Ever since the administration of El Paso County School District 49 announced all schools and programs were suspended on March 12 until further notice, district leadership has been working to keep operations on both the business side and the education side running smoothly.Peter Hilts, chief education officer, said the transition to remote working and learning has not been easy.ìAll of our jobs have gotten more complicated because our routines and our systems and processes were not built for remote learning or remote working,î he said. ìIt is like trying to stand up an entirely new organization in a new format. Some jobs do not translate to online mode, but we are being patient.îThe district will remain on an electronic learning schedule for the remainder of the year, and the administration has rebranded the education side ìE 49î during the crisis, Hilts said.ìWe say that E 49 is open for learning and D 49 is open for business,î he said. ìAll our mission-critical functions are still operating, including our board of education.îWhile the rebranding may sound lighthearted, Hilts said the district is aware of the enormous burden of supervision and attention the switch to e-learning has placed on families, especially parents. He said they do not have a solution to that problem now but have empathy because many district staff members are parents, too.For the most part, D 49 teachers are working as much if not more than normal, which can be a burden on them, Hilts said. The district has not had to consider layoffs, he said.ìBased on how the economy does, we know there will be a significant impact to our budget,î Hilts said. ìWe know it will be a negative impact, but we are not certain of the magnitude.îThere will be ripples from lost learning and lost assessments, since e-learning is not how the district is generally designed to function; and state assessments have been canceled for the rest of the school year, he said. The district will do its best to work with students who need extra help to bring them back on pace, Hilts said. It is still unclear what next school year will look like, he said.Overall, the community has been supportive and the district is doing everything it can to provide the type of education expected at D 49, he said.ìWe are very grateful for the kind of support we have seen, not just from the students and their families but from the community as a whole,î Hilts said. ìWe do not take that for granted and we appreciate it.î
