Hybrid education to begin Monday

CLOVIS — How detail-oriented were the back-to-school plans Clovis has had to prepare for its phased return to in-person classes beginning Monday?

Answer: Superintendent Renee Russ took an intermission for questions halfway through her report on re-entry efforts during the Tuesday virtual board of education meeting.

The district, beginning Monday, will offer hybrid education for fifth grade and lower in three cohorts:

• Cohort A, in person Monday and Tuesday and online the rest of the week

• Cohort B, in person Thursday and Friday and online the rest of the week

• An online-only Cohort C

Russ said about 1,900 students have signed up for Cohort C, with about 5,500 split between A and B.

Russ detailed many facets of having COVID-safe campuses, and many challenges in creating them.

“It seems like each new week,” Russ said, “the Public Education Department is revising their requirements. Some of the latest have been the most challenging.”

A detailed re-entry guide is available at clovis-schools.org/COVID-19.html.

She noted a PED requirement to have MERV-13 filters on ventilation systems, and a need for leniency because the filters are on a six-month back order. The district is ordering enough MERV-11 filters to keep the district going until the MERV-13 items are available. Russ said her filter knowledge is largely comprised of what she had to learn for this requirement, but the basic takeway is filters with higher numbers trap smaller particles.

To meet a requirement that 5% of staff at every campus be tested each week, Russ said that process was still being formalized. But, “I can tell you we are going to take volunteers first.”

The district has 258,000 disposable masks as a backup, but is requesting students come to school each day with two masks. Russ initially thought gaiters and face shields would be allowed, but the PED reversed course following research that questioned their effectiveness.

Russ closed out her address with a bullet point list of pros and cons, which she called “glows and grows.” She was pleased with how well teachers have worked together and with how kids and parents have adapted to online learning. There was room for improvement, Russ said, regarding handling intervention situations virtually, holding student attention in the lower grades and helping staff find balances with remote learning blurring the lines between home and work.

The district will eventually phase in the higher grades, with a Public Education Department rationale that younger students struggle most with virtual learning.

Russ told the board that through Friday, 7,783 students were enrolled, but the number was probably closer to 7,500 because about 350 have 10 or more absences.

In other business at the Tuesday meeting:

• Members voted 4-0 on Russ' request to honor “a unique individual who left a tremendous legacy” and rename its 1009 Main building the G.C. Ross Administration Building.

Russ praised Ross, who worked nearly 40 years in the district and twice served as interim superintendent, but kept her comments brief because she believed everybody in the meeting already knew everything she could say.

“I know he's been referred to as the great chief,” Russ said. “I know he always carried himself with the highest level of professionalism and always treated everybody with the utmost respect regardless of their position in the district.”

Board members Cindy Osburn and Shawn Hamilton echoed Russ' comments about Ross, who died in August at 82.

• Board members were updated on Clovis High School's first year working with the National Math and Science Initiative.

The NMSI program, funded by the Department of Defense, provided the school with over $350,000 for two years to support students and teachers in Advanced Placement classes.

The classes are created with a national standard, with an optional follow-up exam that can lead to college credit. A score of 3 or above equals college credit, and a score of 2 indicates college readiness.

The DOD funds the program primarily for its benefits to military children who move frequently, but the opportunity available to all students.

“We tell them all the time, 'Try,'” CHS Principal Jay Brady said. '“We're going to help you get through it.'”

Brady said in 2019 CHS students took 94 AP exams, with 22 scores of “3” and 13 scores of “2.” In 2020, the first year of NMSI, students took 330 exams, with 98 “3” scores and 120 “2” scores.

This year, AP enrollment has jumped from 345 to 451 — “in the middle of a pandemic,” Brady stressed.

Brady credited the teachers, along with instructional coach Anetta Hadley and guidance counselor Christy Hill.

“I don't have words to express the work they do to keep kids going and teachers going in this effort,” Brady said.

• During the public forum section of the meeting, Amanda Ziegler addressed the board about issues with virtual education.

Ziegler's children attend Zia Elementary, and she selected the online-only Cohort C due to health concerns and the concept that, “my children thrive on routine.”

Ziegler said it was her understanding that Cohort C teachers would only be responsible for Cohort C, but that hasn't been the case after some teacher shuffling. She didn't see how it was possible for her children to get the same attention as the in-person students.

Board policy bars members from having in-depth responses to public forum speakers to prevent discussion of business not on the meeting agenda.

Board Vice President Paul Cordova said he understood Ziegler's concerns as a parent himself and knew she was far from the only parent who had them.

“Each day, each week that goes by, we have to understand things are changing as we move forward,” Cordova said. “I know that things next week will be a little bit different, depending on the situation. I feel that it is a moving target. I believe wholeheartedly, our district is doing everything it can to deal with the situation.”

Russ had something along the lines of a response during her address to board members, stating, “We are doing our very best to create as little disruption. We know readjustment of staff happens every year as we balance out classrooms. Our challenge this year has been far greater, given the circumstances.”