Wednesday, February 10, 2021
Tucson Unified School District Superintendent Gabriel Trujillo told the TUSD Governing Board Tuesday night that he hoped to return to some form of in-class instruction on March 24.
Under Trujillo’s plan, preschool and elementary parents can choose between full-time remote or on-campus learning.
High school and middle school families can opt for either remote learning or a hybrid model with four half days of in-person learning with remote days on Wednesdays.
Parents will be able to select their choice through ParentVue, the school’s online parent portal.
Under a previous board vote, Trujillo was given the authority to decide when TUSD would return to in-class instruction. The district has previously set opening dates only to delay them and has been in remote-only instruction since March of last year.
Trujillo told board members he would flesh out his plan for instruction and COVID mitigation once parents select their educational preferences, which would provide a better sense of how many students would be back in the traditional classroom and how many would prefer to continue with remote learning.
Board Member Dr. Ravi Grivois-Shah is supportive of a return to in-person school sooner rather than later and even suggested an earlier start date of March 1 while staggering grade levels returning with the youngest grades going first.
“Every single conversation I have with parents, they tell me that their kid is struggling, and especially the youngest kids. You know, 100% of the parents I speak to tell me about their struggles with remote learning,” Grivois-Shah said.
Board Member Natalie Luna Rose also supported a staggered return to the classroom.
“It's going to be a year that we haven't had children in the classroom, and I'm just afraid the longer we go on, the harder it will be to perhaps maybe bring back some of the families that we have lost,” she said. “Having that option of being remote, I know that's asking a lot of our teachers, but maybe that would also help mitigate our fears.”
Expressing concerns that not enough of the TUSD staff has received a COVID-19 vaccine yet, Board Member Adelita Grijalva was more hesitant about a March 24 return date.
“Our children can still get COVID, they can still give it to each other and our kids won't be vaccinated,” Grijalva said. “So I want to make sure that we're also cognizant of the fact that we have some parents that are not going to want their children to return for a number of reasons.”
Board President Leila Counts supported the plan proposed by Trujillo as is.
“We need our schools open, and we need to do it in the safest way possible, and I think the proposal that administration has given us tonight allows us to do that with those target dates,” she said. “Everybody has the opportunity to get a vaccine, and we need to open up our schools again. I appreciate the work that's gone into this plan. I think it's doable, it's safe, and it's what's best for our kids. So I support it.”
Board Member Sadie Shaw expressed hesitation with a return to school and said vaccinating TUSD’s staff is not enough to mitigate against the spread of COVID-19.
“Even if we're able to vaccinate all staff, the students won't be vaccinated, some other parents won't be vaccinated and a large portion of our Tucson community will not be vaccinated,” Shaw said. “As the largest school district, I think we really have to take the most care and how we approach the return.”TUSD parent survey results
TUSD sent a survey to parents of students in preschool through third grade and grades nine through 12 on Jan. 26.
Parents were asked to rank their preference on a return to school model out of a menu of choices, including all remote learning, all in-person learning and some days with hybrid learning.
The University of Arizona will serve as the state’s third 24/7 vaccination site beginning Feb. 18, Gov. Doug Ducey and the Arizona Department of Health Services announced Wednesday.
The university will expand its current hours of operation as a POD, or point of distribution, that currently serves educators and childcare workers. It will transition to a state site that will eventually operate 24/7 as Arizona receives more vaccine doses, according to a press release from the governor’s office.
Appointments will begin on Feb. 18, and registration will open at 9 a.m. on Feb 16. Online registration will be available at podvaccine.azdhs.gov, and those who need assistance can call 1-844-542-8201.
The governor’s office said the site can administer up to 6,000 vaccines a day when it runs at full capacity.
However, ADHS Director Cara Christ said in a letter to County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry on Jan. 29 that the vaccines supplying the state-run site would be taken out of the county’s existing allocation.
“Our commitment is to accelerate immunization. If we can get a 24/7, or even 18 hours by seven (days) POD, that is a high-efficiency, high-effective POD, everyone in the county, and probably first and foremost the public health department, would be incredibly supportive of that,” Pima County Health Director Dr. Theresa Cullen said last week. “However, if the only way that is done is to take vaccine from the existing PODs, we have a hesitation.”
The state currently has two 24-hour sites in Maricopa County, one at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale that opened on Jan. 11 and a second at the Phoenix Municipal Stadium that opened Feb. 1. As of Wednesday, the two sites have administered 204,061 vaccine doses.
However, it’s not clear if Arizona will have enough vaccine doses to continue supplying the sites. Ducey submitted a federal resource request for 300,000 doses followed by an additional 300,000 vaccines a week, but the request was denied.
