an extra layer of paperwork, because each sped student has his or her own individual education plan (IEP). The teachers have to have time to create the plans then overlay the plans for those with the highest needs."

She noted, however, that some may not be with their familiar teams. "We have three different sites for pre-K, elementary and secondary. We don't write the IEPs around staff."

Diaz suggested if there were empty buildings, why not use one just for the sped kids, so they built trust with their teachers. "These kids and all kids, for that matter, do better with stability."

Hopwood said she agreed on the stability, but "some teachers will not be coming back."

Katrina Bustillos, educator and union representative for Silver Schools, said she thought it was important for the community to understand how students will return. "Thank you to Dr. Diaz for clarifying that you have to do hybrid first."

She noted that perhaps an email needs to go out to the teachers about their insurance. She said she had emailed a "litany of my concerns, but a lot have been addressed. It's up to us to teach our kids what we expect. I'm thinking about the workload, especially for sped teacher and ancillary positions that are feeling overwhelmed by all the paperwork. We are thinking about age as a risk factor. Will those older than 60 have the option to opt out of returning? Is there enough PPE? When will contracts be signed to have staff ready to go? On my teacher side, students are asking me if they wear masks, can they come back. They miss the contact with their teachers and their peers. I want the district to go back to the best learning for students."

Clough said he wanted to thank the staff and administrators for stepping up. "The reality is we will have kids coming back to school. If we set a date, we can make it happen. We have to assess whether the teachers stay home because they are at risk. That's why we got out the surveys for the kids. But we have to set the date to work toward. Realistically, I think elementary is willing to go by Sept. 15. We have bus disinfectants, and we need the disinfectant stations installed. We have to address not only the educational side, but the tech issues, so we don't impact the future of our students. We have 2,368 students enrolled, which is higher than we expected. We are down about 100 from last year. Some parents are waiting until after Labor Day to decide whether they will enroll their students. We need 10 days to do food orders. Transportation is ready to go. I think Sept. 28 would be a reasonable date to bring back the elementary students. Teachers are working together. If we set the date, we can put the other parts in motion."

Gabriela Sanchez, Silver Scholars Academy Pre-K coordinator, said all teachers have been successful with their Google Meets, all the students have iPads. "I see parents doing an amazing job with the little guys. 50 percent want their kids in school. We have a plan in place, we have a teacher and a sped teacher who can do remote learning. Some of the parents had concerns because they needed day care. Once we open up, the parents will bring their kids to us."

La Plata Middle School Principal Louis Alvarez said: "We do have a timeline we can accomplish at La Plata, once the decision is made to come back. Our concerns are that if we have COVID cases we may have to backtrack. If we have a week to prepare, we're ready to go to hybrid."

Gary Allison, athletics director, said he has been in communication with the New Mexico Athletics Association. "They have put out guidelines that as long as the governor says hybrid learning is possible, then activities can happen. Albuquerque Public Schools, even if they remain with remote learning, is considering allowing athletics to happen. It is a district decision. We plan to start a dead period, with no face-to-face until Sept. 14. We have stated that cross country and volleyball will start in the fall and all the other sports in the spring, but they will do off season workouts in the meantime. Our first season practice is Oct. 5."

Diaz noted that it hinges on other teams participating.

Allison agreed and said Cobre Schools has not decided on face-to-face athletics. Deming and Cobre will be all virtual for the whole fall semester.

Diaz said cross country would be easy with the 5-1 ratio, because coaches could send out five at a time. Volleyball would also have to be 5-1, but teams have six members.

"I hope the NMAA will allow that to be bumped up to 10-1," Allison said. "As of right now, coaches and teams wear masks the entirety of the practice and during competition."

Cohn asked for clarification if those doing remote learning would be able to participate in activities.

Allison said the NMAA says if the governor mandates all-virtual, then there are no activities. "But if you have the governor's permission to go hybrid, then even if the student is still remotely learning, they can do activities."

He said Oct. 5 is the first sanctioned practice day, with Oct. 10 set for the first competition.

McCain gave a report on PPE. "We have ordered a lot of disposable masks, as well as reusable masks and we have gloves and thermometers. The sanitizing stations are also ordered. All products we have ordered from our supplier meet the standards required. We will have supplies so that teachers can clean during the day."

McMillan asked about other activities, such as band, cheer and FFA.

Allison said they are moving forward with a virtual set up for FFA. "National History Day is virtual already; the STEM robotics are virtual. We don't have a definitive answer on band. We may need some sort of mask for instruments. The governor has given the go-ahead for livestock shows, because they kids have been raising their animals since before Covid became a problem. With cheer, we will likely have virtual tryouts and maybe can do some practicing. If we go hybrid, maybe the coach will have more tryouts. Dance is in the same situation as cheer."

To the suggestions of a staged re-entry and bringing back younger kids first, Diaz said she thought that would be confusing for parents with different-aged kids. "My proposal is Sept 21 for special education and pre-K through 6, plus secondary special ed students. Oct. 19 for La Plata and Silver High School."

Clough said part of the plan is shortened days to complete the 80-hours of learning.

Bustillos asked about the school filtration systems.

Barry Ward, facilities director, suggested that teachers open windows and hold classes outside when possible. He said the air in the facilities changes out about every 40 minutes. "We fall in the realm of everything the CDC says."

McMillan asked if a committee or a person has looked at sites for areas of risk.

Brown said Ward has been to every building and has addressed any need for plexiglass. "We have addressed issues, and everything should be standard across the district."

Diaz made her motion to start the hybrid learning for pre-k through sixth grade and special education students on Sept 21, and secondary, if permission is received from PED, to start Oct. 19. "I consider fall sports and activities as part of that initiative." Montenegro seconded the motion.

McMillan asked for community patience, as "we move forward in educating your kids as best as possible."

The motion passed 4-1, with Cohn voting nay.

After Flores read a great number of public input letters, the meeting adjourned.