Arizona Department of Health Services Director Cara Christ and Gov. Doug Ducey address the reopening of schools at a press conference in Phoenix.
Gov. Doug Ducey says the “ultimate and final decisions” on reopening schools will be left to superintendents and principals.
PHOENIX — Gov. Doug Ducey is defending hard-and-fast limits on when businesses can reopen, while saying it’s OK for schools to send children back to class even if local health conditions do not meet the guidelines set by his state health director.
And Ducey said that, unlike the restrictions on businesses, he has no interest in making those safety guidelines for schools mandatory — even as some districts plan to reopen despite not meeting the benchmarks.
“We’ve got different variations of spread throughout the state,” Ducey said Thursday, adding that the state, and most of the counties, are “headed in the right direction.”
“So what we wanted to do is provide a menu of options and flexibility in the guidelines so there’s safety inside our schools,” he said. But he said the “ultimate and final decisions” go to superintendents and principals. “And I’m confident they’ll make good decisions,” he said.
The guidelines released last week say that schools should consider a three-part test before offering any in-person instruction:
- A decline in the number of COVID-19 cases for at least two weeks;
- Two weeks where the percentage of tests coming back positive for COVID-19 is less than 7%;
- Fewer than 10% of hospital visits for at least two weeks are for people with COVID-like symptoms.
The benchmarks are set on a county-by-county basis, with the guidelines saying all three conditions should be met.
As of Thursday, 11 counties met two of the three benchmarks, while Pima, Gila, Graham and Greenlee met only one.
The health department has set similar benchmarks for reopening of now-shuttered businesses. Only two counties, Cochise and Yavapai, have reached the point where spread is considered “moderate” and some of these businesses can reopen, albeit on a limited basis.
But while business activity is strictly regulated by those benchmarks, that’s not the case for schools.
Officials in several districts have announced they plan to start in-person instruction this coming week.
Ducey said he sees nothing wrong with that.
Some of it, he said, comes down to local conditions.
“Part of this is around being able to physically distance, wearing masks,” the governor said. “We have some school districts that are packed with children. We have others where there’s more room and availability.”
Asked about the benchmarks, he responded: “We’re not ignoring the benchmarks.”
“Many of the districts are close on the benchmarks,” Ducey said. “And they’re making decisions.”
That drew questions about why the same options are not open to businesses in counties where the governor said it’s safe enough to send kids to school.
“Because we’ve been in the unhappy but responsible business of dispersing large adult gatherings,” Ducey responded.
That, in turn, raised questions about whether it is safer to have large gatherings of children rather than large gatherings of adults.
“There’s still a lot that we’re trying to learn about the virus,” responded Dr. Cara Christ, the state health director.
For example, she said, it appears that children do not transmit the virus “as effectively as adults.” Still, Christ said, a lot is still unknown.
But is it a risk to send children back into the classroom?
“It’s going to depend on those mitigation measures,” Christ said.
“If they can appropriately physically distance, if they make them wear the masks, if they are able to cohort groups, that would be a safe environment for kids to return,” she said.
The last category involves keeping kids in the same group all day so that if there is an outbreak it spreads only to that group and not the entire school.
Anyway, Christ said she believes the issue of where kids learn — at home or in class — goes beyond the question of safety.
“There’s so many things that happen at school that are important for the appropriate growth and development of children that if we can get them back into the classroom, we want to get them back in the classroom,” she said.
The safety question is controversial. In Queen Creek Unified School District, for example, some teachers have resigned since the school board voted 4-1 to reopen earlier this week. Ducey made it clear he’s not siding with those teachers.
“I support the principals, I support the superintendents and I support the parents,” he said when asked about the situation. “I feel that they have the best interests of the kids at heart.”
The governor said teachers also have the interests of children in mind, but seemed to separate those willing to return from those who are not.
“There’s a lot of teachers that can’t wait to get to the front of the classroom,” he said.
On the subject of businesses, the governor brushed aside a series of lawsuits accusing him of acting illegally, including keeping their operations closed and preventing landlords from evicting tenants who have not been paying rent.
“My reaction is, get in line, all right?” he responded. “We’re doing everything we can to protect people in this state, to protect the most vulnerable through a public-health emergency and an economic disruption,” Ducey said. “And we’ll continue to do it.”
As schools open doors across U.S., there is a surge in positive cases among children
Is your child giving you a hard time about wearing a mask? Experts give their tips
1. Let children ask questions
Lorraine Breffni, the executive director of Early Childhood at Nova Southeastern University’s University School Mailman Segal Center, said that all ages of children will have questions about face coverings. She said it’s important to get their cooperation with wearing masks.
