Board to consider re-entry plans

PORTALES — The Portales Municipal Schools Board of Education will consider re-entry plans for the 2020-21 school year when it meets in regular session Monday afternoon.

The livestream for the 1 p.m. meeting will be available at

livestream.com/accounts/25937490

or at the webcasts section of portalesschools.com. Anybody needing help may call 575-356-7000.

The agenda includes two different re-entry plans, one for in-person instruction and one for remote schooling. The Public Education Department has mandated that all New Mexico public schools reopen in a hybrid model with a transition to full in-person school tied to regional gating criteria.

The district is planning to begin classes Aug. 18 for grades 7-12 and Aug. 25 for grades K-6.

Last week, Superintendent Johnnie Cain told The News the plan is to have an online component and to separate students in grades 5-12 into two cohorts that will each attend school in-person two days per week and go online the other three days. The one day nobody goes on campus will be designated as a campus cleaning day.

For grades K-4, Cain believes the district’s buildings have enough capacity to allow normal instruction to continue with social distancing.

Other items on the agenda include:

• Ratification of 10 budget adjustments largely dealing with maintenance and debt service, and four requested budget adjustments of which two deal with teacher/principal training and recruiting.

• Revised salary schedules for the 2020-21 year.

• A review of the district’s participation in the state bilingual multicultural education program.

• First reading of six revisions to the board of education policy manual covering nondiscrimination and medical examinations and communicable diseases.