School reopening guidelines out for my grandson in Arizona.

[rurallib]

My daughter is LIVID!

Basically he district will just be sending them back to school. 6 week they had to come up with plans and they did nothing.

Any body out there working on trying to get schools delayed longer so boards can make a real attempt at protecting teachers and students?
Anyone organizing calls to Ducey's office of state legislators?

[Mike 03]

1. But what about the statement released by the AZ Dept of Education?

Is your grandson's school not covered by this? Or are they going to open in spite of the statement? Or am I not understanding what the AZDE is saying?

“Educators, school staff, and families share the goal of reopening our schools and returning students to the classroom to ensure their physical, academic, social, and emotional needs are met. Like the American Academy of Pediatrics and the CDC, teachers know that the best place for our students to learn is in the classroom. However, today’s discussion at the White House Summit on Safely Reopening America’s Schools did not reflect the magnitude or severity of Arizona’s growing public health crisis.

“For Arizona to reopen school facilities for in-person learning, we must first get COVID-19 under control. In the last two weeks, our confirmed cases doubled from 50,000 to 100,000. Hospitalizations for COVID-19 are up, and critical care services such as ventilators are at a record high use. The positivity rate in testing is between 25 percent to 30 percent – quadruple the 5 percent that experts recommend for making informed decisions about reopening. Today, Arizona has the highest infection rate per capita than any other state in the country – including New York during its April peak.

...snip...

“I welcome more aggressive action from Governor Ducey and our public health officials to help mitigate the virus’s spread. The reality of COVID–19 in Arizona means that reopening schools will be a community effort in which we all have a role to play. Stay home, maintain physical distancing, wash your hands, and wear a mask when you are in public. It is only with statewide action and personal responsibility that we will find a pathway forward for our students and educators to return to the classroom.”

https://www.azed.gov/communications/2020/07/07/superintendent-hoffmans-response-to-the-white-house-summit-on-safely-reopening-americas-schools/

[rurallib]

2. I just talked to my daughter

she and husband read the guidelines the school board sent out last night and according to her it looked like there was going to be some nods tot he corona virus. She said there really wasn't much.

From some googling I did I saw that statement. I was trying to figure out if the AZDE was trying to back Ducey or was throwing down a gauntlet. From what I have heard Aug. 17th is a carved in stone date for school reopening.

I do not think my daughter saw that since it appears to have been issued about the same time her school district posted their school opening documents.

I am sitting 2000 miles away and am quite concerned with what is going on down there. Ducey has shown himself to be little more than a Trump toady during the coronavirus crisis.

Rereading what you posted it appears that AZED is showing some opposition to Ducey's 'open at all cost' policy.

Thank you.

[Mike 03]

4. I hope it works out. Like you, I don't trust Ducey one bit, and I wasn't sure what to make

of the statement. It seems quite firm, but maybe there's something going on I don't understand. I don't really know how much autonomy schools/Departments of Education have against demands by a governor or a president.

The situation seems very fluid.

Best of luck to you, your daughter and your grandchild. I'll try to keep informed about this situation and post anything that seems relevant.

[rurallib]

6. Thanks

[SWBTATTReg]

3. I suspect that parents will keep kids at home if they feel like it is unsafe for their kids (...

and I don't blame them). My sister's niece kept her two kids out of summer school when some kids at their school tested positive for the CV (in SW Missouri). Talk about a breeding ground for spreading the CV around. Gathering of people should be avoiding to stop the spread of the CV and this (talk of reopening schools) is NOT the way to do it.

rump is a pathetic moron. why is anyone even paying the slightest bit of attention to this idiot?

[Kali]

5. is your daughter's family available to home school?

that is an option for those that have the means/fortitude

I did it for a semester with my oldest son way back in the day and other than a little trauma with math (for him, not me) he did fine.

I wonder why there isn't more discussion about this? AZ is pretty free wheeling about this - lots of fundies home school. maybe time for others to take a stand on it too, if they are going to try to force kids and educators into unsafe situations...

[rurallib]

7. yes. They are in a very good position.

They could home school as daughter is not working currently. She is an accredited HS science teacher so home schooling is an option, but they would much rather have him in school especially for the socializing aspects.

Private school is also an option. But they really like the school he is in, so top choice is to stay there. Provided they can feel he will be safe.
Plus he has many friends in his school.

[madeup64]

8. Live in Phoenix - 2 kids

The two school districts I personally have to deal with are Washington Elementary and Mesa Public Schools Districts. Both are saying that it will be distance learning for at least 30 days if not longer. Both are going to make students able to continue distance learning even if in-person learning starts and they don't feel comfortable doing that.

Both school districts are providing laptops for students as well.

Washington Elementary School District approved a contract with T-Mobile to provide hotspot services for students and faculty at home for a with the option for two more years. So that seems to be thinking long term which is a good sign.

You can Google the school board's website and search for yourself to see what information is out there because I get phone calls and emails regularly letting me know what's going on. I would be very interested to see what rural Arizona schools are doing considering that they're probably more likely to be on the hoax side of the pandemic.