The Arizona School Board Association is looking toward individual school boards to help navigate education during a pandemic, which they discussed at its meeting Thursday.
The meeting discussed ASBA updates, ways to join the association, legislative and policy issues, as well as “The Top 3 Governance Challenges during COVID-19”.
Executive Director of ASBA Sheila Harrison-Williams emphasized how working through COVID-19 hasn’t been easy for anyone but the ASBA is wanting to hear from its members about how they are feeling.
“This is your association and we need your input to make ASBA everything you need and want it to be,” Harrison said.
The ASBA has sent out a survey for board members to fill out about how their experience has been on the board during COVID-19.
Harrison also discussed the ASBA’s strategic goals for its association, where strategic planning is emphasized for success.
Student success through equity is also very important to the ASBA; student success and outcomes must be what school board members need to focus on, according to Tracey Benson, associate executive director of ASBA. Taking into account opportunity gaps in every district and holding the school board accountable for making decisions that help close opportunity gaps.
The ASBA is focused on leadership development beyond the board level, advocating for those who are not heard in public education and making sure there is educational equity for all children in Arizona, according to Executive Director of the ASBA Sheila Harrison.
Specifically, Tracey Benson said ASAB staff contacted 223 member districts between April and May of 2020 with personal phone call check-ins to see how the ASBA could further support and help during the pandemic.
Webinars that the ASBA held also offered key insight specifically during Spring 2020 when the pandemic first started, Benson said. Understanding every board’s needs has been hard.
Everyone across the board is feeling the effects of COVID-19 specifically with enrollment being down, according to Christopher Thomas, general counsel associate executive director for the ASBA.
Thomas said the ASBA has represented Arizona school board members on a statewide level with regards to opinions on school safety and school reopening.
“School districts and school boards still have decisions to make regardless of what their recommendation is, each community is going to make that call for themselves,” Thomas said.
Each school district has decisions to make on its own regarding COVID-19.
Downtown’s Phoenix Elementary School District has been closely following the Maricopa County Department of Public Health School Reopening Dashboard and Guidance when deciding how to proceed with teaching during COVID-19, according to the district’s website.
If Phoenix Elementary School District continues in the right direction Phoenix with case numbers, the district plans “to begin transitioning students to the Hybrid Model on November 9, 2020” according to its website.
The hybrid transition would start with children kindergarten through third grade coming in first, then children fourth through eighth grade two weeks later. Parents can decide if they would like to continue virtual learning or transition to hybrid, according to the website.
Downtown’s Phoenix Union High School District is following a similar approach, as it is currently still experiencing fully remote learning.
The district is seeing a “substantial spread” of COVID-19, or more than 100 cases per 100,000 people, or more than 10% of the district’s population. It cannot transition to in-person learning until they move to minimal spread, which is less than 10 cases per 100,000 people or less than 5% of the district’s population, according to a release from the school.
While it is not anticipated, if the district is in the “green” (minimal spread) in November, it will “consider more on-site options to end the quarter,” according to the release.
Susan Matura, a board member of the Paradise Valley Unified School District, said it has been difficult to balance listening to the community and stakeholders with where to step in when things get vulgar and aggressive with everyone having differing opinions.
Benson added that the stress of this pandemic and dealing with that has taken a toll on many board members in their personal lives.
“Once we get past COVID, it’s not just healing our bodies but healing our communities,” Benson said.
For those newly elected school board members on Dec. 2, 2020, there is a new board member orientation according to Harrison. It is open to all board members and superintendents.
The ASBA will host its 63rd annual conferences Dec. 3-Dec. 4 of this year, and Harrison encouraged all members to attend.
Contact the reporter at tplach@asu.edu.
