{"id":50415,"date":"2020-11-11T03:43:00","date_gmt":"2020-11-11T10:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/mancos-schools-choose-to-keep-in-person-instruction\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:51:28","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:51:28","slug":"mancos-schools-choose-to-keep-in-person-instruction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/mancos-schools-choose-to-keep-in-person-instruction\/","title":{"rendered":"Mancos schools choose to keep in-person instruction"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"The
The Journal file<br><br>The Mancos School Board decided Monday evening to keep in-person learning through the holiday season, despite warnings from Southwest Memorial Hospital and the Montezuma County Public Health Department that COVID-19 cases are rising rapidly and could spike again during Thanksgiving and Christmas.<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The Mancos school board decided Nov. 9 to keep in-person learning through the holiday season, despite the Montezuma County Public Health Department and Southwest Memorial Hospital\u2019s recommendation that schools transition to online learning.<\/p>\n

Board members said they were concerned about working or single parents who can\u2019t afford to take time off to monitor their children\u2019s education and provide care during the day.<\/p>\n

Officials from the health department and hospital who attended the board meeting warned that indoor holiday gatherings \u2013 especially as people eat and talk around the table \u2013 can spread the virus.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately that\u2019s the perfect way for the COVID-19 to spread,\u201d said Kent Aiken, Southwest Memorial Hospital\u2019s chief of medicine and a physician with the county health department.<\/p>\n

The school board discussion took place the same day that more than 100 people used the drive-thru testing site at Southwest Memorial Hospital.<\/p>\n

Last week, health officials reported 70 new positive cases and increased hospitalizations. More people ages 19 to 40 \u2013 who might have children in school \u2013 increasingly have tested positive for the coronavirus, and five people were hospitalized for COVID-19 at one time last week, Aiken said.<\/p>\n

If hospitals in the county filled to capacity, it would put the area in a \u201cred zone,\u201d according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Once in the red zone, Montezuma County could face a \u201cstay at home\u201d order.<\/p>\n

With a rising rate of positive tests, Montezuma County is tipping into the \u201corange zone,\u201d which limits capacity in public places but does not require remote learning.<\/p>\n

The Mancos School District R-6 board chose to follow state guidance, even though local hospital officials expressed concern that an outbreak in schools would tip the county into a \u201cstay at home\u201d order.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s in every county, in every town,\u201d Bobbi Lock, director of the Montezuma County Health Department, told the Mancos school board.<\/p>\n

If parents are concerned about the virus, they can Zoom their children into the classroom, Superintendent Brian Hanson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf staff want to quarantine, we will have to get more creative,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Board member Blake Mitchell argued that schools were being \u201cpicked on,\u201d since hunters were allowed to visit the county and events continued at the Montezuma County Fairgrounds. Yet, school districts follow strict mask and social distancing protocols better than some organizations and businesses, he said.<\/p>\n

Kerri White-Singleton, chief operating officer of the Southwest Medical Group, agreed that many people in Montezuma County have not followed hospital recommendations on mask and social distancing protocols.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to control what we can control,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"The
The Mancos School Board discusses whether to keep its schools open through the holiday season or transition its students to remote learning during a time of increased family gatherings to help reduce the spread of COVID-19 in the community.<\/span>Emily Hayes\/The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Lock said it is possible children might be safer in school, because some parents and families don\u2019t follow school protocol at home. Still, she said, schools are a place where children can spread the virus between families.<\/p>\n

Students ask to stay in school<\/div>\n

Mancos senior and student body President Kylie Guiles read a letter from the Student Council that asked the district to keep in-person learning.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnline learning poses challenges in terms of student participation, motivation and the retention of information,\u201d Guiles said.<\/p>\n

For Mancos students, the effects of switching to remote learning are more detrimental than the effects of in-person learning, Guiles said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that decisions should be made to benefit the overall well-being of the student body, not to placate the desires of the Health Department,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The Montezuma-Cortez School District decided to transition in-person students to online learning Nov. 12 due to the number of teachers forced to quarantine.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was impacting our ability to keep our schools staffed,\u201d Superintendent Lori Haukeness said.<\/p>\n

Southwest Open School already is remote.<\/p>\n

Hanson said it is possible Mancos schools will go to online learning. If four high school teachers quarantined, a lack of substitutes might force students online, he said. He encouraged parents to wear masks and to tell their children to wear masks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is what\u2019s at stake: closing the schools down,\u201d board member Katie Cahill-Volpe said.<\/p>\n

School board members also were concerned about the impact of remote learning on students\u2019 mental health. Lock said the Health Department would discuss the best way to provide mental health care to students after school districts finalized plans for the semester.<\/p>\n

ehayes@the-journal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This article was reposted Nov. 11 correct the number of drive-thru tests at Southwest Memorial Hospital.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hospital, health department ask for online learning<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":50416,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[155,13,28,167,29,668],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-50415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-education","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-headlines","tag-local-news-lead","tag-newsletter","tag-public-health"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50415"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50415\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87745,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50415\/revisions\/87745"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50415"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=50415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}