Furthermore, Pima County’s vaccine allocation was decreased by 39% this week.
“The demand for vaccine doses is high, and Arizonans have made it clear they want it. We are working hard to secure more doses from the federal government and partner with private and public organizations to get the vaccine out and protect Arizonans. My thanks to President Bobby Robbins and everyone involved for their work to partner on this vaccination site,” Ducey said in the press release.
As of Monday, the university POD delivered 9,866 COVID-19 vaccines at a rate of 800 shots per day to the educators it currently serves.
“Our POD has the capacity to deliver more vaccinations, and we look forward to working together to further meet the needs of Pima County and Arizonans,” UA President Robert C. Robbins said in the release. “I am incredibly proud of our entire team of professionals and volunteers who have partnered closely with Pima County, established the university POD, and operated it so well.”
With 1,977 new cases reported today, the total number of Arizona’s confirmed novel coronavirus cases topped 789,000 as of Wednesday, Feb. 10, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.
Pima County, which reported 685 new cases today, has seen 105,829 of the state’s 789,245 confirmed cases.
With 176 new deaths reported today, a total number of 14,462 Arizonans have died after contracting COVID-19, including 1,981 deaths in Pima County, according to the Feb. 10 report.
The number of hospitalized COVID cases statewide has declined in recent weeks, with 2,589 coronavirus patients in the hospital as of Feb. 9. That number peaked at 5,082 on Jan. 11. The summer peak was 3,517, which was set on July 13, 2020. The subsequent lowest number of hospitalized COVID patients was 468, set on Sept. 27, 2020.
A total of 1,489 people visited emergency rooms on Feb. 9 with COVID symptoms, down from the record high of 2,341 set on Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2020. That number had peaked during the summer wave at 2,008 on July 7, 2020; it hit a subsequent low of 653 on Sept. 28, 2020.
A total of 763 COVID-19 patients were in intensive care unit beds on Feb. 9, down from a peak of 1,183 set on Jan. 11. The summer’s record number of patients in ICU beds was 970, set on July 13, 2020. The subsequent low was 114 on Sept. 22, 2020.
How to get a vaccine
Currently, Pima County is providing vaccination shots to people 70 and older as well as educators, first responders and healthcare workers. Those who currently qualify in Pima County’s 1B priority group of eligible vaccine recipients can register for a vaccine at www.pima.gov/covid19vaccineregistration or by calling 520-222-0119.
TUSD sets March 22 as return to campus
Tucson Unified School District Superintendent Gabriel Trujillo told the TUSD Governing Board tonight that he hoped to return to some form of in-class instruction on March 22.
Under a previous board vote, Trujillo was given the authority to decide when TUSD would return to in-class instruction. The district has previously set opening dates only to delay them and has been in remote-only instruction since March of last year.
Trujillo told board members he would be able to flesh out his plan for instruction and COVID mitigation once parents at different schools filled out their educational preferences and he had a better sense of how many students would be back in the traditional classroom and how many would prefer to continue with remote learning for the remainder of the school year.
WASHINGTON – Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S. but two recent reports say Arizona needs to do more to help people break free from using tobacco products.
“We certainly need a lot more resources here in Arizona to help people quit smoking,” said JoAnna Strother, senior director of advocacy for the American Lung Association, one of two organizations, along with Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, to grade the state’s actions.
The American Lung Association’s annual “State of Tobacco Control” report for 2021 gave Arizona a failing grade in three of five policies it looks at – the state’s tobacco taxes, its limits on flavored tobacco products and its funding for tobacco prevention and cessation programs.
The state got a D for access to tobacco cessation programs and an A for its restrictions on smoking in public spaces.
Arizona was not alone in its troubling grades. A third or more of states got an F for their tobacco taxes, access to prevention programs and limits on flavored tobacco products, while Arizona was one of 23 states with an A for public-smoking restrictions.
The state did relatively well in the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids report, which ranked Arizona 15th overall for the amount of money it is spending from the 1998 tobacco settlement on anti-tobacco programs.
Tuesday, February 9, 2021
About 15% of Pima County’s population has received a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine since the rollout began in mid-December.
As of today, the county has administered a total 160,113 shots out of the 189,725 vaccine doses it had received from the state. The county has used 84% of its total state allocation, according to Arizona Department of Health Services data.
A total of 30,411 Pima County residents have received the two doses needed to be considered fully immunized, while 129,363 have received at least one dose.
While they've made significant progress, Pima County’s vaccine allocation was cut down to 17,800 this week—a 39% decrease from the 29,000 doses provided the week before.
Dr. Francisco Garcia, the county’s chief medical officer, said to accommodate the loss, the health department cut back doses given to some community health centers and downscaled vaccine allocation to the county’s five PODs, or points of distribution.
