The Pagosa Peak Open School board of directors met yesterday for our regular monthly meeting. (I’m one of the board members.) We didn’t “meet” in the normal fashion, however. Out of respect for the “social distancing” currently recommended by public health authorities and politicians, board president Ursala Hudson and School Director Angela Reali had set up a ‘virtual’ meeting whereby the board, staff and general public could participate in — or listen to — the discussions via an internet platform called Zoom.
Only five people were actually present in the Pagosa Peak school auditorium during the meeting; everyone else joined from home using a smart phone or computer. Participants included the board members, the school director, our business manager Chenni Hammon, teacher Thomas Davenport, Pagosa Springs SUN reporter Chris Mannara, Rotary Club representative Bethany Bieth, software specialist Jesse White — and two candidates who had applied for vacant board seats: Gary Hedgecock and Elly Osmera.
This is not a photo of yesterday’s meeting, but it gives a sense of what each of us experienced, visually, during the 2-hour Zoom meeting.
Participants had the option to “mute” their audio feed, allowing them to open a noisy bag of potato chips, for instance, without disturbing the other participants. (I didn’t actually see anyone open a bag of potato chips.)
Participants could also hide their own video feed and appear on the screen as a colored box.
I have no idea how secure and hacker-resistant the Zoom conferencing platform might be, but this was an open public meeting — as required by Colorado law. Anyone could have joined the conference call, free of charge, if they had access to a device. And anyone was welcome to attend in person at the school auditorium.
The main discussion, during the first hour, centered on interviews of the board candidates, Gary Hedgecock and Elly Osmera, both of whom made positive impressions on the current board members. Both were appointed to the board later in the evening by a unanimous vote.
We also heard, from School Director Angela Reali, an overview of the staff efforts to move instruction ‘online’ this week. Archuleta School District, of which Pagosa Peak Open School is part, announced the temporary closure of all Pagosa schools effective today, March 17.
St. Patrick’s Day.
It appears that ongoing instruction will need to be offered mainly via computers and phones, for at least the next couple of weeks. This will no doubt be especially challenging for a school like Pagosa Peak, where the Project Based Learning (PBL) educational model delivers instruction largely through hands-on, collaborative projects. We will be providing Chromebooks to families that do not own enough computers to accommodate all their children… but what if a family doesn’t have internet access? That’s another problem altogether.
One unpleasant event took place during the virtual board meeting.
Board member Julie Simmons — who is co-owner of Pagosa Brewing Company, along with her husband Tony Simmons — informed us that Governor Jared Polis had just issued an executive order, mandating the closure of dine-in services at restaurants and bars throughout Colorado in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19.
Polis also ordered gyms, casinos, theaters, coffeehouses, cigar bars, brewpubs and distillery pubs to close. The order is effective as of 8:00am today, March 17.
St. Patrick’s Day.
The new (hopefully very temporary) rule allows restaurants to continue to serve meals for delivery or carry-out, but not for in-person dining. It will reportedly stay in place for at least 30 days. We can safely assume that bars will not be able to provide delivery or carry-out services.
Some of our Daily Post readers may be wondering why Governor Polis felt the need to put this bar-closing order in place on St. Patrick’s Day, one of the more popular annual nights of free-wheeling, social, alcohol consumption. Apparently, it was specifically planned that way. From the Colorado Public Radio (CPR.com) website:
Nine other states have already taken action to close bars and restaurants, and, notably, Denver has already announced that bars and restaurants will not be allowed to seat patrons starting on Tuesday until May 11. But the state has moved more slowly.
That changed Monday afternoon as the Governor’s Expert Emergency Epidemic Response Committee voted to refer an order to Polis to put in place in advance of the looming St. Patrick’s Day holiday Tuesday.
Polis noted that there are 12,000 bars and restaurants statewide and he acknowledged the pain his order would cause for thousands of workers, but, he said, it was necessary to enforce “social distancing.” Experts recommend that people stay at least 6 feet away from each other to avoid spreading COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus.
“Our hearts go out,” to employees of affected businesses, Polis said.
Also part of yesterday’s announcement: the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) will be closed through at least April 18.
Over the weekend, Governor Polis ordered a closure of all Colorado ski areas, essentially through the rest of the season.
During his order announcement, Polis assured the taxpaying public that the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment would be available to answer questions of employers and workers in the industry.
We will have questions, I’m sure. One question might be: How well can the economy of a small, rural town like Pagosa Springs weather a storm of mandated business closures?
According to CPR.com, Colorado is now reporting 160 cases of COVID-19. One person has died of the disease. The state government assumes that many thousands of Coloradans may have been infected already, but have not yet been identified due to a lack of testing kits.
We have a curious situation here. We know that the vast majority of people who contract the novel coronavirus, and develop symptoms — fever, cough, nasal congestion and so on — will fully recover, and go on with their lives as healthy citizens.
One thing we don’t know, here in the US: How many people are carrying the virus, and are able to spread the disease… but will never show any symptoms, or will suffer only very minor symptoms?
Another thing we don’t know: How many people will see their lives permanently damaged because the government shut their businesses down? How many people will be unable to pay their mortgages or car payments or business loans — and see their financial condition deteriorate?
More than 160 cases?