As most Tucson-area school districts have opted to close schools on Tuesday in response to Arizona’s teacher strike, the Vail School District is bucking the trend and resuming classes Tuesday.
Vail Superintendent Calvin Baker announced late Monday afternoon that classes would resume Tuesday. He said 21 percent of the district’s teachers had already called in for Tuesday, but after talking with his principals, he thinks the district can reopen by using a mixture of administrators and substitute teachers.
"We had a significant number of teachers communicate to us that they really really wanted to get back to their classrooms, that they wanted to be back with their kids, that they wanted to help their (high school) seniors get their exit projects done, that they wanted to help their AP kids get ready for their AP exams," Baker said.
He said the district will be teaching, though it may not look exactly like a regular school day.
“Certainly, (there will be) a lot more instruction than with kids sitting at home,” he said.
Tucson Unified, Amphitheater, Tanque Verde, Flowing Wells, Catalina Foothills Sahuarita, Sunnyside and Marana school districts announced they would continue school closures into at least Tuesday, as educators continue the walkouts that have shut down the vast majority of Arizona public schools since Thursday.
The Sunnyside Unified School District will keep schools closed through the remainder of the week due to student safety concerns. Food services will also be canceled Tuesday through Friday.
"It is not viable to keep our schools operating without adequate staffing," the Sunnyside School District said.
Sunnyside families will be notified should classes resume before Friday.
In a statement, TUSD said the decision was made based on the Arizona Educators United call for a continued walkout and reported teacher absences for that day.
At most TUSD schools, employees who want to work are permitted report to their campuses.
The exception is Warren Elementary School, which will be shut down completely, and not even offering free and reduced price breakfast and lunch. Employees there will not be able to use leave days and will be on unpaid furloughs.
Arizona mandates schools provide a certain number of instructional minutes, and after three days of closures, Warren no longer has enough instructional minutes to support another day of the walkout, the district said in a statement.
“If the walkout continues long-term, more schools may be in this situation with instructional minutes,” the statement read.
A high number of employees calling out for Tuesday prompted the Amphitheater School District to extend closures into Tuesday and is monitoring the situation on a daily basis. Amphi schools will continue to provide "Grab & Go" breakfast and lunch meals for students.
Tanque Verde announced Tuesday's closure on Monday afternoon, adding that closures will continue until further notice.
"We are meeting daily with our administrative team to assess whether we will have appropriate staffing available to reopen our schools," a Tanque Verde news release said.
Catalina Foothills Unified School District Superintendent Mary Kamerzell said the district will close Tuesday, and stay closed until the walkouts end. That could mean extending the school year, she noted.
"Our goal is to meet the required number of instructional hours required by Arizona law while minimizing the disruptions to our student calendar. Until we know how long this walkout lasts, we won’t know exactly what changes will need to be made," she wrote in a statement to parents.
Sahuarita Unified School District Superintendent Manuel Valenzuela notified teachers that Tuesday will be a required "all staff workday" though there will be no students. It unclear if employees who don't show up for work will face consequences. Valenzuela didn't return a call for comment.
"It is our intention to open schools on Wednesday, May 2, 2018. However, please understand that educational programs on this day may be rather basic and limited," Valenzuela wrote.
The continued closures come as Arizona lawmakers are prepared to introduce a budget package that will reportedly include a 9 percent raise for teachers and another 100 million in district and charter additional assistance. Gov. Doug Ducey announced Friday that he had reached a deal with legislative Republicans to pass the package.
Baker said the fact that the governor has reached an agreement with lawmakers to pass the budget helped break the logjam in Vail. He said now that the speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives and president of the state Senate have signed onto Ducey's plan, it gives educators some faith that the proposal will become a reality.
"To keep kids out of school and to inconvenience parents, and to keep our outstanding support staff from being able to earn money and pay their bills, it's not worth it just to wait for the legal process (to play out)," he said, noting that the outstanding advocacy from teachers "has worked."
The strike is also continuing as a group spearheaded by former Democratic lawmaker David Lujan announced it would be collecting signatures to put a citizens’ initiative that would increase income taxes on individuals earning more than $250,000 per year, which would bring in an estimated $620 million of new revenue to Arizona’s education system.
Baker said teacher who are still unsatisfied with the governor's proposal should turn their attention to more constructive efforts, such as the initiative, though he said that wasn't an endorsement of the measure.
And while some local schools have announced that they will continue closures until the strike ends, others, Like TUSD, are making the decision to close on a day-by-day basis.
That led Arizona Educators United, the grassroots group pushing for more education funding, to ask teachers to call out for the entire week.
The group specifically cited TUSD in saying some districts are making decisions on a day by day basis, and that by requesting off the whole week, then canceling the requests on a day-by-day basis if needed, teachers can help shut down schools "so other teachers can rally."
