3 districts call off school Thursday
Parents asked to make alternative arrangements for children as teachers set for walkout
Yuma District One, Somerton and Gadsden schools will be closed Thursday as area teachers stage a walkout to protest education funding in Arizona.
District One will be closed Friday as well.
“After a review of all of the information, it has been determined that, due to the high volume of employee participants in the #RedforEd walkout, it was best to close our schools,” District One said in a release to local media Monday afternoon.
The superintendents of the Yuma Union High School District and Crane Schools said they would be making a decision about school closures today and would communicate that by this afternoon. Both districts have FAQ pages on their websites for more information.
Districts, in letters that went home with students Monday, are asking parents to make alternative arrangements for their children for Thursday, when teachers plan to walk along Fourth Avenue from near 32nd Street to 16th Street to bring awareness to the ongoing education funding debate in Phoenix.
Critics point out that Gov. Doug Ducey has offered teachers a 20 percent pay increase, however, #RedForEd organizers point out that the governor’s plan has no sustainable funding source.
District One will serve meals at all of its school campuses with breakfast from 8:30 to 9 and lunch from 11:30 to 12:30. Locally, The Treehouse Kids Club; The Big Red Barn Preschool; and the Girl Scouts of Southern Arizona have available child care options for parents.
Any missed days would have to be made up, district superintendents explained, though many aren’t sure what they will need to do, as they are awaiting guidance from the Arizona Department of Education.
Somerton School Superintendent Laura Noel explained that instruction time is actually calculated in minutes, not days, and those are set by the state Legislature.
“(Each) grade bands have different amounts of minutes required. Most minutes are annual, some weekly and some daily,” she said. “There is talk that the meeting of the minutes required will be more important than the number of days, but that seems to not be known.”
Noel said there is some debate among school attorneys about whether a school could be sure the minutes are met and not make up actual days.
“Until we know how many days are affected, it is hard to determine what we will or won’t make up and
how,” she said. “The conversations center around full days instead of the once a week half day, a Saturday or extending the end of year.”
While Crane has not made a decision about whether to close schools yet, the district is already having conversations about when their make-up days would be.
“If any of our schools close, we will need to make the day(s) up and our Governing Board would need to approve those dates. We are tentatively planning for May 5, 12, 19, 26, June 1, June 2, etc.,” said Crane Superintendent Laurie Doering.
District One Superintendent Jamie Sheldahl said that districts are awaiting word from the ADE on their make-up days. The district will make up two days, he said, possibly extending the calendar beyond May 30.
Some districts, such as YUHSD, do have some extra minutes built into their school calendars, Thompson said.
“Depending on other ‘emergency’ situations that arise or have occurred on a campus, the make-up time may vary,” she said. “We would not use Saturdays. If necessary, the calendar may be extended as required by minutes necessary per requirements.”
But those “extra minutes” do get used, Thompson pointed out. She noted the Cibola High School sewer incident, in which a line ruptured overnight. “That cost us a day of instruction at that campus.”
Thompson did say at a community safety forum Monday night at Yuma High School that graduation day is not going to move.
“Too many people have already bought plane tickets and made plans,” she said.
Thompson did note that students may have to attend classes after graduation, depending on how long the walk-out lasts.
One parent asked how that would happen, if teacher contracts end on the last day of school.
YUHSD Communications Director Eric Patten said that is the “million dollar” question, and one that districts are waiting on word from ADE to settle.
Alicia Williams, executive director of the Arizona State Board of Education, which is the governing body that holds authority over teacher certificates, noted that “a school district or a member of the public can file a complaint against a certificated individual by contacting the Investigative Unit at the Department of Education.”
Williams also provided a copy of the 1971 opinion from then-Attorney General’s Gary Nelson’s office, which is based on “common law.”
“Yuma 1 has not made any claims on certifications,” said Ron Watson teacher Pat Miller of his talks with district administrators of whether teachers would face any disciplinary action.
Patten said while YUHSD does not support the teachers’ walkout, administrators will not be “making claims” on teachers’ certificates.
Presidents of Crane and the Somerton governing boards could not be reached for comment.