The younger they are, the more basic the answers should be.
“Parents should say it’s to help them keep from getting themselves and getting other people sick,” said Breffni.
There are also social stories, learning tools for people with autism spectrum disorders, available online to introduce mask-wearing to children. Del Río-Roberts recommended these three (link 1 | link 2 | link 3).
“Start to process with the child ahead of time before the expectation that they’re supposed to be in school for an extended period of time,” said Del Río-Roberts.
2. Give time to transition
The first time a child wears a mask for an extended period of time should not be the first day of school. Parents should practice mask-wearing at home and make it a fun activity for the children by adding it to their places of play.
For children in special education, Del Río-Roberts suggested to slowly expose them for 15 minutes at a time and increase from there. Positive reinforcement — like a snack or extra playtime — is important, even if the child doesn’t reach the goal.
“Start early and start incrementally,” said Del Río-Roberts.
3. Customize masks
Just as adults have preferences for the type of mask they wear, children do as well. Adults should be flexible and allow children to experiment with what kind of mask they wear, whether medical, cloth or other types.
This also allows the tone of the mask to change. Children can personalize their masks with their favorite animals or cartoon characters.
4. Turn it into a routine
Breffni said it’s important that parents destress and make mask wearing an everyday task, just like brushing teeth.
Both experts advised against using punitive measures if children have difficulty keeping their masks on. For special needs children, Del Río-Roberts said to redirect their attention.
“If they’re trying to grab it, move their hand or shift their attention to another task,” said Del Río-Roberts.
5. Learn by example
Children will notice and emulate adults complaining about wearing a mask every day.
“If we make it an everyday practice and don’t push our own fears, they can take it very matter-of-factly,” said Breffni.
There is also more to preventative measures than wearing masks, and adults should use positive reinforcement to encourage good hygiene in all aspect of their lives.
Some Tucson charter and private schools reopen, prompting complaints about safety
Some Tucson charter and private schools have reopened for traditional in-person learning despite Pima County falling short of meeting state benchmarks to safely do so.
The decision to reopen by the schools, which serve thousands of Tucson children, have prompted concerns about public health during the pandemic and complaints of packed classrooms and lax mask-wearing.
“Each school is grappling with the spread of COVID-19 in their community, which is why it’s imperative that schools heed the concerns of teachers, parents and families in making evidence-based decisions,” said Arizona schools chief Kathy Hoffman.
Those evidenced-based decisions may be made in consultation with benchmarks set by the Arizona Department of Health Services, which lay out when virtual learning, hybrid models and in-person instruction are recommended based on data related to hospital visits, a decline in cases and the percentage of positive coronavirus tests.
However, the state’s reopening metrics are merely suggestions, not something schools are required to follow.
As of Thursday, Pima had met two of the three state criteria, failing to have two consecutive weeks with fewer than 7% positive COVID-19 tests.
Though Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey has said the decision to make the health metrics optional is designed to give communities autonomy, some schools may be incentivized to open their doors for a shot at state grants, which allot higher funding amounts for those that physically put children in seats.
Schools that opt to primarily offer virtual learning may also qualify for the grants to assist with funding shortfalls that result from a decline in enrollment and the cost of coronavirus-related measures, but at lower amounts.
Tucson’s nine major school districts continue to primarily offer remote learning, with the exception of those offering on-site care as required by the state to at-risk students. Even then, two schools have been closed and classrooms on one campus were shuttered following confirmed cases in both children and adults.
QUESTIONABLE PRACTICES
Leman Academy of Excellence, with four campuses throughout Tucson serving more than 2,500 children, resumed in-person classes on Aug. 17. Just two days later, a staffer from the east campus, at 10100 E. Golf Links Road, filed a complaint with Pima County.
Though the charter is offering remote learning for families who want that option, the complaint described 26 to 28 students packed into a room that is 27-by-27 feet with additional furniture, built-in shelves, and walkways at the back and the front of the class, leaving about 1 foot of space between desks.
Leman Academy of Excellence Head of Schools Dennis M. O’Reilly would not answer any questions from the Star. Safety measures shared on the school’s website include grade-level cohorts, enhanced cleaning, continuing recess with disinfection of equipment between use, teachers rotating classrooms instead of students, mask requirements for all students and social distancing when possible.
