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Regular, in-person school is expected to resume at Corrales Elementary April 5. Students and their parents have had to adjust to mostly online learning for the past year due to the COVID-19 pandemic which caused Albuquerque Public Schools to mostly shut down. Even though students will return to classrooms, it still won’t be back to normal. Mask-wearing will be required and desks will be set wide apart.
“We are thrilled to finally welcome our students back into our school building on April 5!†Corrales Elementary Principal Liv Baca-Hochhausler said. “Corrales teachers have worked diligently for the past year adapting their instructional strategies and practices to effectively teach students remotely, but there really is no substitute for in-person teaching and learning (no matter how well we’ve mastered Zoom, Seesaw and Google classroom).
“We’ve implemented numerous safety protocols to ensure that students socially distance to the greatest extent possible throughout their day at school. Each classroom has been provided with sanitizing solution, gloves, masks, face shields, hand sanitizer, soap and thermometers to assist in actively screening students.
“We have designated one classroom as an ‘isolation’ room for our school nurse and health assistant to use when triaging staff or students that may have been exposed to COVID,†she added.
“Families have the option to allow their children to return to school for five days of in-person teaching and learning (8:45 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and 8:45-12:30 on Wednesday) or remain online throughout the remainder of the school year. APS officials have ordered water fountains in schools be closed off, so water bottles will need to substitute.
“Because some students will continue to learn at home, students who return to their schools will be expected to bring their fully-charged APS-issued technology devices, Chromebooks or iPads, to class with them every day,†APS Superintendent Scott Elder cautioned March 12. He encouraged parents to drive kids to school —rather than have them congregate on school buses— and to persuade them to walk or ride bikes to school, which would be even better. Last day of school will be Tuesday, May 25. Not all teachers and staff are expected to return right away since those “identified as high-risk will be allowed to wait two weeks after they are fully vaccinated,†Elder noted.