PHOENIX — Schools around the state continue to wait on reopening guidelines. Those guidelines are supposed to come by Aug. 7, but Wednesday Maricopa County health officials weighed in on what should be the benchmarks for when kids can go back to class.
“We are not ready to hit to fully go back to in-person classes until we meet the benchmarks we identify." Marcy Flanagan, executive director of the Maricopa County Department of Public Health, said.
“We are not currently hitting those benchmarks to have our classes fully reopen and go back to in-person, teacher-led classes."
The remarks came after the state's superintendent Kathy Hoffman said schools will not be ready to open for in-person education by Aug. 17.
The county said they wanted to see a couple of things before students returned to the classroom.
First, they wanted to see the number of cases go down. They also wanted to see a decrease in the positivity rate for individuals who have been tested.
“We were at 21% a month ago, and as of July 19 we were down to 13%, which is an improvement,” Dr. Rebecca Sunenshine, Medical Director for Disease Control, Maricopa County Department of Public Health, said.
Sunenshine wants to see the percentage drop below a threshold, likely five percent before in-person classes resume.
“I don’t see that coming down low enough any time soon,” Jeannette Dube, a sixth-grade teacher, said.
Dube hopes that guidance from the state will help clear the future school year up.
While Dube said she does support the numbers based approach, it still doesn’t let her know how to plan her course on when, or if, students will return to class.
Even if they do, there are still logistical questions to answer. “I mean I can’t fit my desks six feet apart, three feet apart,” Dube said.