Three teachers at three local Leman schools also told the Star about crowded classrooms with children sitting less than 3 feet apart; they said roughly 60% of the student body is attending in person; there is no social distancing in hallways or on playgrounds; masks are not being worn consistently by children and some staff members; cleaning is inadequate; and teacher safety is not prioritized.
Kelsey Montaño, a parent at Leman Academy in Marana, opted for remote learning for the first quarter. Although Montaño felt Leman’s plan had a lot of good precautionary measures, she says social distancing with that many kids in the classroom is “almost impossible."
“Honestly, I was surprised that they went back as soon as they did,” she said. “I thought they were geared for protection. And then all of a sudden they’re going back in person. That did kind of feel rushed. It was kind of unexpected.”
The Leman Academy governing board voted to return to in-person instruction on Aug. 10, giving teachers one week’s notice they would be returning to the classroom.
O’Reilly sent a letter to families the week of Aug. 17 that included a USA Today opinion article by Dr. Elinore McCance-Katz, assistant health and human services secretary for mental health and substance abuse. McCance-Katz argued that schools should reopen because the mental health impacts on children outweigh the risk of the virus.
“The Trump administration and I simply believe that all children have a right to an education, which means the right to attend public schools and all parents have the right to weigh the very real risk of harm from being out of school against the risk of potential harm from COVID-19,” the article says.
Pima County’s school liaison team addresses all complaints directly with schools, said Aaron Pacheco, Pima County Health Department spokesman. The county tells them about the complaint and provides education specific to COVID-19 prevention at schools.
DATA INTERPRETATION
After the Leman Academy governing board voted to return to in-person instruction, the board governing Legacy Traditional Schools quickly followed suit, voting on Aug. 13 to reopen on Aug. 24.
On Aug. 23, Legacy Superintendent Nicole Kirkley sent a letter to families saying the schools were meeting the state’s guidelines for reopening for in-person learning.
That wasn’t the case, however, in Pima County, where the north Tucson campus is located.
“The current data indicates a moderate spread (yellow), which according to ADHS indicates a hybrid learning model where some students are in physical buildings and some are distance learning,” Kirkley wrote.
The data that Legacy was relying on wasn’t on the Arizona Department of Health Services’ page of benchmarks for schools and child care but buried in the “laboratory testing” data point, which provided more up-to-date, although incomplete, data.
Health officials don’t use data from the most recent three weeks when gauging safety in reopening schools because it is incomplete and changes due to delayed test results and data cleaning, which includes taking out duplicates if someone got tested more than once in a short period of time or transferring cases if a person got tested in Pima but lives in another county, Pima County’s Pacheco said.
“Due to delays in how soon people get tested, how soon those results are reported, and the need to verify and correct that data, it would be misleading to use current statistics ... to make such important decisions,” Pacheco said.
When told that the data was not reliable because it’s incomplete, Legacy spokesman Matthew Benson said, “The data is always quote unquote incomplete.
“To say that Pima County isn’t going to use any numbers from the last two or three weeks because they consider it, quote unquote incomplete and so then everybody just has to be in a state of flux, that’s absurd,” he said.
Besides the decline in cases in Pima County, the Legacy governing board voted to return to in-person instruction because of its comprehensive health and safety plan, Benson said, which includes universal mask wearing, social distancing, reduced class sizes, different traffic patterns in hallways and enhanced sanitation protocols.
The other key factor is “this is what Legacy families have been pleading for,” Benson said. “The demand has been overwhelming from Legacy families.”
He said 30% to 40% of students opted for remote learning while 60% are in person, for an average of 20 students in a class. According to last year’s enrollment, 60% of the school would be 715 students.
Caroline Wagner, a library aide who worked at the Tucson school for nine years, decided to quit at the prospect of going back so soon.
Wagner has a heart issue that puts her at higher risk. She would have been going into five classrooms a day, seeing 100 to 150 kids daily, she says.
“It was a hard decision because I loved my job,” she said. “I loved working with the kids, but I didn’t feel like I should have to risk my life for my job. And I’m one of the lucky ones because I didn’t have to work. I was working because I enjoyed it.”
Three local Legacy teachers told the Star other staff members had resigned, something Benson said he wasn’t aware of. They also shared concerns about inconsistent mask wearing amongst students, and a lack of social distancing in class and at lunch.
Wagner says if the school had waited until after Labor Day to open like most schools across Tucson are doing, she may not have left.
PRIVATE-SCHOOL COMPLAINTS
Two Tucson private schools — Pusch Ridge Christian Academy and Casas Christian School — were the focus of other complaints to Pima County, specifically about mask-wearing, which is mandated countywide for anyone over 5 years old.
