Demonstrators at Capitol support reopening schools
A protest in support of schools reopening in-person classes for the upcoming school year amid the COVID-19 pandemic drew around 150 people Tuesday evening at the state Capitol.
The protest is called “AZ Open Our Schools Rally” and was organized for families and educators who want inperson learning options at Arizona schools.
Last week, Gov. Doug Ducey ordered schools to reopen for on-site learning on Aug. 17 for students who have nowhere else to go, but they do not have to open every school or require every teacher to show up to work in-person.
Attendees wore green to the demonstration at the state Capitol because “Green means GO for education!” according to the rally’s Facebook page.
Several speakers talked about school reopening plans.
“We don’t want to force people to do things they don’t want to do but we also don’t want to be forced to do things we don’t want to do, for example, online school,” a woman said to cheers from the crowd.
The protest comes after teachers rallied across the Valley last week to protest schools reopening for in-person classes as the number of COVID-19 cases remains high in Arizona. Some teachers are drafting their wills, a school board member said at a news conference earlier this month, and a few have already have died.
Organizers and speakers ask for choice to send kids in person
“It’s not about not caring for people, it’s about giving people choices,” said Laura Crandell, one of the organizers for the event, earlier in the day.
The gathering comes after Gov. Doug Ducey ordered the Arizona Department of Health Services to create a metric for reopening schools based on health data by Aug. 7.
The targeted date is past the start date of many Arizona schools, including Mesa Public Schools, the district that Crandell is in.
“As a former teacher, I think that the mask idea is going to be difficult for the younger grades. If that’s a concession that we need to make as advocates for opening schools — we’re willing to make concessions.”
Rebecca Clarkson Rally organizer
Crandell is a mother of two, and she said families and educators who are comfortable with being in the classroom this fall should have the option of inperson or online classes because some students learn better when they are in the classroom, she said.
She added that she believes there are enough safety-precautions put in place at schools to keep children safe.
At the event, organizer and mother Rebecca Clarkson said some of the criteria that need to be met for Arizona schools to reopen are unreasonable.
Ducey has ordered the Arizona Department of Health Services to set a metric for schools reopening using health data by Aug. 7. New York has already set such a metric: That state will reopen schools in communities where the daily infection rate remains 5% or lower over 14 days.
Clarkson criticized using a 5% infection rate as a benchmark.
“People aren’t just going in and taking their time out of their day just for fun to go get tested,” Clarkson said. “And so to see a 5% positivity rate isn’t going to happen anytime soon.”
When asked if she supported requiring kids to wear masks while in school, Clarkson said she didn’t think children should have to wear masks but would accept that requirement if it meant schools opening sooner.
“As a former teacher, I think that the mask idea is going to be difficult for the younger grades,” Clarkson said. “If that’s a concession that we need to make as advocates for opening schools — we’re willing to make concessions.”
Daniel McCarthy, who is running against U.S. Sen. Martha McSally in the Republican primary in August, said Gov.
Doug Ducey doesn’t have the authority to close businesses and that people need to take their country back.
“We’ve been down at this Capitol really since March advocating for the rights of transparency and advocating for certain things that I think all of us now are starting to call into question. We need to open our schools now,” he said to cheers.
Other speakers included a woman who said she was a nurse who works 12hour shifts and can’t homeschool her son, as well as a mother of five who called on Ducey to reopen schools and remove the mask mandate, saying masks can’t protect kids from depression, obesity and other issues that aren’t contagious.
After speeches ended, the crowd gathered for a group photo and dispersed around 7 p.m.
Arizona’s COVID-19 outbreak may be moderating
Arizona reported more than 2,100 new confirmed COVID-19 cases and 104 deaths on Tuesday. Hospital numbers slightly decreased on Monday, including inpatient hospitalizations, ICU beds in use and emergency visits from suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients, according to hospital data reported to the state.
But hospitals still remain under pressure with COVID-19 patients.
The Republic previously reported that testing hasn’t kept up with the spread of the virus. In the past three weeks, cases increased by 58% and tests increased by 42% — 12% of the tests from last week came back positive.