School Reentry Information
- Students will remain in a cohort with their homeroom classmates.
- Lunch will take place outdoors (weather permitting), to minimize possible indoor contact without masks.
- Masks are optional as of February 19, 2022 for all individuals when on campus.
- Cleaning and sanitizing protocols will remain in place. See "2020-21 Cleaning and Sanitizing Protocols" below for more information.
- Altura Preparatory School staff and contractors will be vaccinated against COVID-19 or submit to weekly surveillance testing. All staff are currently vaccinated.
- School building access is currently limited to essential visitors, students, and staff only.
- Any family with a positive COVID test result must notify the school so that we can work with the NM Department of Health and New Mexico Public Education Department to trace and isolate any potentially exposed individuals. Close contacts of positive individuals will be notified by the school.
- Altura Preparatory School will not offer an online-only option for the 2021-22 school year. If you (as a parent of an Altura Prep student) seek a distance learning option, please visit the New Mexico Public Education Department's web page for Virtual School Enrollment (ped.state.nm.us/virtual-schools-map/). If you have questions, please contact the school at 505-539-5369.
Draft American Rescue Plan Act Plan Components
Altura Preparatory School’s plan for spending approximately $320,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funding is shared in draft form below. We welcome your feedback and input. If you are interested in providing feedback, please click HERE to share by September 25th.
Addressing Learning Loss
On-site coaching and professional development for all staff members specifically addressing mathematics and English Language Arts skills, provided by expert facilitators designed to ensure learning acceleration occurs in every class for every child.
Staff an academic intervention position/aide(s) for the 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years (at a minimum) to work with students disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Students from specific subgroups shown to be significantly academically at risk will be selected based on academic data and demonstrated need.
Social-Emotional Learning programming and professional development to strengthen staff members’ ability to support students socially and emotionally.
Activities Necessary To Maintain Continuity of Operations
Allocated funding for substitute teachers in the event that school staff members are quarantined or absent due to circumstances related to COVID-19, per the Families FIrst Coronavirus Response Act.
Compensation for teachers and school staff for work done beyond their 2021-22 contracts to address learning loss, including summer planning, time before and after the contracted school day, and time during non-instructional, non-professional development days.
Retention stipends for each teacher from the 2020-21 school year returning to Altura Prep for the 2021-22 school year.
For the 2022-23 school year, an additional teaching position to ensure sufficient staffing and program maintenance, including small class sizes.
Technology
A sufficient number of devices to ensure that each student has access to a Chromebook on campus, and at home, should remote learning be necessary. Devices will be purchased for the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years.
- Social distancing will be strictly enforced.
- Masks will be required at all times for all who enter the building, except when eating lunch.
- For hybrid learning, students will remain in their assigned homeroom classrooms for the day.
- For hybrid learning, recess rotations will be implemented to minimize mixing cohorts.
In preparation for the 2020-21 academic year in the wake of the Spring 2020 closures of the 2019-20 school year, Altura Preparatory School approved a calendar that increased instructional hours from 1,026 hours for Kindergarten and 1,070 hours for grades 1-3 to a total of 1,225 hours for all students. Our current approved calendar offers 1,225 hours of instruction. With this increase of 199 hours for Kindergarten and 155 hours for students in grades 1-4, Altura Preparatory School will offer the equivalent of 22 days additional instruction.
For general information about COVID-19, please refer to WHO, the CDC, and the New Mexico Department of Health. For specific medical questions and information, please contact your student’s primary care physician. If you have symptoms related to COVID-19, call the NMDOH Coronavirus Hotline at (855) 600-3453.
Quarantine and Contact Tracing: In the event of a COVID exposure or positive test in your family, please communicate with the school. Altura Preparatory School is required to report and contact trace any positive cases associated with students, staff, or families. Your cooperation helps us keep our entire community safe. We use the below NMPED approved flowchart to determine requirements for student or staff quarantine:
Please communicate any exposure or positive test within your family.
Staff Health, Safety, and Screening: Altura Preparatory School staff and contractors working on campus will participate in a daily health screening with temperature check and questionnaire. In addition, Altura Prep staff will participate in weekly surveillance testing. 10% of the staff will be COVID tested weekly.
Masks: Anyone on Altura Preparatory School's campus must wear a mask correctly (covering nose and mouth, fitting close to the face) at all times. If a family is concerned about their child's ability to correctly wear a mask must contact the School Directors, Meaghan Hindman and Lissa Hines, at [email protected], to discuss their child's specific circumstances.
Enrichment and Extra Curricular Activities: All activities conducted by Altura Prep staff and students on campus will comply with COVID-safe practices. As such, there will be no music at Altura Prep for at least the 2020-21 school year, and all other activities will be conducted with social distancing and sanitation measures in place.
