Questions regarding Implementing any Learning Plan

[Morgan White]

I'd like to write down my questions to make sure they were clear. Thank you for your consideration, and for the any response you can provide.

The NMPED COVID-19 Response Toolkit for New Mexico Elementary Schools provides procedures for what to do when someone becomes sick. This is absolutely necessary for any in-person instruction, and this provides clear guidance. But the Toolkit provides absolutely no pertinent details of how to actually operate the schools and effectively teach.

It also does not address when to close. Given that the Toolkit explicitly acknowledges and describes what to do when an individual inevitably becomes sick, can you quantify what level of risk we will accept. We are fortunate to be in a community and state where relatively few people have become sick. But you should state upfront at what level would you reclose schools. A certain % of people sick? A given number of people sick? The statement that we consider protecting everyone's health paramount does not quantify this answer, unless it is taken at face value to imply we will take steps to prevent anyone from being sick. As that is not the case, how many people sick is too many.

Unfortunately, it doesn't actually define how we are going to teach our children while protecting their health.

I would appreciate clear answers to these questions.

(0) Under what conditions would you reclose schools?

(1) The devil is in the details, and I would like to see real details of how you will operate the schools to mitigate the risks and effectively teach. See below for those that come to mind...

(2) How will you review and approve a real operational plan? How will you get community comments?

(3) Would you consider alternate teaching methods and strategies? If so, how can people contribute ideas?

(4) Given that people have different needs, can we accommodate multiple plans? If so, how?

(5) How will you train the teachers? How will you train the students? Shouldn't the earliest change in instruction only occur once a new plan is well-defined, approved and the staff and students trained?

* Shouldn't the decision of what model to pursue be based on what is the most effective way to teach while protecting everyone's health.

Thank you for your consideration,

Morgan

p.s. The devil is in the details... I don't believe any plan is complete unless it addresses, at least most of, these questions.

How do we stagger entry to prevent crowds, particularly outside entries and school grounds? staggered exit?

Who does a daily health assessment, where and when? If it is parents, are you concerned about HPI when they are stressed by a lack of child care. Symptoms come on at all times of day, how do you assess changes in health during the day? What do you do when symptoms appear during the day? (actually, this last is maybe the only operational question the Toolkit answered)

Where are students allowed to go? How do we provide them guidance to do this, and correct them when they fail? or when there needs to be an exception?

How do you implement the six foot distancing, as people move through the school? in classes? in bathrooms? How do you correct both staff and students without unduly affecting their moral, or permanently scaring their future social interactions?

How effective is the ventilation in each space, i.e. how long can X people occupy this space before their masks become ineffective and we have to assume transmission is likely? Can you integrate outdoor venues to help mitigate this? Note, the Toolkit explicitly assumes that everyone in the classroom, the entire cohort, must be assumed to be exposed if anyone in the class tests positive.

For 5th and 6th grade classes, who rotates, the teachers or the students? For all grades, same question with regards to specials? Is it better to minimize the number of areas each student goes?

How will people eat? Removing the masks to eat greatly increases likelihood of transmission, so how do we mitigate this? For example, a schedule where lunch is only at home. or outside?

How do we sanitize classrooms? bathrooms? common areas? Who performs this cleaning? How often?

How do we provide teachers breaks, and support, so they don't burn out?

For teachers, or staff, at high-risk, are there options to perform other duties that minimize contacts? Provide plexiglass shields, KN95, N95 or other PPE? Under what criteria?

How do we minimize the impact of going back and forth from in-person to remote learning for an individual? for a class? for the school?

Who is the backup when a given teacher is out? when other staff are out? For teachers, are they expected to teach while in quarantine? For staff, who does their job when they are out? How do they report their T&L? Who pays for sick time due to COVID given that they assume this risk for our communities benefit?

How do we teach children who have been quarantined? How do we ensure we don't create a bigger education gap for those children who follow the rules and stay home when they have symptoms?

How will decisions be made to quarantine an individual? Any symptom? One or more specific symptoms? Does their medical history modify this?

How will decisions be made to quarantine their close contacts? a cohort? a teacher? other staff?

Where is testing going to be done? Who is going to pay for it? How quickly will test results be provided?

And surely some others too.