During the first in-person meeting since schools closed due to the novel coronavirus pandemic in March, the Sedona-Oak Creek School District Governing Board voted to reopen its schools to students that wish to come back in-person on Monday, Aug. 24.

During the special Tuesday, Aug. 18 meeting at the Sedona Performing Arts Center, SOCSD Superintendent and Sedona Red Rock High School Principal Dennis Dearden spoke to masked and socially-distanced administrators, school board and community members about the conundrum faced by the district.

Sporting a SRRHS Scorpions’ face mask that sometimes fell below his nose, Dearden said that dealing with the districts’ response to COVID-19 has been the most difficult situation he has experienced in his 45 years in education.

“We get barraged by three types of people,” he said. “Some, they want their kids back in the classroom right now. Right now. They can’t believe we’re not doing that. Others, they want us to take it slow and they want us to make sure that we have mitigation … options in place like virtual and in-person. And then there’s a third group, and believe it or not, I get these too: ‘I don’t believe this is happening. I don’t believe COVID’s happening and it’s going to disappear Nov. 5.’”

Dearden said that he recently spoke to Yavapai County Community Health Services Director Leslie Horton, and she told him that the county data right now shows that it is safe to reopen with a smaller number of students.

Dearden said if the numbers do climb back up, SOCSD will need to re-evaluate staying open.

“I can tell you, and I think some of the teachers can attest, whether you believe we should go back or not, kids are … losing retention. Especially in math. Especially in Spanish. They’re losing some of those skills. And they’re not going to make them up virtually.”

Dearden added that by continuing to not open and keep students safe at home, they are risking the students’ retention rates and emotional well-being, and he’s not sure that outweighs the risk of coming back during the pandemic.

“Some students are learning, some students aren’t, and some students are just struggling with it totally,” he said.

The hour-and-a-half meeting also saw members of the public voice their opinions on reopening, including a Sedona alumni who now works as a COVID-19 researcher, who said reopening wasn’t worth the health risk.

Students and parents also spoke of the negative effect virtual learning was having on the students academically and socially. One Vietnam veteran who flew fighter planes said there is some risk in everything.

In the end, the board voted 4-1 to reopen the schools this Monday with a hybrid model. The dissenting vote was board member Karl Wiseman, who said he thought students and staff should all be required to get COVID-19 testing before returning, citing the free testing taking place in the SRRHS parking lot the morning of Saturday, Aug. 29. Board president Randy Hawley told Wiseman it was illegal to require testing.

“We want to give parents and our kids the choice,” Dearden said. “If you want to go virtual, stay virtual. If you want to stay for the whole year, stay for the whole year if you feel it’s safe.”

Hybrid Model Update

On Monday, the district will be transitioning from virtual-only learning, or Structure 3 in the return to learning plan, into a hybrid model, or Structure 2.

In an Aug. 14 update to the reopening plan, which was only made available on the school’s website recently, the hybrid model has been modified.

Instead of having an A group and B group switch mid-week between in-person and virtual learning, enough families elected to continue with virtual learning indefinitely that the numbers of returning students every day will already be limited.

“Since the SOCSD board was presented our Continuity of Operations Plan for reopening, many things have changed,” DeWitt wrote in an email. “Originally, the hybrid model outlined in the plan was designed under the assumption 100% of our students would be returning to in-person learning. Since then, the governor’s executive orders have mandated that all families be given the opportunity to choose either in-person or virtual learning after schools reopen.

“As a result, we polled our families during pre-registration to ascertain which families would elect to stay home rather than return to in-person learning when we reopen. Approximately 40% to 50% of our students at both schools have indicated that they will stay with virtual learning when our schools reopen. Because our student population for in-person learning will be reduced by nearly half, there will be no need to modify our in-person instructional schedule [especially since we already increased the number of classes offered as a mitigation strategy to reduce class sizes].”

Instead of the teachers presenting to the whole class on Zoom videos, the teachers will present in front of the class normally, and a camera will be directed at the teacher so that the students staying home can watch their teachers live with the rest of the class.

Dearden did not directly respond to a board member’s question during the Aug. 18 meeting asking if the district would need to hire someone new to help with the cameras, to address things like the teacher moving out of the frame or technical difficulties.

Protocols put in place for Structure 1, the all in-person model, would stay intact for the hybrid model, including required face coverings for students when indoors, or when 6 feet of physical distance isn’t possible, as well as daily classroom disinfection and ventilation.

The updated hybrid reopening plan also notes that additional contact mitigation actions could include having a self-contained junior high, students staying in the same classrooms while the teachers rotate and staggered hand washing and restroom times.

Dearden has also asked parents to drive their children to school if possible, in order to have less crowding on the buses.

Insurance and Liability

The SOCSD district already had a basic insurance policy in place by the Arizona School Risk Retention Trust for the 2020-21 school year, but during an Aug.14 school board meeting, the board voted to add additional liability coverage due to COVID-19.

The $20,000 additional cost could be returned in part if legislation is passed granting public entities immunity from COVID-19 related claims. Before Monday, parents of students at Sedona Red Rock Jr./Sr. High School or West Sedona School for preschool to 6th grade will need to fill out a survey on the district website indicating if they will continue to keep their child at home for virtual learning or will be sending their child back to school with necessary precautions taken.

Due to the additional insurance, preconditions state that if parents choose to send their child back, they will also be asked to fill out a “COVID- 19 Waiver, Release, and Assumption of Risk” form.

The waiver explains the contagious nature of COVID-19 and states that although SOCSD will be taking precautions to prevent the virus at the schools, there is still no guarantee that a student won’t be infected.

“By permitting my child to attend school during the COVID-19 pandemic, I voluntarily assume the risk that my child may acquire COVID-19 and that COVID-19 may subsequently be transmitted from my child to me and members of my household,” the waiver reads in part.

Parents are also asked to make sure that their children are in good health each day and to not send them to school if they have any COVID-19 symptoms, including fever or chills, coughs, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headaches, new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea, vomiting or diarrhea.

The waiver closes by stating that neither the district nor its parties should be held responsible if a student does contract the novel coronavirus while at school:

“To the fullest extent permitted by law, I hereby agree to waive, release and discharge any and all claims, causes of action, damages and rights of any kind against the school, the district, its insurers, the district’s governing board and all of their respective employees, agents, representatives and volunteers … arising from or relating in any way to any damage, injury, trauma, illness, loss or death that may occur to my child, me or my household members as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The district cannot legally deny any students from attending school in person if the waiver isn’t signed or a parent declines to sign, but the district could deny access to other vendors and volunteers who come to the schools. If a legal situation does occur where a parent tries and sue the district because of a child contracting COVID-19, the board said this would help them, whether the parent signed or not.

Alexandra Wittenberg can be reached at 282-7795 ext 126 or at awittenberg@larsonnewspapers.com