Mesa School Board Plans to Switch to Five Day In-Person Learning

The Mesa School Board announced their plans to transfer to a five day in-person learning model by October 12.

Mesa Public Schools will move forward with the modified in-person five day model on October 12 as long as positive cases remain in the 5-10% region of minimal and moderate community spread, and public health metrics continue to remain less than 6% positivity for two consecutive weeks.

After shifting to a remote and in-person hybrid learning model on September 14, the Mesa School Board discussed, on September 22, how the first week of this new model played out, and what plans they have in store for the future.

Mesa’s current hybrid system has students attending campus two days a week, with some students attending Monday and Wednesday and others Tuesday and Thursday, while leaving Wednesdays for remote prep time for both the students and the teachers.

Board members met with principals from primary and secondary schools to evaluate the performance of each school during the first week of transition. Their evaluation identified that safety protocols are being executed with no issues by both students and staff, and students seem to be grateful and excited to be back on campus after six months of remote learning.

Some concerns brought up from the first week are a lack of substitutes and staff to support all learning models, teachers are struggling to keep up with the remote and modified in-person model and there is an increase in failing grades at midterm progress reports.

The board reported that 66% of families chose to move from remote to modified in-person learning, while 33% of families remained remote. Mesa’s most recent data shows that for every 100,000 people, 32.2 test positive for COVID-19, and the city is currently at 5.12% positivity.

Mesa Academy for Advanced Studies history teacher, Michael Spencer, mentioned, “The fact that these cases and outbreaks are sort of easily glossed over... I’m thinking for the safety of everyone there, I really think that the numbers are disturbing, and it seems like not a lot is really being done about the places where there are outbreaks.”

Associate Superintendent Holly Williams, reassured that health data is being monitored and evaluated daily. They are comparing Maricopa County’s data to Mesa’s in order to analyze patterns and predict future plans, and they are currently following a two week data trend.

Board member Marcie Hutchinson mentioned her concern after she noticed that schools with a higher percentage of modified in-person attendance, such as Red Mountain High School, “had a sharp rise. It went to a 7.83% positivity rate.” Williams replied that they are continuing to monitor those areas, but there currently is not a concerning rising rate of positive cases.

Over 20 concerned parents and teachers spoke to the board about their concerns for the future of the district’s education. Some parents are concerned that the remote model is affecting their kids’ mental health, while others are concerned that the city is not ready to safely integrate students in-person five times a week in October.

Amethyst, mother of a diabetic student, is worried about the rapid changes the district is enforcing. “I trusted the board and the district leadership to follow the (initial) plan. My trust is broken, my patience is at a breaking point. Please do not make any future schedule changes until we can go back full time or traditional,” she said.