The current COVID pandemic and the toll local rising numbers is having on the Haxtun School District took up a good chunk of time during a two-hour Board of Education meeting last week.

When the Nov. 17 meeting took place, all Haxtun students remained on campus for in-person learning but just three days later, that situation changed as students were sent home in the middle of the day for remote learning due to the lack of staff and positive tests results within the District. Students are expected to return on Tuesday, Dec. 1.

In her report to board members, Principal Becky Heinz said she was thankful Haxtun students were able to remain on campus for in-person learning for the majority of the first semester, but that current data showed rising cases in Haxtun and in Phillips County.

“COVID is stressing our system,” she wrote in her report. “The District is short on substitute teachers at any time when we have a need for them. Finding substitutes is hard and many days, teachers and administrators are covering teacher classrooms as subs are not available.”

While presenting information to board members, Heinz also included information on current enrollment numbers. Preschool through eighth grade has a total of 249 students with an added 88 in the high school for a total of 337. Since the official count on Oct. 1, the elementary and junior high as seen an increase of nine students.

Superintendent Darcy Garretson said several students who started the school year with online learning at home have returned to in-person learning or plan to do so at the start of the second semester.

As the first line of business in action items, board members approved a transfer of $350,000 from the general fund to the building fund. This money, Garretson said, will cover the District’s share of the final building construction and improvement project as well as make a loan payment.

In later follow up, Garretson said those funds are what the District owed for add-ons to the project such as the boiler and the chilling tower within the HVAC system. She said she expects the project to be complete before leaving for Christmas break and at that time, the District will move into the warranty phase of the overall project, which has been in the works for close to three years now and included new roofing, new bleachers in the gym and a new gym floor, just to name a few major components.

Before wrapping up the project, there is still additional paperwork to be completed as well as close-out meetings and trainings.

Later in the meeting, board members accepted a resignation from fifth grade teacher Larissa Knowlton, which has already taken effect. During the meeting it was said that Jaime Imhof had agreed to fill in in the fifth grade and finish out the semester but since then, she has agreed to stay in the position through the remainder of the school year.

Imhof has taught fifth grade at Haxtun Schools in the past alongside Knowlton and will be a familiar face to students.

Before adjourning the meeting, board members and administration discussed four possible calendar changes for the second semester. Per discussions, the District may make changes to four days in January and February including Jan. 11 and 25 and Feb. 8 and Feb. 26. Those days would be off for students, but would allow for two of them to be utilized as intervention days as needed for all grade levels.

Positives to making the calendar changes, Garretson said, would be allowing more time for teachers to examine data and modify curriculum for upcoming assessments, dedicate time for READ Act training, additional time for the building to be empty if deep cleaning is needed, and a break for staff that has been dealing with education in a pandemic. She said it would also help with the lack of substitute teachers, could help build morale by showing appreciation for the extra time staff has spent outside of school hours and give teachers time to meet with their peers to discuss students/curriculum across all grade elves.

Those days off the calendar would also mean extra time for students and families to recover mentally and physically as spring, with the current Colorado High School Activities Association schedule, will be very busy.

There are also things to consider, Garretson noted, such as daycare arrangements for families, loss of education time and hourly staff wages.

Plans are to bring the topic back to the December meeting to discuss more and make a final decision.

In other business the Board:

• Hired Tanner Serrato as an assistant high school boys’ basketball coach. The head coach will be Jayden Stieb, who previously served as the assistant coach;

• Set the December meeting for the 10th at 7:30 a.m. to set the mill levy and hear an audit report from Scott Szabo;

• Charged the District Accountability Committee with evaluating communication strategies and school/community outreach and engagement.