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Teachers get ready for students to return to class
Staff members at Cartwright School District are already at work, arranging classrooms in a socially distant manner as students get ready to resume in-person learning. FOX 10's Nicole Garcia spoke with teachers on the challenges they believe they will face.
PHOENIX - Schools across the state that have remained on virtual learning mode for the school year are now switching gears and getting classrooms ready for a return to in-person learning.
In Phoenix, the Cartwright School District was one of the first districts in the state that voted to stay virtual for the entire school year, do they were caught off guard by Governor Doug Ducey’s executive order to reopen schools by March 15.
Now, staff members are on the fast track to getting their schools ready by Monday, March 15, and they expect about half of all students to return to campus next week.
"I used to have tables in my room," said Second Grade teacher Toni Skoney. "Now, I have desks, which is a big change for me."
Skoney had some re-arranging to do in her classroom, but she says the hardest part of about transitioning from virtual to in-person will be doing both modes simultaneously.
"For me, to prep isn’t going to be hard. What’s going to be hard is figuring out how I'm going to teach live children and teach children that are also online with me at the same time. That’s going to be a whole new experience," said Skoney.
"We don’t want to disrupt the students who are remaining virtual," said Dr. Felicia Durden, a school principal for the Cartwright School District. "We want their schedules to stay the same and have their routine. So that is our plan for now, but we’re open in case things change, and we will see."
Cartwright School District serves one of the hardest-hit neighborhoods when it comes to COVID-19. The number of cases in the area have remained high compared to other ZIP Codes, and about half of the parents at this school have opted to send their kids back to campus.
"They just want to make sure their kids are safe, and som, we want to reassure them we’re going to wear masks and wash hands," said Dr. Durden.
"Some of the kids, they want to come back so bad," said Skoney. "They’re tired of being at home. Being at school, it makes it more real to them."
Mandatory mask-wearing, frequent hand washing, staggered dismissal times, and keeping kids within their own pods are several new routines kids will have to learn. Meanwhile, students will be back on campus for the first time this school year on March 16.