Calendar

[Celina Morgan]

Good morning School Board,

There is going to be a lot to consider about the new calendar as we go through the school year.

I can’t help but notice that many people came back from travels in October and tested positive with covid. It feels like we are having a spike in cases right now. As the board accumulates information, I would encourage you to look to see if we have spikes in absences during the 2-3 weeks following a break. I would also encourage you to request comparative attendance data from nearby districts (Española, Jemez Springs,  Santa Fe, Taos, etc) to see if they had any increased absences/spikes during the same weeks. This way, if it determined that a break is followed by increased attendance problems, you might know if it was consistent with the area at large or more likely caused by the travel over the break.

There are a lot of considerations with calendar adoption, and I’m sure that the role a break plays on attendance will be one factor to consider. You have time to gather data and make this question less about speculation. It might be helpful to make these inquiries now. Thanks for reading.

Have a nice weekend,

Celina