What happens to students who need to quarantine after possible exposure to someone infected with COVID-19? At the Scottsdale Unified School District, the plan was to have these students join its enhanced distance learning classes, Superintendent Scott Menzel said. But after the district asked over 200 Chaparral High School families to quarantine, parents of distance learners are raising concerns how the additional online students will impact their child's access to personalized instruction.
The district is conducting hybrid classes where teachers meet with in-person students in the mornings and online students in the afternoon. Online classes meet for 36 minutes, shorter than in-person classes which are 73 minutes long, Menzel said. Parents had accepted the shorter class times in the hopes that the smaller online class sizes would mean that their student would get personalized instruction. Now with so many students under quarantine, those parents are raising questions and concerns.
Menzel said one solution teachers have found is having quarantine students attend the in-person classes remotely through video conferencing.
"I’ve heard good reports about the environments where that’s happening," he said. "We are looking at other improvements so we can be sure that we're addressing the needs both of those that have been quarantine as well those have chosen EDL to make sure all of our students are getting the instructional support they need."
Individuals are expected to quarantine for 14 days. The Maricopa County Department of Public Health has said individuals can't return to school sooner than that, even if they test negative for the virus, Menzel said.
Menzel has asked the department if there's any other way to shorten the quarantine period for kids who have had exposure. So far the answer is no, but Menzel said the district would keep asking because it understands the importance of in-person instruction when students can be there.
