Somerton schools postpone reopening until January

SOMERTON – Somerton’s elementary schools won’t open their doors for in-person learning until Jan. 11, while those in San Luis, Ariz., may not reopen until later the same month.

The Somerton Elementary School District’s governing board decided recently to postpone the reopenings of the district’s five schools until after 2021, owing in part to concerns about the possibility of a new spike in

COVID-19.

The Gadsden Elementary School District is slated Friday to consider a proposal to delay openings of its eight schools that serve San Luis and Gadsden until Jan. 16.

Both districts continue to provide virtual learning on campus for a small number students who lack internet hookups in the home or who need a place to go while parents are away at work in

the day. But the decision by the Somerton board further delays instruction using a hybrid model under which students spend some time in front of a teacher but also learn online.

The decision came at the recommendation of Somerton Superintendent Laura Noel.

“There are two reasons for what was proposed,” she said. “This first is because we haven’t seen that the numbers of the benchmarks have lowered sufficiently in the area of Somerton to say that the risk is low. We saw an increase in (coronavirus) cases in June and July and then the numbers began to lower, but not like in other areas of Yuma (County).”

Under benchmarks established by the state, schools can reopen when the communities they serve have fewer than 100 cases per 100,000 residents, have a positivity rate of 7% among those tested for two consecutive weeks, and when COVID-19-related hospital visits are less than 10% in the same period.

Up to the time the Somerton board made its decision Sept. 8, the county had met only the first and third benchmark.

“The second reason (for postponing school reopenings) was because we don’t want to interrupt distance learning just when the students and teachers are adapting to it and it is working well,” Noel said. “In addition, several holidays and the Christmas break are getting near, and there would be fewer classroom days (before the new year).”

Another factor that weighed in the board’s decision, she said, is the possibility of a new coronavirus outbreak in the fall.

She said a recent poll of parents in the district showed many favor postponing reopening.

Of 860 parents surveyed, 397, or 46 percent, opted for continued distance learning until Somerton meets benchmarks that show the risk of infection is low. Another 239, or 28%, favor implementing the hybrid model of instruction, while 224, or 26%, want to continue distance learning until after Oct. 6, when schools’ second quarter begins.

Carlos Gonzalez, a Somerton school board member who also sits on the city council, supported the decision to postpone reopening until 2021.

“There’s no evidence that it would be safe for them to return now to the classrooms,” he said. “We are doing it for the health of the children, the teachers and (other school) employees.”

He said the district’s distance learning model is working, with nearly 90 percent of students going online. It would not be convenient to return to the classroom now, he said, not only because the rate of COVID-19 cases has not dropped sufficiently, but also because schools will close anyway for holidays in November and December.

Even when Somerton school do reopen, parents will have the option of having their kids continue online learning through the end of the school year.

In the Gadsden district, teachers who belong to the Red For Ed movement begun two years ago have called on the school board to postpone reopening until January.

At a meeting on Monday, the board heard a proposal to postpone classes until Jan. 16. On Friday, the board is scheduled to consider voting on that plan.