By Richard Dyer
Twitter: @RHDyer

A hybrid education model of two days in the classroom and three days online will be offered beginning Sept. 8 for students in the Apache Junction Unified School District, the Governing Board decided at a work session last night.

The online learning program, which began July 21, will continue for parents who want their students not going to the classroom.

Moving to the hybrid and online model was approved in a 5-0 vote at the Governing Board’s Aug. 27 work session.

“The next phase will be that students have an option for hybrid and online, and the hybrid is two days a week in-person, three days a week online, and then safety precautions in place,” Heather Wallace, executive director of educational services, said prior to the vote.

Fourteen students would be in the classroom Mondays and Tuesdays, 14 others on Thursdays and Fridays, with Wednesdays left for deep cleaning due to COVID-19 concerns.

“It’s still 14 students in a classroom, they’re still doing online learning. It’s important that we follow that road map, where the road map recommends cohorting students — so students stay within the cohort that they are placed with — so that if there’s an outbreak, if there’s any exposure, we can track back where that contact-tracing is from and so we’re asking to do that for these three weeks until fall break,” Ms. Wallace said.

“Just for three weeks so that we can get through this next phase and make sure that we have everything figured out. We’ve really been so strong; we don’t want to lose that. We don’t want to lose that momentum and we want to be ready for Oct. 12,” she said.

AJUSD officials are recommending Oct. 12 for reopening schools to in-person instruction — if COVID-19 and health metrics are at acceptable levels.

Using metrics updated Thursdays for new cases, percent positivity and COVID-19-like illness, a decision could be made at Governing Board meetings Sept. 8 and 22 about a school model for reopening Oct. 12, the Governing Board decided previously.

Students supervised in classroom

With the hybrid model, the teacher may not be in the classroom.

“There will be somebody supervising those students,” Ms. Wallace said.

Vice President Cami Garcia asked who would be in the classroom.

“So Heather — a person. A teacher or a para or like what are we looking at? Are we looking at a teacher or we’re just looking at a person? Like that is so important for us to know,” she said.

“The most important thing to know is that we’re going to keep our teachers with our kids. If we’re going to only be putting 14 students with a teacher, we can’t put all the kids together with the teacher each time,” Ms. Wallace said. “So it depends because if (there is a) second-grade class and 10 of them want to stay online and nine of them want to come back to school, that teacher needs to keep teaching all of those kids every day, all day. If we don’t put that in place and say she’s going to teach these nine in her room, then these 10 — they’re going to lose that time with her,” she said.

“So what we are trying to do is make sure that whether your parent chooses for you to come to school or your parents choose for you to come stay at home to learn --- because they are making the choice that they believe is best for their child --- that then that teacher stills gets to see all 20 of her kids every day from 9 to 2,” Ms. Wallace said.

Students will be learning in a Zoom classroom if they are at home or at school, she said.

“So the person who will be in the classroom will just be monitoring all of that,” Ms. Garcia said.

“Where will the teacher be?” Dena Kimble, a Governing Board member, asked.

“We don’t know that yet, We have different options, because it depends on who is on campus student-wise and adult-wise,” Ms. Wallace said.

Parents in the AJUSD district will have an online form to fill out, she said.

“If accepted, parents would complete a Google form to indicate their choice of the hybrid- or online-learning model; that form will go out tomorrow. Parents who choose the hybrid learning model will complete the trust waiver paperwork — if that’s accepted tonight by the Governing Board — and return that to their home school site,” Ms. Wallace said of COVID-19 insurance.

The board later voted 5-0 to pay $45,000 for Arizona School Risk Retention Trust Inc. COVID-19 liability coverage, with a deductible of $0 for each occurrence when a signed waiver is provided. Limits of liability for damages that arise out of the properties associated with the COVID-19 virus are $1 million each occurrence and a $2 million annual aggregate per district, according to an AJUSD document.

Richard Dyer
Managing Editor | East Valley
@RHDyer

rdyer@iniusa.org

Richard Dyer has worked at Independent Newsmedia, Inc.. USA, since 1987. Since 2009, he has worked as a volunteer to design The Blue Guitar Magazine, Blue Guitar Jr. magazine and Unstrung magazine, which are projects of The Arizona Consortium for the Arts; and since 2014, has been overseeing the art submissions. He also is an artist of welded-steel sculptures, selling his artwork at juried and non-juried art shows