State Superintendent Of Public Instruction Supports Delayed K-12 Reopenings
Download mp3 (9.67 MB)STEVE GOLDSTEIN: Among the governor's announcements [Monday] was that the earliest K-12 campuses would open for classes is Aug. 17. Distance learning can begin sooner, but that could cause more uncertainty and inconsistency. I spoke earlier with the State Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman. She was not at Monday's press conference, so I asked whether she was involved in the decision to delay the reopening of schools.
KATHY HOFFMAN: Yes, I actually was quite involved with this decision. And part of that was, was in speaking with the Department of Health Services and Dr. Christ and then and then following up with Gov. Ducey and his team as well on these recommendations. So I was quite involved. My team was involved as well in making sure that the executive order was addressing some of the highest needs for our schools. But I will say that there are still some components that we are still working on. So for example, I know that one of the issues is, is around teacher pay, because if schools decide to delay their start date, then they would have to be looking at their budgets to see, can they continue to pay all of their staff and teachers during that delay period? So that's part of the reason why I would encourage our schools to start with their distance learning prior to the Aug. 17 delay date, if possible, because we do want to make sure that all of our educators and school staff have an opportunity to continue and have that continuity of pay. But that is something that we'll be looking at because there could be districts or schools that decide to delay their start date, and they may have some budgeting issues around ensuring that continuity of pay. So that is something that can be looked at again through either an executive order or legislative action.
GOLDSTEIN: Was delaying the start of school the right decision at this point?
HOFFMAN: It is the right decision. The way I see it is, it's all interconnected. So seeing now that there is the recommendations or the requirements that we can't even have groups of more than 10 people at the pool, how can we possibly open our schools safely, where we know that we have classrooms of 20, 30 or more students and high schools with upwards of thousands of students and teachers all coming together? So to me, this was definitely the right decision.
GOLDSTEIN: Does having a date of any kind at this point, again considering the uncertainty, does that make sense? Or should it be more open-ended, or do instructors or does anyone who works at a school need to have some idea, "Maybe this is gonna be mid-August, maybe later"? Does there need to be a fixed date that can then be moved?
HOFFMAN: I would agree with that, that I see the Aug.17 as a point at which we will need to reevaluate prior to Aug. 17, and there is potential that that date could shift.
GOLDSTEIN: So the order allows for schools to begin distance learning before Aug. 17. We've already heard from at least one district that I can think of that could do that. Does that raise any concerns in your mind about educational equity, again, unpredictability?
HOFFMAN: It absolutely does. And I know in speaking with our school leaders that there are many districts, many schools that are ready to transition back to distance learning, just as they did in the spring. They've been working on these contingency plans, anticipating that there could be school closures for this next academic year. But that doesn't make it any easier when we know that we have so many students, so many families that still have limited access to Internet or no access or have limited access to technology and the digital divide issues — that was not something we could solve over the last several weeks or months. And, and so I am very concerned about the equity issues. I would encourage our schools to do the best they can to implement their distance learning plans no matter how that looks, because at the same time, our kids, our youth need to keep learning. We can't just stop the school year and push it back and push it back. We need to get going. We need teachers teaching and students learning. And so we're gonna be doing everything we can to support our schools to make that a possibility.
GOLDSTEIN: Would the state have been better off if the stay-at-home order had not been allowed to expire? Would that have made it better and more predictable for K-12 schools understanding that it is still unpredictable as far as COVID-19's impact goes?
HOFFMAN: I think all Arizonans, you need to take responsibility on taking this COVID-19 crisis seriously by making sure we're all doing our own part — staying at home, social distancing, wearing a mask as much as possible. Those are really critical for our schools to be able to reopen and for us as a state to come together and make sure we're taking this seriously so that we have, that we have the opportunity to safely reopen our schools again. And you mentioned the economy, and another area I've been advocating in, in terms of our economic situation right now, is I do see that our schools can be a part of the solution while we're addressing the issues of unemployment and the economic downturn, because our schools are such a vital piece of any community and supporting our families. And also, in many parts of the state, in many towns and cities, the school districts are often one of the biggest employers.
GOLDSTEIN: I guess I'm thinking more in terms of how people feel mentally and emotionally about safety, about returning to schools, whether they are employees and educators or whether they are parents or the students themselves. How important is that frame of mind going to be to having a productive, really great school year?
HOFFMAN: We have seen and heard directly from families and also from teachers and school staff that this growing sense of anxiety and fear about returning to the school setting because, as we know, our schools are a place where so many people come together from different groups, and that has been causing a lot of fear. And so I know our schools have been sending out surveys to get a better sense of where their families are at and also where their staff is at, how comfortable they are feeling with teaching in person in a school setting. So I think that's going to continue to be a challenge. It's really to address those emotions. And I mean, because the virus, the COVID-19 virus, it's with us for now. Like, we don't know when it's, when we're not going to be living under these circumstances. It's really hard to predict that. So as long as we are living and coping in a COVID-19 era, it's going continue to be really challenging because they have every right to be feeling worried and anxious, especially when we're talking about our loved ones — our kids — or protecting those who are medically vulnerable. So I think that's going to continue to be an obstacle for us.
GOLDSTEIN: Kathy Hoffman is Arizona's superintendent of public instruction. Superintendent, thanks very much for the time today and be well.
HOFFMAN: Thank you, Steve. Be well. Bye.
