In-person Openings
- Yavapai College campuses: Monday, Aug. 17.
- Valley Academy for Career and Technology Education: Monday, Aug. 17.
- Camp Verde Unified School District: Monday, Aug. 17.
- Cottonwood-Oak Creek School District: Monday, Sept. 14.
- Clarkdale-Jerome School District: Monday, Sept. 14.
- Beaver Creek School District: ASAP after Yavapai County meets all three benchmarks on ADHS schools dashboard.
- Mingus Union High School District: At least two weeks after Yavapai County meets all three benchmarks on ADHS schools dashboard.
- Sedona-Oak Creek School District: The Monday after Yavapai County meets all three benchmarks on ADHS schools dashboard.
While most Yavapai County public schools started their online learning the week of Aug. 3, the school districts’ in-person start dates all vary, based on the different district administrators’ and school boards’ interpretations of the Arizona Department of Health Services’ COVID- 19 data.
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey said last week that the ADHS benchmarks should be used as guidelines for Arizona school districts’ reopening, but did not require that they do so, allowing each school district governing board in the state to come up with what they think is best for their local district.
The newly launched schools dashboard on the ADHS site gives data per county based on three specific COVID-19 benchmarks.
However, the data is not up-to-date. A note on azdhs. gov about the timeframe states, “This dashboard does not look at the past two weeks due to potential lags in data.”
Based on data from July 19 to Aug. 1 — the most recent data posted to the schools dashboard, even though more relevant data is posted to their main dashboard daily — no county in the state of Arizona has met the three benchmarks for reopening. Yavapai County meets two out of the three benchmarks.
Benchmarks Met
- A decline in COVID-19 cases, or less than 100 cases per 100,000 individuals for two consecutive weeks
- Two consecutive weeks with hospital visits for COVID-like illnesses in the region below 10%
Benchmarks Not Met
- Two consecutive weeks with percent positivity below 7%
Schools dashboard data for declines in Yavapai County cases shows this benchmark was just met, with 272 positive COVID- 19 cases in the county, or 121 cases per 100,000 people on July 5, which decreased on July 12 to 214 cases, or 95 cases per 100,000 people. On July 19, county cases decreased again to 148 cases, or 66 per 100,000 people. July 26 data shows a further decrease to 102 cases, or 45 per 100,000 people.
As far as Yavapai County reaching two consecutive weeks with hospital visits under 10%, it just made the mark at 9% hospital visits for COVID-like symptoms on July 5, but dropped to just 6.8% for COVID visits by July 12 and slightly decreased on July 19 with 6.6% COVID visits. By July 26, it had decreased to 5.1%.
The county did not meet the benchmark for two consecutive weeks with below 7% positive COVID test rates. On July 5, 9.4% of tests were positive, which increased slightly to 9.6% by July 12. July 19 data show a decrease to 7.8%. On July 26, the positive rate decreased to 6.6%, slightly under the goal of 7%.
If the county stays under 7% when data for the week of Aug. 2 is released on Thursday, Aug. 20, the county would meet this benchmark. Based on data on the main dashboard, the county has already met this threshold, but these numbers won’t be posted to the schools dashboard for two weeks. That main dashboard on ADHS showed a 5% positivity rate for Yavapai County as of Aug. 13, indicating that the schools dashboard will reflect a below-7% rate when released, as well.
District Decisions
While districts like Beaver Creek and Mingus Union erred on the side of caution, opting not to choose a specific date for reopening but rather wait for all ADHS schools benchmarks to be met, Camp Verde Unified School District voted 3-2 to stick with their original plan and open Monday, Aug. 17, for in-person instruction, with the option for students to continue working virtually from home.
CVUSD parents must sign a COVID-19 Parental Acknowledgement of Risk and Disclosure form and a Waiver Release and Assumption of Risk form before students can come to school. Some of the required duties of parents who are agreeing for their kids to return to CVUSD campuses in person are taking their child’s temperature every day before school and keeping them home if they are sick. Students and teachers must wear masks. For safety reasons, parents are not allowed on campus past the drop-off area unless there is an emergency.
The waiver for CVUSD parents states that if signed, parents are “agreeing not to make a legal claim against the district if your child gets sick.” The waiver clarifies that, “It’s another way of acknowledging that no matter how hard we try, we cannot control every environmental variable.”
Cottonwood-Oak Creek School District will have a specialized $20,000 insurance plan that covers COVID-19, which will also require parents to sign waivers. However, COCSD decided in their recent board meeting to delay the start of in-person instruction to at least Sept. 14 — the districts’ first Monday of the second half of the first quarter.
“The reason for this is, administratively, it makes a lot of sense to make this change after that initial break,” COCSD Governing Board President Eric Marcus said during the Zoom meeting. “I will also share with you that I have had discussions with the president of Mingus and Clarkdale-Jerome [school districts], and they will be asking their board members to make similar changes so that we are consistent across the district.”
While Clarkdale-Jerome School District followed suit and plans opening Sept. 14 if all goes to plan, Mingus Union High School District opted to wait two weeks until after the minimum guidelines are met on the ADHS schools dashboard, in order to ensure that the county data does not go under the benchmarks again during that time.
Schools that did not open for in-person instruction on Monday, Aug. 17, were required by executive order to at least open their doors for in-person support services for students with special needs and students who need technical assistance with their virtual learning. Schools are also opening their doors to students who do not have a safe space to work at home or whose parents work during the school day.
