As the country and the state continue to struggle with increasing COVID-19 cases, many students remain at home learning through online classes. The same cannot be said for Crossroads School in Longmont, which reopened to in-person instruction this fall and continues to hold classes.
Major school districts like St. Vrain Valley started the year online through September and then allowed students to return to classrooms under a hybrid model, but stricter Boulder County guidelines announced in late November once again moved students to remote learning. St. Vrain announced last week that it will return to in-person learning in January.
Crossroads is a private, faith-based school that focuses on students who have struggled academically or behaviorally in traditional schools, making its situation unique compared to the average public school.
“What’s important is the relationships the teachers have to establish with the kids,” said Barb Bulthuis, executive director of Crossroads School. “These are not kids that are able to motivate themselves or else they wouldn’t be here. They have experienced failure in the past and they expect to fail again so they need someone to be able to look them in the eye and say ‘you can do this.’”
Like most schools, Crossroads closed in the spring and moved to online classrooms, but Bulthuis said too many students struggled and fell behind when they did not attend in person. So, for the new school year it rolled out new protocols and safety measures to make sure students could return to classrooms.
A new focus has been placed on sanitizing classrooms and making sure students quarantine at home if there’s a risk they were exposed. Students also are required to wear masks and receive a temperature check every morning before starting school.
“I actually check them in personally each morning. In past years, I always checked them in and gave them a hug, handshake or a high five, their choice. And they had to look me in the eye and say ‘good morning.’ That was our routine,” Bluthuis said. “Now instead of hugs, handshakes and high fives, they get temperature checks but they still have to look me in the eye and say ‘good morning.’”
Crossroads also follows a weekly schedule of four days of in-person instruction and one day of online class on Friday. Bulthuis said she hopes the one day of at home learning will prepare students if they eventually have to stop in person instruction to quarantine.
Crossroads School is not an average situation, as the school has only 28 students. This helps maintain social distancing in each classroom and simplifies day-to-day operations.
“The reality of it is we have a small enough population that we can be more flexible than a larger school,” Bluthuis said. “I understand the difficulty of a school with hundreds of kids trying to figure out what to do when a teacher is quarantined.”
Meanwhile, the ongoing national debate continues over whether or not keeping students at home outweighs the risks. Colorado continues to look for ways to get all students back in the classroom. State health officials recently outlined new guidelines school districts would need to follow in order to return to in class instruction. It includes a focus on education without extracurricular activities, hiring additional staff, so schools can manage quarantines, and creating better access to COVID data related to the school.
Rich Frey is the parent of a ninth grade student who attends Crossroads. He said he appreciates the precautions taken by the school and the fact it remains open to in-person classes.
“I think he learns a lot better in class with the interactions with the other kids and the teachers and having that face to face in case he has questions. He has enough screen time as is without adding all of his school classes to that,” Frey said of his son.
Frey, who also volunteers to teach robotics, said he begins every class with wiping down all the desks and finishes each class the same way.
Bluthuis said she’s been meeting with other school officials and Boulder County Public Healthon a weekly basis to make sure Crossroads is operating within the county’s guidelines.
She also said the school has been flexible with parents and students, allowing those who need to learn from home to do so.
“Most of our parents are thrilled that we’re doing this in person because they understand the needs of their children and they know how hard it is to support them educationally,” Bluthuis said.
