Special Short: Behind the Scenes of a Big Week Artwork

The Hypothesis

Go behind the scenes of a PreK - 8th grade charter school in Santa Fe, New Mexico making decisions around whether to open school for in-person learning and how to do so amid a global pandemic. Set at Turquoise Trail Charter School, the state's oldest and fourth largest charter school, you'll meet teachers and administrators who are grappling with how to walk the fine line between public health and public policy during an historic moment in time. As a charter school, Turquoise Trail is able to make decisions both as a school and as a district and is directly accountable. Given that the school serves students across a wide range of ages, the tradeoffs and unintended consequences of decision making is even more complex. Younger students are more directly in need of in-person learning, given that they learn more through socialization, so the drive to get them in school sooner is urgent. Amid the complexity of site-based decision making in this context, the State of New Mexico's Public Education Department continues to issue guidelines that sometimes alter school opening timelines entirely. Along side the story of this school, topics such as the politics and sociology of schools will be explored in this context.

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The Hypothesis

Special Short: Behind the Scenes of a Big Week

October 15, 2020 • Protect the Pack Productions • Season 1 • Episode 5

Nearly every morning on his way into school, Chris Eide records a short voice memo addressed to his friend Latif Nasser, mainly to capture what is happening at the school with regards to COVID-19 and school opening. This week is particularly significant, mainly because the count of students happened on October 14, which determines funding for the next year (particularly important in the face of likely budget cuts), Kindergarten is planning to open up to in-person hybrid learning on Tuesday, October 20, and COVID-19 cases are at an all-time high in New Mexico.

Tune in to this short episode to listen in on Chris' voice memo from Thursday, October 15.

Brought to you by Protect the Pack Productions at Turquoise Trail Charter School, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Original music brought to you by a Turquoise Trail student.