The Peoria Unified School District board held a special meeting Jan. 13 to discuss the use of COVID-19 metrics being used to determine in-person and virtual learning.
The board meeting was informational, with no votes by the board members, but the community weighed in through online comments.
At its Dec. 10 meeting, PUSD governing board voted unanimously to keep classrooms open after winter break âregardless of the benchmark data.â
PUSD closed 13 schools for one day Jan. 11 after a teacher âsick out.â
Peoria Unified School District was one of the few public school districts to keep classrooms open after winter break. In the first week since, COVID-19 cases in the PUSD surrounding community increased by more than 50%, nearing 1,000 per 100,000 population over seven days. (Anything over 100 cases per 100,000 is considered âsubstantial spread.â)
The closures lasted only Monday, Jan. 11.
âWeâre back!â declared a PUSD Facebook post Tuesday, Jan. 12.
With the spread of COVID-19 accelerating, many districts around the West Valley closed classroomsâor kept them closedâwith online teaching only after winter break.
âBenchmarkâ metrics on the spread of COVID-19 in communities updated Jan. 7 showed slight improvements in Glendale and Peoria, though ZIP codes in both cities remain âin the redâ with substantial spread of coronavirus.Â
Peoria Unified was one of the few districts to keep classrooms open after the winter break.
On Friday, Jan. 8, the Peoria Education Association announced a one-day âsick out.âÂ
Peoria Unified School District discusses COVID-19 mitigation efforts
Meeting comes days after staged sickout over in-person learning.
and last updated 2021-01-14 00:23:53-05
PEORIA, AZ â The Peoria Unified School District discussed ways to improve COVID-19 mitigation efforts during a special meeting on Wednesday. The hope is for students and teachers to feel safer. What can we do? That is what we continue to focus on, says Superintendent Jason Reynolds, Peoria Unified School District.
The governing board addressed several issues, including reducing class size. Currently, there are many classes with more than 35 students. Whether it s class size, whether it s the air purifier, whether it s the steps that we re taking with our custodial partnerships. anything that we can continue to do that makes the learning experience not only actually better but feel better, says Reynolds.
Peoria students to resume in person, online classes Tuesday after sick out
After 13 schools were closed on Monday, students at Peoria Unified School District will resume virtual and in-person learning on Tuesday. Author: Loya Adriana Updated: 4:01 AM MST January 12, 2021
PEORIA, Ariz. Students will be back in the classroom at Peoria Unified School District on Tuesday after more than 600 certified staff called in sick on Monday.
The sick-out forced the district to cancel online and in-person classes for thousands of students at 13 of its public schools.
Teachers and staff organized the move after they say the district did not follow the proper protocols when deciding whether or not it s safe for in-person learning.
Dysart Unified School District will remain open Monday, despite teachers staging sickout
150 teaching vacancies planned for Monday.
and last updated 2021-01-11 12:10:14-05
Schools in the Dysart Unified School District will remain open Monday, despite teachers staging a sickout to voice their concerns over in-person learning.
The @DysartUSD telling me they have 142 teacher absences across the district today.
To put that in perspective, last Wednesday, they had 68 teachers absent.
All Dysart schools are open and students are learning. Danielle Lerner (@DanielleLerner) January 11, 2021
In a statement issued Sunday afternoon, the district said: Our staff absence data indicates we will have a number of teachers absent on Monday, January 11. At this time, our schools will remain open, as we have plans in place to cover staffing shortages that may occur, and are confident that campuses can remain open in a safe manner. We will continue to monitor the situation and notify p