Some — but not all — students across metro Phoenix are going back to the classroom Monday for the first time since March, despite state health benchmarks advising them to wait.
The Queen Creek Unified School District reopened all of its schools for in-person classes, as did American Leadership Academy charter schools. Other small districts and charters also reopened across the state.
The vast majority of Valley districts are starting school virtually this school year. Some have pledged to stay virtual until October.
The health benchmarks, which use data to indicate whether there's substantial spread of the virus, were announced in early August. But school leaders are not required to follow the state's advice.
Even as COVID-19 rates have declined in Arizona, no county has yet met all three benchmarks.
Parents expressed a range of feelings as kids entered schools.
Felicia Gordon dropped off her three kids — twins in third grade and a second-grader — at Faith Mather Elementary School in Queen Creek. She wished the school district had more plans in place for reopening. They had less than a week’s notice.
There were no sanitation stations outside the school’s entrance, she said. And she wasn't sure what was inside. Class sizes are the same, she said. She hoped her children would be greeted with temperature checks inside.
“I’m just hoping for the best and if anyone comes down with anything, I guess we’ll just keep them home,” she said.
At 5:30 a.m., Hailey Rivero heard a "racket" in her house. It was her four kids, getting ready for a school day at American Leadership Academy in Gilbert.
She usually has a hard time getting her 14-year-old daughter out of bed. Not today.
"They miss routine," she said. "It's definitely time. We need to be able to live our lives."
Senior year at Queen Creek High
At Queen Creek High School, cars lined up for drop-off and school buses turned into the parking lot. School staff members directing cars wore face shields and masks. Some students entering did not yet have masks.
On buses, students appeared to be spaced out.
Shelli Boggs, the parent of a Queen Creek High senior, stood outside the school’s entrance greeting students. Her son only gets one senior year, she said. She’s not nervous — “He’s been around his friends for months.”
Boggs held a sign reading #KidsFirst
MORE: In-person classes resume in Queen Creek. Not all students will be masked
Queen Creek is a close-knit community. This summer, it gathered for a vigil to mourn a student who died in an ATV accident, she said. Kids approached her at the vigil and said they did not want to miss a day of school when it came time to return.
“We appreciate the teachers who have stayed and are willing to do this,” she said.
Teachers in particular have said they're scared to return because of the health risks.
Some Queen Creek teachers resigned after the district's board decided to open for in-person classes. In San Tan Valley, the J.O Combs Unified School District canceled a planned in-person return on Monday, because too many teachers refused to show up.
But in some ways, the first day of school looked the same as it would if there were not a global pandemic: Students still drove in blasting music and walked in from neighboring communities.
Stragglers still walked in after the bell rang.
First day of first grade
Students at Faith Mather Sossaman Elementary entered the building wearing sparkly backpacks with color changing sequins, massive bows, and masks made for small children.
It was Sawyer’s first day of in-person first grade. His mom, Ashleigh Lovewell, packed him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. She’s sending him to school with a Spider-Man backpack and a blue mask.
Lovewell said the decision to go back to in-person classes has been “nerve-wracking.” The family just moved to the neighborhood.
“The schools are doing everything they need to make sure that the kids are safe,” she said.
Sawyer said he’s most excited “to see the inside” of his new elementary school.
More than a dozen students had lined up outside of the building by 7:45 a.m.
Some students came to school on bikes and Razor scooters. They came carrying plastic bags full of Kleenex boxes and school supplies.
Crowding into the school’s entrance, kids left little space between each other.
Harry White has been a Queen Creek crossing guard for six years.
The time away — schools have been closed since March — was “trying,” he said. Inside, he said, Faith Mather was stocked with sanitizer and ready to keep kids safe, with distancing protocols.
Choosing in-person school
The first day of school almost felt normal at Challenge Charter School in Glendale.
As parents lined up their cars to drop off their children at the charter, principal and CEO Wendy Miller ran back and forth from her office building to the slow but steady trickle of students pouring out of their parents’ cars.
“This is the first time that we’re welcoming back students in five to six months,” she said. “I don’t want to miss that.”
