Clovis Christian enrollment up

CLOVIS — There are 20 additional students at the Clovis Christian Schools this semester, an increase — to 235 — that Superintendent Jim Haley attributes to in-person instruction.

“In trying to come up with plans for returning to school I was needing to know if we fall under the (Public Education Department) guidelines for the public schools because we're a private Christian school,” Haley said. “And the governor actually said in one of her addresses that private schools are considered a business, so we follow the same guidelines that other businesses do under the public health orders. We had started the summer considering the 50% capacity guideline and then it was tightened down to 25%, so around July we had to redo our plans for face-to-face learning.”

While considering how to conduct in-person instruction, CCS brought in local fire officials to measure the classrooms and determine the individual occupancy of each room. School officials were told that the total occupancy for a room — at 25 percent capacity — would be nine students and a teacher.

Though CCS is operating under more normal terms than online-only public schools are so far, its in-class teaching plan for this year has evolved to reflect the times. Now each class is split in two, with half of the class being in one room with a substitute teacher and the other half in a different room with the head teacher.

While the teacher gives their lesson, they are being live-streamed through Zoom into the other room so that both groups are getting the lesson in real time and are able to participate. When the lesson is finished, the teacher and substitute swap rooms so that the other group can have time with them.

“We knew that all of the parents would want their kids to have some face time with the teacher, and by utilizing technology we could Zoom it into the other room and have them hear it and see it and ask their questions and all,” Haley said.

Splitting up classrooms into smaller groups has had other beneficial outcomes outside of social distancing.

“Having the classrooms split and keeping certain talkative or disruptive students away from each other has been beneficial for the whole group learning. It does make classroom management easier in some instances,” said Stephanie Stover, a high school English teacher at CCS. “Also, I think having situations where teachers and students must interact more in the digital world has been beneficial to the growth of both, even with the challenges that happen when technology doesn't cooperate.”

Kristen Kruckeberg, a first-grade teacher at CCS, echoed Stover's sentiments about technology. While this year has introduced teachers and students to new ways to incorporate technology into the classroom, it has not been a seamless process.

“Although we have always incorporated technology in our classrooms, we have learned many new ways to use technology for distance learning that we can also use in the classroom to enhance learning,” Kruckeberg said. “Technology also comes with challenges, such as making sure students have the technology they need to be successful. It is also a challenge when the technology doesn't work the way it is supposed to.”

While taking on these new challenges, CCS has also come up with inventive ways to ensure students health and safety beyond what they are already doing to comply with the state's health and safety order.

“We have constructed sneeze guards out of plastic and PVC pipe that we've put on some of the horseshoe tables that we use for reading tables where the students read in front of the teacher and they need to be a little closer to her,” Haley said. “So we put those up so that she's protected and the students are protected from one another as well.”

In addition, the school is making sure students are getting outside more. CCS sits on about 40 acres of grassland, so every class has one or two lessons a day outside and students are given the opportunity to walk and exercise during the school day. The schools have also hired 10 short-term substitute teachers to help cover the additional classrooms that result from splitting up the normal classes.

“The feedback that I have received from the students about coming back has been really positive. As for the teachers, even more so,” Stover said. “Before the beginning of the year, we had a staff meeting where we were given the choice to follow what public school was planning to do for the first three weeks of school or come back and make it work. It was a resounding "yes" to coming back into our classrooms.”

While everyone has been affected by the pandemic, those in education — like students and teachers — have seen a unique side of it as their schedules and routines have drastically changed. However, they are coping.

“Students are resilient,” Kruckeberg said. “And I am confident that teachers will strive to help students achieve standards.”