Return to the Classroom or Not? That is the question.

The DISD School Board at my recommendation, voted to remain in on-line learning and cancel all athletics/activities until January 2021. This is a challenging decision in many ways.

Remaining on-line, places a burden on all stakeholders.  Parents are asked to take more of a hands-on role in educating their children, it asks students to isolate when all they want to do is socialize and visit with friends, it asks teachers to use a medium of instruction that few were trained for, it places a burden on our delivery system and those that make it work.

We all agree that face to face learning is the best way to educate our students. With this in mind, we must weigh the benefits versus the risks involved. The risks are apparent to all of us. We are in a pandemic with COVID 19 that has shown to have a harsher effect on Native Americans and Latino populations than for others. Is risking the lives of our children and community members worth the risk?

We have all observed the inconsistencies at all levels on how to deal with this pandemic. For instance, while we could re-open our schools at the K-5 level with restrictions, DISD along with many other schools in New Mexico, chose not to go down this path for the safety of our community.

With all of these considerations in mind and concerns about the overall health of everyone, it is not an easy decision. But after weighing all the possibilities, ramifications and what we know about this disease, it was clear that the safety of all concerned was the right decision.

Please continue to work closely with your students and teachers as we all continue to learn what is the best way to reach and educate our students!

Sincerely,

Dr. Jim Hattabaugh,

Superintendent

Greetings Everyone!

I hope you are all healthy and enjoying this beautiful September day!

All of us at DISD miss all of you and hope we can resume our on campus teaching sooner than later.

I just finished a wonderful lunch/breakfast feast from our Ms. Christina at Food Service that goes out to many of you. The Frito Pie was really good (one of my favorites), banana nut bread that would give my wife’s a run for its money, juice, animal crackers (do vegans eat these?) I tried but could not eat it all then found out it was both breakfast and lunch! I am so full and will save the crackers for a snack later today!

Do you know that we get exactly $3.26 to fix a meal for you? From this money we must pay salaries, benefits, facilities, containers and the food. I find that amazing that Christina does so much with so little.

Back in my day, the school cooks could and would fix anything they wanted. Now there are so many restrictions on what we can serve than it makes my head hurt. We have to consider, fat content, sugar content, calories, food groups….just to mention a few.

I know that in a perfect world with restrictions of costs and what we can serve we would have buffalo, elk, deer steaks every day with some fish thrown in! But we must go by the rules and guidelines from the state and federal mandates.

I hope you enjoyed the meal today as much as I did and if so, you might give a shout-out to those wonderful folks that prepare and bring it to you!

Bon Appetit

Dr. Jim Hattabaugh,

Superintendent