“We've advocated for [vaccine doses] to be higher than they were this week. Certainly, that is going to be a recurring topic of conversation with our friends at the state,” Garcia said.
The county has given vaccines to community health centers like Marana Health Clinics, El Rio and Desert Senita to reach the more rural parts of the county.
Over the weekend, Garcia said the county set up a “pop-up clinic” at St. John's Catholic Church and provided over 500 vaccines for those 70 and older. The medical officer said the county plans on continuing to set up pop-up sites to reach the less privileged parts of the community who need the vaccine the most.
“One of the things that we have been trying to do is pop up vaccination in the same way that we did pop up testing previously. That is, identifying census tracts within our community where we know the burden of disease is high, the risk of infectivity is high and where economic opportunity is relatively low,” Garcia said. “We want to continue to do stuff like that, but we can only do stuff like that when we have sufficient vaccine in our hands to be able to distribute.”
Other available vaccination sites include six retail pharmacy locations around the county. The grocery-store based sites are run by state and federal government contractors, so the county has no control over their operations or who is prioritized to receive a vaccine first.
Garcia said Fry’s has delivered 666 vaccines while Safeway has delivered 274 in the two weeks the retail pharmacy program has operated.
Pima County could get a state-run POD at UAAs the county struggles with a limited vaccine supply, talks are in the works to set up a state-run, 24-hour vaccination site.
Kevin Dahl, the senior program manager for the National Parks Conservation Association, filed paperwork today to run for the seat.
“Paul has been an excellent Council representative for the residents of Ward 3,” Dahl said. “I supported him when he sought the seat, and now I am supporting him in the difficult decision that he has made to step down.”
Dahl, who has also headed up the Tucson Audubon Society and Native Seeds/SEARCH, has already lined up endorsement from Congressman Raul Grijalva and local environmental queenpin Carolyn Campbell, who is chairing Dahl's campaign.
He said he’d also be interested in appointment to the seat, but he understands that council members may be looking for someone who isn’t going to run for the seat and if that’s the case, he’s more interested in campaigning for a full term.
Meanwhile, Juan Padres, who ran against Pima County Supervisor Sharon Bronson in the 2020 primary, announced on Facebook last week that he’s launching a campaign the job.
“I fully understand the problems and challenges that Ward 3 faces, and look forward to working tirelessly to address them,” Padres said. “My campaign platform will be very similar to the one I ran on last time, making poverty the number one issue that needs to be addressed in our community, especially in the wake of this devastating pandemic.”
A primary election for the Ward 3 seat—along with Ward 6 and Ward 5—is set for Aug. 3, with the general election to follow on Nov. 2.
But we’re still waiting to see if that election is going to happen. State lawmakers are still trying to force the city of Tucson to move its election on onto the same even-year cycle that most elections in Arizona take place. If that happens, city elections would take place the same years as presidential and midterm elections.
At the Pima County superintendent’s office, the windows that once revealed ordinary office space are now adorned with photos of educators bearing cheerful eyes behind their masks and holding up paper cards showing one of the first signs of hope in a year-long pandemic.
Matt Stamp, the communications director for the superintendent’s office, came up with the idea for teachers to submit photos showing their COVID-19 vaccination cards and to publicly display them on the office windows.
“There were a lot of eager teachers ready to get vaccinated, and so we were seeing a lot of frustration. Then across my own personal timelines on social media, I was starting to see educator friends post their vaccine photos, and just the smiles on their faces,” Stamp said. “You could just tell how proud they were, and something just flipped in my brain and said, this is important. We need to change the narrative here of the frustration, change it from frustration to a message of hope, which is really what this is.”
While Pima County is receiving a limited vaccine supply that falls short of the demand for them, the county superintendent’s office wanted to celebrate the thousands of educators who have taken the first step in quelling the transmission of the virus that’s changed every facet of their work lives.
Nearly 9,000 K-12 educators have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to Pima County Health Department Director Dr. Theresa Cullen. In the county, about 25,000 educators currently qualify to receive their shot in the county's priority 1B group of vaccine rollout, said Pima County Superintendent Dustin Williams.
While educators have successfully registered for vaccines across Pima County’s five PODs, or points of distribution, the county encourages them to go to the University of Arizona or the Tucson Convention Center.
According to the University of Arizona, which only provides vaccines to educators, the POD has administered 9,866 doses as of Monday.
While some local school districts debate whether to return to classrooms and others have already done so, receiving a COVID-19 vaccine is giving many educators hope that instruction will return to normal sooner rather than later.
