{"id":2455784,"date":"2020-03-14T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-14T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=322638"},"modified":"2020-03-14T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-03-14T06:00:00","slug":"aspen-schools-join-growing-list-of-closures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/aspen-schools-join-growing-list-of-closures\/","title":{"rendered":"Aspen schools join growing list of closures"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Aspen\u2019s public school system shut down Friday and will roll next week\u2019s closure into the March 23 to 30 spring break in what has become an expanding community-wide effort to limit the spread of the coronavirus through social distancing.<\/p>\n

Friday morning\u2019s announcement by interim Superintendent Tom Heald confirmed what a number of parents and staff had expected while awaiting the official word.<\/p>\n

Roaring Fork and Garfield Re-2 schools districts \u2014 which include public schools Basalt, Carbondale, Glenwood Springs, New Castle, Silt and Rifle \u2014 also announced closures next week leading into their March 19 to 29 spring breaks.<\/p>\n

Heald said the decision to close the Aspen schools came after consulting with state officials, noting in an email to the school community that \u201ctoday provides a bit of time for the ASD community to reassure each other that we are safe \u2014 there is much fear tied to this viral event \u2014 and to have time together prior to a two-week separation (that) will give each and every one of our staff time to share stories, have closure and construct meaning for how to navigate this new normal of social isolation.\u201d<\/p>\n

During a media briefing Friday, Heald said the school facilities and vehicles will undergo a \u201cdeep cleaning\u201d next week. Nearly the entire staff and faculty will be away from the campus during the closure, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will have a few staff who are necessary for operations and management of the district who will be here during that time,\u201d he said. \u201cBut for all the rest of the staff, the message is that we don\u2019t want you on campus during this window of full closure.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an email to faculty and staff, Heald ruled out online class instruction because the district \u201cis not currently prepared to implement a fully compliant distance learning model on short notice.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also noted that undertaking an online model at this time would not create a level playing field for those enrolled at the 1,728-student district, which includes an on-campus preschool and the K-8 Aspen Community School in Woody Creek. That\u2019s partly because not all students would have ready access to learning materials, technology and WiFi, and also because students, parents and teachers aren\u2019t adequately trained, the email said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf educational services are being delivered to students in any form, those services must be provided to all students, including students who don\u2019t have access to technology at home and students receiving special education, English Language Learning, and Gifted and Talented services,\u201d the email said. \u201cAt ASD, it will make more sense to cancel school altogether than to organize a learning model that cannot be accessed equitably by all students.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schools principals emailed parents about steps moving forward, including a list of suggested educational websites, Chromebook apps and extensions for their children to use.<\/p>\n

An email from Liz Meador, the interim principal of Aspen Middle School, urged parents to \u201cmonitor your child\u2019s use of social media, and encourage educational tools instead of just video games. Remind your child of our school\u2019s commitment to being good digital citizens. Finally, we trust that our students will be reading, writing and thinking about important topics with you every day!\u201d<\/p>\n

Aspen Elementary School Principal Chris Basten reminded parents that teachers won\u2019t have an online presence next week \u201cso that they can attend to their own well-being and that of their families and loved ones.\u201d<\/p>\n

As of Friday, the Pitkin County and Basalt libraries remained open to the public.<\/p>\n

rcarroll@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aspen\u2019s public school system shut down Friday and will roll next week\u2019s closure into the March 23 to 30 spring break in what has become an expanding community-wide effort to limit the spread of the coronavirus through social distancing. Friday morning\u2019s announcement by interim Superintendent Tom Heald confirmed what a number of parents and staff […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2455784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-18 10:47:48","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2455784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2455784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2455784\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2455784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2455784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2455784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}