New School Year, New Questions: Arizona Teachers Prepare For COVID-19 Era Classrooms
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When schools switched to remote learning in March, Arizona’s teachers scrambled to create effective online lesson plans.
They made it work, but some had no idea the coronavirus pandemic would have repercussions lasting into the 2020 school year. KJZZ profiled three of those educators in April and is checking in with them again to get an idea of what the fall semester could look like.
The last time KJZZ spoke to Samantha McBath, her classroom hadn’t seen first-graders in weeks. Little did she know, those desks and chairs, at Peoria’s Country Meadows Elementary School, would remain empty for several more months.
“The end of the year was really tough, saying goodbye to my first-graders online and not having a real end of the school year,” she said. “I was really hopeful that we would have a normal start of the school year, but seeing those cases go up daily, it just kind of sugared that salt like “oh no, I think we’re going to be online again.’”
Her students will be learning online until at least Aug. 17. That’s Gov. Doug Ducey’s “aspirational” date for returning to in-person learning. The waiting game has McBath feeling anxious.
“I’m very, very stressed,” McBath said. “I’m trying to stay positive. As a teacher, especially over the last couple of years, with Red For Ed and everything, we’ve encountered a lot of challenges, but with this it just feels a little bit different, like there’s no guaranteed end date.”
The first few weeks of school are all about building relationships, which is difficult to do over the phone or through a screen. But even when students come back, it won’t be the same.
“[The district wants] everybody wearing masks and to follow social distancing guidelines and to stagger start times to alleviate the bus situation,” she said.”
But that’s easier said than done.
“How are we going to do small groups [when we’re sitting] six feet apart?” McBath said. “In first grade, we do a lot of hands-on things. We share supplies and math manipulatives. I can’t even speak to all of the thoughts that have been going through my head.”
Many parents have already expressed concerns about sending their kids back to school. Some say they won’t return until after winter break. So schools are offering alternatives for those families.
“I’ve heard it’s going to be a semester-long thing,” she said. “So, say we do open on Aug. 17 and you want to keep them online, you definitely have that option, but it has to be a semester-long choice. You can’t say ‘oh well things are looking better now. It’s October. I want to send my child back.’”
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Schools have asked parents to fill out surveys with their preferences for how they’d like their children to learn in the fall as well. Andrew Lebowitz is the principal at Scales Technology Academy in Tempe.
“[The surveys are] just to help inform us of how many kids at each school we’re dealing with and how many teachers need to be allocated to support those who are going to be doing the online instruction,” Lebowitz said.
The Tempe School District has tentatively planned for in-person learning to start Aug. 17, two weeks later than usual.
“Our district has been trying to figure out what that means for teachers and staff because their pay is affected by it,” he said. “There are so many other repercussions with moving that start date back.”
For example, Gilbert schools will begin on their usual start date of Aug. 5.
“And they will do remote learning to start the year.” he said. “So that is going to create challenges for teachers where they have kids doing online learning in another district, while they’re expected to be at school working.”
Lebowitz said some of his school’s families have decided to stick with remote learning for longer.
“I actually had a student here yesterday,” he said. “She was in tears because she wants to be at school. They miss school. They miss that place where they belong and that routine and the structure of it.”
But some families have no other option than to send their kids to school as soon as it reopens.
“Especially in high poverty areas, families need to work and they need to get that paycheck to survive and they might not have the internet access at home or there might be other hindrances,” Lebowitz said.
Scales plans to limit the people on campus, meaning no volunteers or visitors and certain cohorts of kids will be kept together during lunch to minimize the spread of germs. They’ll also be provided with masks or clear face shields.
“I really like the face shield option, just so the kids, especially the younger ones and the English language learners, can see facial expressions,” he said.
Back in April, Aran Kelly was teaching special education at Phoenix’s Alhambra High School, but his next school year will be different in more ways than one.
“I’m pursuing a doctorate degree in educational leadership in the K-12 setting,” Kelly said. “It’s somewhat serendipitous that I started this before the pandemic lockdown. Obviously, I had no idea what was ahead."
Kelly hopes to keep teaching as a substitute this fall, but hasn’t received much information on what that will look like. He said his concerns about student access to meals and other resources still linger, but the most important thing is keeping students and staff safe.
“My biggest concern is health,” he said. “I’m kind of holding my breath here along with everybody else, but I do want to remain optimistic for the future and I think that we’re going to pull through this OK so long as we’re all kind of open minded moving forward.”
