How a Small Colorado County Prioritized In-Person Learning in the Face of COVID-19, While Protecting its Tourism-based Economy
Over the past year, Chaffee County, Colorado has managed to do something few outlying counties across this state — or this country– have done: support in-person learning for its two school districts. As February fades into March, the roughly 2,246 children ages K -12 of this county, with only a few blips, have been educated in-person for the entire school year. How this county has accomplished this may be a lesson for all counties, no matter their size.
“We prioritized in-person learning; we made it our top priority,” said Chaffee County Director of Public Health Andrea Carlstrom. “After last spring, when everything shut down, we realized that getting our kids back in regular classrooms was critical. So as a county, and as a leadership roundtable, we worked together to get kids back to in-person classes in August and to keep them there.”