Scottsdale Unified votes for phased return to in-person classes
Sep 9, 2020, 8:00 PM | Updated: 9:38 pm
PHOENIX – The Scottsdale Unified School District board voted Wednesday to implement a phased return to classrooms for students.
SUSD students will be allowed to return to in-person learning in phases between Sept. 14 and Oct. 12.
The phases will begin with students in special education programs and preschool, which is already in progress, according to the board meeting.
The phased return will increase each week bringing back students in Kindergarten to second grade, third to fifth grades and finishing with middle and high school students returning by Oct. 12.
Parents who want to keep their students at home will still have options for distance learning, but they are being asked to commit to that model through the end of the semester.
RELATED STORIES
Parents were surveyed after last week’s meeting to gauge families’ preferences for learning.
The board’s next steps will be to work on the logistics for returning to campus.
Maricopa County hit the recommended benchmarks for returning to the classroom in a modified format Sept. 3.
The Arizona Department of Health Services recommends the benchmarks be at moderate or minimal community spread levels for at least two weeks to allow hybrid learning, which is a combination of in-class and online instruction.
Those benchmarks include a two-week decline in cases, percent positivity below 7% and decline in hospital visits for COVID-like illnesses.
