Verde Valley school districts are deciding whether or not to keep children in school or return to virtual learning at home due to an increase in COVID-19 cases in the counties and state.
The Arizona Department of Health Services posts recommended guidelines on its website, indicating to school leaders whether it recommends in-person learning, in-classroom instruction or a hybrid, which some schools have interpreted to mean parents decide whether to send their kids to school or a half-on, half-off plan in which students alternate days when they are on campus.
The Mingus Union High School District Governing Board decided to close around Thanksgiving and the week after, then to continue the closure on Friday, Dec. 4.
It’s clear from reopening discussions in the fall that the MUHSD District Governing Board did not understand how to read these guidelines and it appears they still do not.
The Cottonwood-Oak Creek and Clarkdale-Jerome school districts are remaining open as of press time, but some are discussing their situations after this edition goes to press.
In a conversation with one local superintendent last week, he voiced the opinion that his children are safer in school. In conversations he had with the Yavapai County Community Health Services, he learned the numbers of serious child injuries and child deaths has increased substantially in 2020. This is due in part to children not being supervised by teachers at school and instead being at home alone. Children at home with busy parents working remotely, or away from home during the day are more likely to injure themselves through recklessness or accident and in some tragic cases, die.
According to the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, a branch of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, another reason for this substantial increase is quite simply due to child abuse and neglect, leaving children at home alone.
SAMHSA warns that “COVID-19 has caused major economic devastation, disconnected many from community resources and support systems, and created widespread uncertainty and panic.
“Such conditions may stimulate violence in families where it didn’t exist before and worsen situations in homes where mistreatment and violence has been a problem.” Thankfully, children also have the lowest risk of contracting COVID-19 or suffering serious symptoms.
Teachers have expressed concern about students getting them sick. Quite honestly, as long as teachers follow the policy of wearing masks, keeping their distance, and making sure their students are following guidelines set forth by the Arizona Department of Health Services and their school district, the risk of spread is far less in classrooms than it is when these same teachers go to the grocery store, big box store, dine at a restaurant or go to some other public place where masks and distancing guidelines are lax or not enforced at all.
Children are fragile as it is without reckless and cruel teachers using them as pawns in bitter personal spats with other teachers or their superintendents.
If these teachers have concerns about the policy or the state guidelines, or county numbers, they should speak with their administrators and school boards rather than air their grievances on social media, where children and parents suddenly view themselves, not as students with a hard-working dedicated teacher, but as problems and threats.
Children do not want to go to school — online nor in person — if they think their own teacher or other adults in positions of authority there hate or fear them for who and what they are. Children are fragile as it is without reckless and cruel teachers using them as pawns in bitter personal spats with other teachers or their superintendents.
Such teachers should immediately consider quitting the profession lest they destroy that sacred bond between a student and a teacher.
The Sedona-Oak Creek School District Governing Board voted 4-0 on Monday, Dec. 7, to stay with the current hybrid model the district has used this fall through the end of semester on Friday, Dec. 18.
We commend the SOCSD for staying the course, providing both the in-person and virtual options for students and not upending Sedona’s students with just two weeks left to go in the year. Students, especially young children, need a stable, safe place to learn.
We hope that teachers and school boards do what is best for students.
Christopher Fox Graham
Larson Newspapers