The school gave parents a choice of in-person or virtual classes.
About 70% of the school’s families signed up for in-person learning, Miller said. She hadn't yet taken attendance, but guessed somewhere between 60% and 70% were present for the first day of in-person learning.
The school is using a hybrid model; students at home will still be able to tap into class with Google Classrooms. In-person class sizes have been limited to promote physical distancing.
If an online family wants to make the switch to in-person learning, they’ll need to formally request that change and potentially sit on a waiting list if there aren’t enough seats open on campus.
Grade-school children, wearing new backpacks and face masks, lined up behind their teachers single file lines to head to their first day of class. They marched across campus to the calls of “good morning, friends!” from nearly every staffer who spotted them.
Some parents said they were concerned about the pandemic affecting their children. But, they said, the school was taking precautions by wearing masks, installing partitions in the cafeteria and using UV sanitizing on computers and other shared materials.
Eva Dikranian, who has a child in second grade at Challenge, said she’s concerned about COVID-19. But she’s happy with the precautions she sees at the school and knows her child will learn more in person.
“I like this school. They take care of the children. That’s why I send them here,” she said. “The online learning is so difficult.”
Mihaela Ilioi, who has three children in Challenge in first through third grades, said today was emotional because she was parting with her kids. But she’s not worried about the pandemic affecting them.
“It is no different than the flu,” she said, adding that she could understand concerns about elderly people being exposed to the virus, but not children.
As children start the school year together, whether they’re behind a desk or behind a screen, Miller said she’s happy to know they’re being cared for.
“We really do feel essential. We feel that all students deserve a place to go during the school day,” she said. “It was really exciting to see these kids today. I wish I could see them smile. But that will be soon enough.”
Ducey leaves it up to schools
Gov. Doug Ducey in a news briefing Thursday said he supports the schools bucking the state's guidance.
"We're going to leave ultimate and final decisions to superintendents and principals, and I'm confident they'll make good decisions," he said.
His comments are a stark contrast to remarks by Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman, who called the decision to reopen "really toxic for the community," according to KTAR.
The comments underscore just how divisive the conversation around reopening schools has become. Some Arizonans have rallied for schools to open for in-person classes, while others have said the risk of COVID-19 means buildings should stay closed.
Drop-in school programs also start
The vast majority of the state's schools reopened as required Monday in at least a limited capacity to offer on-site support for vulnerable students and those with no other place to go.
Space was in short supply. Schools were prioritizing students with disabilities, low-income students and English Language Learners.
Is it safe to go back?
State health benchmarks indicate that there's still substantial COVID-19 spread in nearly every county in the state.
Maricopa and Pinal County fall short in one of the three benchmarks: Infection rate, or the percentage of people testing positive. The positivity rate should be 7% or less for two consecutive weeks under the benchmarks. Maricopa's most recent positivity rate is 8.6% and Pinal's is 8.8%, according to the Arizona Department of Health Service's dashboard for schools.
The Maricopa County Department of Public Health also released a tool to help school leaders. The data is separated by district: The risk for Queen Creek is "substantial" and virtual learning is recommended, according to the county's dashboard.
Schools have reopened in other states with somewhat disastrous outcomes. In Georgia, some high schools have had to close and hundreds of students forced to quarantine after dozens of high schoolers tested positive for COVID-19, according to NBC News.
What does school look like?
Vocabulary words this year include plexiglass, face masks and social distancing.
Students ages five and older and school staff members must wear masks under a state executive order.
Challenge Charter School, a Glendale charter school that reopened today, posted a picture of clear partitions assembled in the cafeteria to keep distance between students.
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Queen Creek Unified's plan to reopen included symptom screening, hand sanitizer stations set up around school campuses and seating arranged for physical distancing.
American Leadership Academy wanted students to return to a school setting "as normal as possible," according to the charter school's reopening plan.
Parents were directed to screen students at home for symptoms.
Recess and lunch followed the "as normal as possible" pledge, with staffers encouraging, but not requiring, social distancing.
Reach the reporter at Lily.Altavena@ArizonaRepublic.com or follow her on Twitter @LilyAlta.
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