Roots and Wings open hybrid school

Roots and Wings opens hybrid school

Roots and Wings Community School in Lama (15 miles north of Taos) is excited to open its doors this fall to hybrid and distance learning following Public Education Department recommendations.

Parents and caregivers can choose what works best for them. RWCS has created a schedule where only 50 percent of students will be in the facility at any one time, and online learning will be provided to the other 50 percent who are learning at home. Also, 100 percent online learning is an option. A parent survey is forthcoming to allow parents to choose which model will work best for their family.

RWCS is following all the Centers for Disease Control and state guidelines concerning COVID-19 and will flex its schedule accordingly as these rules and recommendations change.

All students will be provided face shields and masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Teachers’ temperatures will be taken daily and anecdotal records will be kept on a daily basis after interviewing staff and students about their current health. All students will be given their own colorful personal water bottle with the RWCS logo on it to have at school and then keep when the year is over.

The annual multiday overnight wilderness backpack trips will have to be replaced with daily outdoor education adventures, but RWCS is certain adventure can be created in this way also. RWCS will continue its plans to teach its fall unit (called expeditions) on migration using the Expeditionary Learning project-based model which has guided the school for its 21 years.

As well, the curriculum will include short case studies to understand COVID-19 and its effects on the students and the world.

School will begin in person at 50 percent capacity on Aug. 17 – with a Zoom parent orientation scheduled on Aug. 9. School will meet Mondays and Tuesdays for half the students, and Thursdays and Fridays for the other half of students. Wednesdays will be a cleaning, prep and check-in day. Which students come which day will be emailed very soon to families, and the school is committed to working with families with siblings in different age cohorts.

RWCS is always open to communication with questions or concerns. Call (575) 586-2076 or email the office manager atvgarcia@rwcs.org.

– Submitted report

Nicolai Froeschle in the Intermediate cohort (3-5 grades) of Roots and Wings school works on a field project.

COURTESY PHOTO