Pusch Ridge, which serves about 700 students in grades K-12, opened for in-person instruction on Aug. 17. Families were told in a letter from the school’s headmaster, the Rev. Allen Cooney, that the school would “extend the general requirement of wearing cloth face masks” for the upper grades for two weeks, but that the requirement does not pertain to children in kindergarten through fifth grade.
Cooney told the Star via email that Pusch Ridge was taking a number of safety precautions, including screening for symptoms, physical distancing, hiring health service coordinators, forming a medical advisory board, frequent hand-washing and sanitizing, reduced class sizes, plexiglass barriers, one-way hallways, staggered lunch times, added precautions for vulnerable teachers, and training for students, and the faculty and staff.
The younger grades are in cohorts of 13 to 18 students, “meaning they don’t trade classrooms like middle school/high school classes do,” Cooney said.
Casas Christian did not respond to questions from the Star. But its reentry plan online says masks are required in special classes like Spanish, music and art, and that fourth through eighth grade students need to wear masks when they leave the classroom and are in hallways.
They also have a modified seating plan that includes three children facing each other at one table with 33 inches between them, the continuation of recess and school sports, maximum group sizes of 50 and teachers disinfecting knobs, student desks and chairs at the end of each class.
“Our specific COVID-19 response processes and rationale are ... the result of prayerful collaboration between church, school staff and school board personnel,” the plan says.
"Mustang Stampede"
Maddy Jacobs, 7, middle, reaches for her remote learning tool kit from her teacher, Kris Green, as her friend, Carly Kupinski, 6, watches during a "Mustang Stampede" at Manzanita Elementary School for the first day of school on August 17, 2020.
First Day of School, John B. Wright Elementary
Augusta Iranzi, center, attends his teachers online class while monitors Jasmine Phillip, left, and Nadifo Yusuf, watch students inside a classroom at John B. Wright Elementary School, 4311 E. Linden St., in Tucson, Ariz. on August 17, 2020. About 10 students came to school for online instruction under the guidance of classroom monitors.
"Mustang Stampede"
Lily Baser, 8, identifies herself for easy remote learning tool kit pickup during a "Mustang Stampede" at Manzanita Elementary School for the first day of school on August 17, 2020.
"Mustang Stampede"
Krista Westmoreland, left, a third grade teacher, shows the remote learning tool kit of a student to Anna Ames, music teacher, during the "Mustang Stampede" at Manzanita Elementary School for the first day of school on August 17, 2020.
"Mustang Stampede"
Maya Brown, 9, rides in style for her remote learning tool kit pickup during a "Mustang Stampede" at Manzanita Elementary School for the first day of school on August 17, 2020.
"Mustang Stampede"
Multiage teachers Kris Green left, and April Pollow greet and cheer on their students during a "Mustang Stampede" at Manzanita Elementary School for the first day of school on August 17, 2020.
"Mustang Stampede"
Maddy Jacobs, 7, left, waves to her teacher as she stands in the sunroof with her friend, Carly Kupinski, 6, during a "Mustang Stampede" to pickup their remote learning tool kit at Manzanita Elementary School for the first day of school on August 17, 2020.
"Mustang Stampede"
For the first day of school teachers at Manzanita Elementary School greeted their students during a "Mustang Stampede" and handed out remote learning tool kits on August 17, 2020.
"Mustang Stampede"
Kim Boling, principal at Manzanita Elementary School, greets her students and parents with a mustang during the "Mustang Stampede" for the first day of school on August 17, 2020.
First Day of School, John B. Wright Elementary
Yarani Martinez gives a monitor a thumbs up to inform the monitor that his online class is working after classes began at John B. Wright Elementary School, 4311 E. Linden St., in Tucson, Ariz. on August 17, 2020. About 10 students came to school for online instruction under the guidance of classroom monitors.
First Day of School, John B. Wright Elementary
Alice Flores, right, watches as her grandson Jesus Silva is escorted to the cafeteria before classes began at John B. Wright Elementary School, 4311 E. Linden St., in Tucson, Ariz. on August 17, 2020. About 10 students came to school for online instruction under the guidance of classroom monitors.
First Day of School, John B. Wright Elementary
Augusta Iranzi follows the directions on the floor while being escorted to a classroom at John B. Wright Elementary School, 4311 E. Linden St., in Tucson, Ariz. on August 17, 2020. About 10 students came to school for online instruction under the guidance of classroom monitors.
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