NM fortunate in its leadership

The question of opening schools is one of the most troubling we have ever faced.

On one hand, President Donald Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos are pressuring states to pack the kids into classrooms right away.

In support of that idea, pediatricians have said the danger in keeping kids out of school is potentially greater than the hazard of contracting COVID-19, and educators know kids learn better in classrooms.

On the other hand, the nation’s most prominent expert on pandemics, Dr. Anthony Fauci, says that with COVID-19, we are not only still in the woods, we’re still in Phase I as cases continue to rise.

Teachers across the nation are worried about exposure to COVID-19 from the tendency toward chaos that occurs in the presence of a bunch of American public-school kids even in the best of circumstances.

Whether parents are concerned varies from place to place.

Two local surveys came to opposite conclusions within 60 miles of Tucumcari. Parents in Santa Rosa indicated in a survey they favor playing it safe. Parents surveyed in Logan overwhelmingly said get the kids back in school.

New Mexico is fortunate to have a governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham, who has a background in health policy, a state version of Fauci in the form of Human Services Secretary Dr. David Scrase, and a Public Education Department secretary, Ryan Stewart, who seems to be a realist.

The result is a compromise state policy on school openings that says school can start on Aug. 10, but with an approach that combines classroom and remote learning while favoring classroom learning as much as possible.

Under this policy, a tiny school district like Vaughn with buildings left over from more populous times, can bring all the kids back to class, because there is enough classroom space for proper social distancing.

Most school districts, however, will have to split kids up to alternate classroom and remote learning, and school personnel at all levels are working hard now to plan how to make that happen.

The state’s education policy also recognizes that the conditions under which schools and education can operate must put health and safety first. Among other things, the guidelines call for frequent sanitizing, recording daily health and temperature checks, masking, social distancing and prohibitions on sharing of personal items.

On the other hand, the guidelines also re-instate tough requirements for attendance, whether live or online, turning in school work and grading, but they also accommodate students and staff with health conditions that put them at risk.

If COVID-19 statistics worsen, however, the policy recognizes that schools could close again and includes guidelines for that eventuality in a separate “remote learning” scenario.

The way educators have adapted since schools closed last spring place them second only to health and safety first-responders on my list of COVID-19 heroes.

Let’s face it. There is no getting around putting kids at risk, either for exposure to COVID-19 or inadequate education. In New Mexico, we are fortunate to have leaders who recognize both risks but accept reality and favor health and safety.

Steve Hansen writes for Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at:

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