District One to resume in-person learning 5 days a week in March

Remote instruction opportunities will still be offered

Yuma School District One will transition to in-person instruction five days a week beginning March 8, retaining remote learning opportunities for families who wish to continue learning in that modality.

In a special meeting held by the district governing board Thursday afternoon, Superintendent James Sheldahl noted that COVID-19 metrics in Yuma County are on a steep decline and are anticipated to plummet further, as current data tracked by the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) indicates a roughly 11% positivity rate in reported COVID-19 cases.

“It indicates that the downward trend is continuing,” Sheldahl said. “Like with any statistic, the closer you get to zero... the curve tends to flatten out.”

The ADHS releases updates spanning a two-week reporting period every Thursday at www.azdhs.gov/covid/19. Sheldahl noted that the district has

been monitoring this data in order to best inform its decision-making.

On Aug. 17, the district began the 2020-2021 school year in a remote learning format, transitioned to a two-day hybrid format – in which student cohorts attended class in-person two days each week with three days of remote learning – on Oct. 1 and reverted to remote learning district-wide Nov. 30. For the majority of the school year, between 123 and 295 students have utilized the district’s on-site support services five days a week on even some of the worst days of the pandemic.

According to Sheldahl, stringent mitigation plans have proven “safe and successful” in keeping COVID-19 transmission at bay in District One schools, as nearly every positive case reported to the district originated at home or another close-contact setting outside of school walls.

Echoed by Associate Superintendent for School Improvement Suzanne Alka, the district does not have “confirmed evidence of spreading or contracting COVID-19 on these campuses.”

Currently, the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine is being offered to all district staff. On March 3, 60% of district teachers, including substitutes, will have had their first and second dose of the vaccine; an additional 7% is slated to receive their second dose March 11.

On-site COVID-19 testing continues to be available to district students and staff, providing results in 15 minutes. According to district health service coordinator Kim Sweney, 43 students were tested via drive-thru options and school health offices between Jan. 13 and Feb. 10, with no positive cases identified. Between Jan. 12 and Feb. 10, health service personnel tested 97 staff members, identifying 12 positive cases.

“I’m about 99% sure that our students are not passing on the virus among themselves,” said Sweney. “All of the (positive) tests have been the adults, and many, many of those that we know of have all come from outside – in the home, they went to parties, they were home and somebody got sick from another worksite. With our protocols, cleaning like we have been and wearing the masks, distancing and washing hands, we have healthy buildings.”

To gauge families’ interest in returning to in-person instruction, principals surveyed parents from various corners of the district’s boundaries; this feedback resulted in a “mixed bag” of questions and emotions, with their students’ health and safety remaining a top priority.

“We have a number of parents who just want their kids back in school and are worried just as much about the social/emotional piece that their kids are going through as the academic loss that many of them are seeing,” said O.C. Johnson Elementary School Principal Angela Logan. “We’ve had parents (who are) angry, we’ve had parents crying, we’ve had parents overwhelmed (and) we still have parents who are scared to send their kids to school.”

According to Logan and principals Matt Buckley, Ashley Fox and Kevin Gettings, majority of the parents surveyed indicated they preferred a plan outlining the particulars of returning to a traditional learning modality; the district will spend the next three weeks further developing and communicating these plans.

“It’s important (to note) that parents will have a choice to stay home or to send their child to school,” Sheldahl said. “The teachers will have had the opportunity to be vaccinated and, therefore, protected.”