Social-Emotional Well-being of Students and Staff: Never before has Altura Prep's emphasis on Social Emotional Learning seemed as important as it does now. As a team, Altura Prep's adults will work together to support one another and each Altura Prep student through this stressful time. We will continue with daily mindfulness sessions and work to infuse our SEL practices even more thoroughly into each day. For more on our Social Emotional Learning program, please visit Our Approach on this website.
Academic Support: Altura Preparatory School conducts universal assessments and screening for all students throughout the school year to determine best supports for each individual student depending on their needs. Oral Reading Fluency, Istation Math and Reading, Lexile leveling assessments, as well as formative assessments are used to support students, regardless of level, to determine necessary interventions and support. Curricular resources and instructional materials for the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school year have been selected because they offer acceleration and remediation components.
Attendance: Attendance is taken each and every day as part of Altura Preparatory School’s adherence to the New Mexico Attendance for Success Act. Students should be present daily, whether in person or as part of a distance/remote learning scenario. If a student must be absent for any reason, parents/guardians are responsible for communicating the absence and reason with the school. Attendance will be taken according to usual procedure for in-person learning days. For remote learning days, students' work completion and participation in the daily surveys and activities will count toward their attendance. Please note that all students are required to participate in remote learning days in order for their attendance to be counted for that day.
Meals: Altura Preparatory School participates in the Seamless Summer Option (SSO) through the National School Lunch and Breakfast Program. All Altura Prep students are eligible to receive free meals for days that they are learning on campus or learning at home due to a hybrid/remote learning modality. Families should contact the school office at 505-539-5369 to learn more about reserving their child's meals.
Facility Preparedness: Altura Preparatory School's air filtration system has been updated to use MERV-13 filters. MERV 13 filters are effective for eliminating contaminants including bacteria, most tobacco smoke, sneeze particles, cooking oil, paint pigments, and fine facial powders in addition to larger particulates like pollen, pet dander, dust and dust mites, mold spores, insect debris, textile and carpet fibers, sanding and have been recommended to use as part of our school's COVID-19 mitigation plan. Additional custodial hours have been contracted in order to maintain a clean and sanitized facility, utilizing CDC recommended cleaning products. For detailed information about cleaning protocols, please reference the Cleaning Guidelines and Protocols document linked below.
Hand-washing: Altura Prep has installed additional hand sanitizing and hand washing stations within the school. On arrival, after recess, and before and after lunch, students will wash their hands in structured hand-washing sessions.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Will there still be transportation?: will continue to be provided. Students will be socially distanced on the bus, with the driver enforcing assigned seats.
What do we need to know about remote learning?: Please see the Altura Preparatory School Reentry Plan Linked below for an overview of school remote learning structures. See the Remote Learning Expectations document linked below for an overview of the expectations of students and families while learning at home.
Can we travel and come back to school?: We know many families may have made travel plans. We ask that you review the below guidance prior to deciding to travel or keep travel plans. Please click the link to visit the NMDOH Coronavirus webpage. For in-depth information, visit https://cv.nmhealth.org/
Will special education services continue?: Yes, students with IEPs will continue to receive services during both remote and in person/hybrid schedules. For more detail on how these will be provided during Remote Learning, see the linked Reentry Plan below.
Will meals be provided?: Yes, students learning in person will be able to eat school breakfast and lunch on those days. Students learning at home may take home meals for remote learning days. To be added to the remote meal list, please contact the school office at 505-539-5369.
What if my child forgets his/her/their mask?: We strongly encourage all students to wear a clean face mask to school each day. The school will be able to provide a mask to students who forget theirs.
How will school supplies work? : All students will be given their own box of school supplies that will remain with them at their seats. There will not be community supplies.
What will happen at lunch time?: Based on guidance from the CDC and Department of Health, the Altura Prep cafeteria will be closed. Students will eat in their cohort classrooms. Students may still eat school lunch (sack lunches), or bring a lunch from home. UPDATE: for full reentry, students will eat lunch outside.
Will my child still receive a report card?: Altura Prep grades students on their progress towards mastery of grade level skills and content. Your child's report card will continue to do so!
Can I come visit my child's classroom?: Altura Preparatory School is employing a strict "no visitors" rule during the 2020-21 school year to minimize exposure as much as possible.
How will I receive updates?: Altura Prep will notify families of updates and changes via school e-newsletter and classroom ClassTag messages. Please contact the office at 505-539-5369 for assistance with any of these methods.
Other resources:
We know that there are going to be many families across the state who may be facing financial hardships. Please share the following link https://www.newmexico.
Information on Minimizing COVID-19 Spread:
The virus is spread mainly from person-to-person.
- Between people who are in close contact with one another (within about 6 feet).
- Through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes.
These droplets can land in the mouths or noses of people who are nearby or possibly be inhaled into the lungs.
Resources from the Center for Disease Control:
New Mexico Department of Health: