Dist. One using parent feedback to guide reopening plans

With feedback from parents and staff paired with state and local guidance, Yuma School District One is still “hard at work developing reasonable and responsible learning tracks that meet the various needs of students,” Superintendent Jamie Sheldahl said in Friday’s weekly Return to Learning update.

According to the update, the district has received over 2,500 parent survey responses on the reopening of district schools Aug. 3. These responses represent over 4,000 and are helping drive the direction of the district’s planning process.

Of the responses, 82.2% of families were in favor of or considering returning to some form of in-person learning, while the remaining 17.8% answered that their children will not return to in-person learning at this time.

The results also indicated that parents’ most preferred route is to reopen under a remote-only first, “followed closely by a traditional learning track.” If their children return to in-person learning, the majority of parents said they’d like to see hand washing and good hygiene education, more hand sanitizer stations and limited in-person class sizes.

Common concerns among families included children’s need for social interaction as well as the structure and teacher engagement that are unique to the classroom; children’s ability to wear face masks or maintain proper hygiene habits to prevent the spread of illness; and the health risks posed to vulnerable children or family members, which many families still consider to be too great to send their children back to in-person learning at the present time.

“From the feedback presented, we acknowledge the range of concerns among District One families,” said Sheldahl. “Also, by understanding common concerns, we can work to address these items. All of this valuable information plays a role in the selection of a learning track, as well as the details of how that learning track will function.”

In recent weeks, the district’s Return to Learning taskforce has been developing details for traditional, hybrid and remote-only learning tracks and determining ways each one can best meet the needs of students.

With the feedback provided, the district will spend the coming days finalizing its plans for reopening this fall, communicating the selected learning track(s) to families when that decision has been made. Each school will then reach out to its families to learn their individual plans for the fall semester in order to adequately plan, staff and make social distancing preparations.

“Yuma School District One is committed to providing a safe, meaningful, and equitable learning environment for students to learn and grow,” said Sheldahl. “By listening to our parents, working as a team, and using innovative options, we are dedicated to selecting a learning track that addresses and fulfills the needs of students.”

For more updates and information on District One’s return to learning, families can visit yuma.org/Returnto-Learning. Families who have questions or concerns are encouraged to submit them to the district via email at Feedback@yuma. org.