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BACK-TO-SCHOOL TIME
July 29, 2021
Berthoud Weekly Surveyor
Thompson students to see a “mostly normal” school year By Dan Karpiel The Surveyor As the beginning of the 2021-22 school year approaches, students at all levels in the Thompson School District (TSD) will see a much more normal-looking school year from what they have experienced since March of 2020. Students at all grades levels across the district will be in school, in-person, full time while social distancing measures, mask mandates and other such pandemic-related stipulations that defined the last year-plus are no more. Sports and other extra-curricular activities are also expected to return to pre-pandemic format; shortened seasons, adjusted schedules, mask requirements and the like have been removed. While TSD leadership was quick to point out that extra precaution measures will be in place, public education in the district will look and feel a lot more like 2019 than like 2020 and the spring semester of 2021. “It will feel more normal still with the caveat that there are still precautions in place … it will be normal as long as we can maintain a safe atmosphere,” said TSD Chief perations fficer Todd Piccone. It will feel normal but we’re still living with C ID and that’s not going away so we have the plans in the later steps behind to make sure everyone is still protected,” The optimism and excitement for the upcoming school year were palpable with the district officials who discussed in detail the plans for - education with the Surveyor last Thursday. The students are equally excited. It’s definitely going to be a relief. I can guarantee there’s going to be a lot of kids who didn’t get to see a lot of each other and I think everyone is going to en oy the school year a lot more ust because we don’t have so many nitty-gritty restrictions,” said incoming Berthoud High School (BHS) junior Christian Foxworth. Foxworth participated in a feedback session along with student representatives from all TSD schools last spring where they shared their thoughts and feelings with district leadership, including Superintendent Dr. Marc Schaffer. oxworth’s sentiments were echoed by Ally Padilla, who will begin her senior year at HS next month. Said Padilla, I am definitely looking forward to things going back to normal, I really miss it, freshman year was really the only year I had that was a full year of school that I got to experience everything I wanted to and if my senior year is able to do that again I think it would be a great way to go out … I think students will be really happy to be able to see each other without any constrictions.” aylee Padilla, Ally’s younger sister, and a soon-to-be freshman at HS, described the last year-plus at Turner Middle School as “challenging” and “frustrating,” saying, “I think the inconsistency of it all, we were always changing, all the kids try to be on the same page and when you’re online and then go in-person it’s hard to know where everyone is at. Caylee is also eager to see the expected return to normalcy, It’s really about the experience that you remember at school so it’s really important to have that full experience. Now, it will make learning easier and more enjoyable.” All three students are also heavily involved in athletics and said the restrictions placed not only on their sports but on the school day made their favorite extra-curricular hobbies less enjoyable. Ally explained that, as an accomplished member of the HS cross-country, basketball, and track and field teams, being able to adequately fuel and hydrate her body prior to games, meets, and practices was made difficult as most teachers refused to allow students to remove their masks to eat or drink. There were definitely times where I became frustrated because I felt like I couldn’t get into a good place during the day to get myself ready to do athletics, I run a lot and we need to be hydrated, especially during track when it was so hot and hydration is a big part and it became frustrating when I felt like I couldn’t eat or hydrate as much as I needed to,” Ally said. The return to a much greater semblance of normalcy, all three students said, will not only make learning easier but will also be a great boost to their mental and emotional health. This fact is not lost on district leadership as Dawne Huckaby, TSD Chief Academic fficer explained, Students learn through the experiences, the shared culture and experience are important so getting back into school together, we’ve been working, especially at the secondary level with some cooperative learning structures that will help to continue to engage kids in the learning process.” Equally important, Huckaby said, is for the students who may be struggling not only academically but also emotionally, to have the support structure of teachers, counselors and staff in place. Huckaby said that “when students were remote, it was easy for them to be remote,” but with the return to full-time in-
person instruction, It’s easier for them to be seen by an adult connections can be made, greater opportunity for adults to observe behaviors and we can be more proactive in responding to a student that may be experiencing some depression.” Piccone explained that the district will work hand-in-hand with arimer County health authorities should adjustments to the plan be needed. TSD revised the definition of an outbreak from two positives cases in a school upwards to five positives and said that each school will be treated uni uely to their own circumstances. Piccone also said the district will be providing access to the vaccine for students, staff, and parents at each school at their respective Back to School nights next month and the TSD will have roving vaccine operations that will travel from school to school this fall. Currently, anyone over the age of 12 is eligible for the vaccine, and, according to county data as of Wednesday, July 21, 35.2% of county residents age 11-17 are fully vaccinated and 40.8% have received at least one dose. Controversial Critical Race Theory not included in TSD curriculum The subject of Critical Race Theory (CRT) has become a part of the American education lexicon over the last year. The controversial and largely academic theory which is highly complex and detailed essentially posits that systematic racism is a part of American society. Critical race theory is a practice. It’s an approach to grappling with a history of white supremacy that re ects the belief that what’s in the past is in the past, and that the laws and systems that grow from that past are detached from it,” Kimberlé Crenshaw, a founding critical race theorist and a law professor who teaches at UC A and Columbia University, wrote on CNN.com. While in une members of the National ducation Association, the county’s largest teachers’ union, approved a plan to promote teaching C T in all states, the theory will in no way be a part of the TSD curriculum. “We do not teach Critical ace Theory, anywhere, we teach the content standards and it’s not in our Colorado Academic Standards,” Huckaby said emphatically. The 2021-22 school year will begin on Aug 16. for all kindergarten, sixth and ninth-grade students and for all other students on Aug. 17.