“We know that schools, when they have face-to-face contact with students, that's the best type of strategy for their cognitive ability, and also their social-emotional,” Williams said. “If we want schools to open in any type of method, whether it be a remote, hybrid or in person, we really want to encourage mitigation strategies. This is just another layer of making sure that the staff at these schools are going to be protected from this deadly virus.”
Ben Collinsworth, a first-grade teacher for Flowing Wells’ digital campus, received his first COVID-19 shot on Jan. 18 at Banner South’s Kino Stadium site. He said it took less time than a standard admissions test would.
“It really hit me when I was waiting in that line of cars that this is the first thing after a whole year that we were doing that was actually part of a solution,” Collinsworth said. “Since March, it's all been about what can we do to prevent the spread? As teachers, as educators, what can we do to teach through the pandemic, or make sure that kids are getting what they need? Here I was sitting in the car, about to finally do something that's like, okay, we're gonna end it. Together, we are going to end it.”
Frannie Neal, a counselor at Tucson Unified School District’s Grijalva Elementary School, received her vaccine on Jan. 19 at Tucson Medical Center.
“It was the best day of the year. It just felt like such a relief. You know, after having to quarantine for so long, it's been really quite difficult,” Neal said. “So it was such a joy to be able to register. It was such a relief that day just knowing that this end is hopefully in sight, and we can go back to school soon safely.”
After hearing stories like Collinsworth’s and Neal’s, Stamp decided to publicly display the photos taken by proud educators. He made a Facebook post requesting educators’ vaccine pictures.
Educators: Share your vaccine photos with us! We are looking for any and all educator vaccination pictures. We want to...
Posted by Pima County School Superintendent's Office on Tuesday, January 19, 2021
“The teachers and the educators who saw it and shared their picture were so ecstatic to share, they just had this sense of pride and this sense of hope that they got their vaccine and you could see it in their faces, just how happy they were to get it,” Stamp said. “I really wanted that story to be told, I wanted to just show that this is happening, this is real, and we're gonna get back into the classroom sooner than later.”
But the step in a return to pre-pandemic classroom settings comes after a year of changes that drastically impacted educators’ careers.
“There are so many components of a school, and school counseling is such a crucial one, especially right now. It's been quite difficult trying to reach certain students or families,” Neal said. “Attendance has been hard, some technology issues or the internet's down or device issues—just a myriad of issues. But I know, especially at our school, everybody's working harder than ever to solve those issues.”
The pandemic is affecting students’ school lives, too.
“I think a lot of students are just feeling disengaged,” Neal said. “I know teachers are working—and counselors, of course—harder than ever to get them engaged and to do movement activities and different things to kind of get them involved.”
At a governing board meeting Tuesday night, TUSD will discuss the results of a parent survey assessing whether to return to a hybrid learning model or remain remote.
“I hope that we can return safely as soon as it's possible to return safely. I think that looks like having as many people as possible vaccinated. Continuing the mask-wearing, continuing all of our mitigation strategies that we've been doing,” Neal said. “I'm very cautious about returning to school unless it is safe.”
Neal and Collinsworth have appointments scheduled in the next two weeks to receive the second vaccine dose needed to be fully immunized.
Grateful for the opportunity to receive the vaccine, Collinsworth encourages persistence for those still trying to schedule an appointment.
“I'm excited for everybody to get a chance to get the vaccine. I know that the rollout has been difficult, finding an appointment has been difficult for a lot of people,” he said. “My message is, keep at it, because every shot is one step closer.”
Correction: The original headline on this story was incorrect. Organizers still want to allow customers to tip service workers, in addition to an increase in the minimum wage to $15 an hour.
PHOENIX – Blanca Collazo started working as soon as she could.
She was approved for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, at 16. She then was hired as a hostess at the Old Spaghetti Factory restaurant to help her family with bills and to save for college tuition.
She worked long shifts after school for $10 an hour. She saved enough to attend college after she graduated, but the pandemic forced Collazo, 19, to step back from school so she could earn enough to survive.
On Monday, Collazo and a handful of fellow organizers in Phoenix joined like-minded activists around the country who rallied to raise the minimum wage and lower the reliance on tips. More than 1.6 million workers, mainly in the restaurant industry, are paid a minimum wage in the U.S. as low as $7.25 on the federal level and, more recently in Arizona, $12.15 an hour.
Collazo told her story in support of the Raise the Wage Act – a provision that would eventually raise the federally required minimum wage to $15 an hour – included in President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package.
Collazo now works as an organizer for LUCHA (Living United for Change in Arizona), a nonprofit organization dedicated to working families.
“I’m fighting for future generations because I don’t want them to go through what I went through,” she said. “Being out here today, we’re not asking, we’re demanding.”
