Return of the Five Year Olds, Part I. 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.

All Episodes

The Hypothesis

Return of the Five Year Olds, Part I.

November 03, 2020 • Protect the Pack Productions • Season 1 • Episode 7

Months of planning and preparation culminated in the arrival of our Kindergarten students who were willing and able to participate in in-person learning. On their first day, the Governor was also scheduled to make an announcement about new health orders. Rising COVID-19 rates across the state had people believing that she would shut schools back down. For the Kindergartners and the teachers, that would mean closing down just as they were starting back up. The teachers who had built the instructional plan for in-person learning were also going through waves of excitement and the anxiety that accompanies a public health threat.

This episode introduces you to two of our Kindergarten teachers as well as our Elementary Principal and takes you into the moments leading up to and through that first day back.

Brought to you by Protect the Pack Productions at Turquoise Trail Charter School, Santa Fe, New Mexico.