Agua Caliente Elementary School shut down in-person classes for two weeks on Wednesday because of a COVID-19 outbreak among students, according to an email sent by Principal Chris Rietz.
The move to switch to distance learning will be in effect until Nov. 15 when the northeast-side school is scheduled to reopen for classes, the announcement on Tuesday said.
โWe understand this situation is unsettling, and may cause disruption for your child and family,โ Rietz wrote in the email. โPlease know we will be working to ensure your childโs educational experience continues to be meaningful and engaging while they learn online.โ
The announcement came only a couple hours after the Pima County Health Department recommended that the school, 11420 E. Limberlost Road, be closed temporarily because of the volume of COVID-19 cases and amount of recent student absences.
As of Wednesday afternoon, according to the Tanque Verde Unified School Districtโs online coronavirus dashboard, there were more than 40 active COVID-19 positive cases at Agua Caliente Elementary reported to the county Health Department. The schoolโs student enrollment was listed at 472, the second-smallest enrollment in the district.
In contrast, the other schools within the district had between one and two active positive cases as of Wednesday afternoon.
Rietz added in her email that about 50% of students had been absent both on Monday and Tuesday.
Mask mandatesHistorically, about 40% of students had worn masks on the Agua Caliente campus, the email said.
Parents in the Tanque Verde district brought the debate on mask mandates to the districtโs Governing Board during its meeting on Tuesday evening, shortly after Rietz announced the schoolโs temporary closure.
More than a dozen people submitted comments during the meetingโs call to the public to reiterate their opposition to administrators imposing mask mandates for students and staffers at schools in the district.
Another group, made up of about 20 people, also submitted comments insisting that the Governing Board reinstate a mask mandate to prevent a COVID-19 outbreak from occurring at other schools.
Governing Board member Vieri Tenuta requested that the board hold a special meeting to discuss the possibility of imposing a mask mandate.
โAt least as a compromise, a discussion surrounding K-6 masking until vaccines are able to be distributed, as theyโve been approved today by the CDC,โ Tenuta said, referring to the approval of the Pfizer vaccine for kids ages 5 through 11.
However, Tenutaโs request did not receive the support that it needed from at least one other board member to call the special meeting.
In October, the board sent a letter to parents in the district reminding them to keep their children home from school if they were sick or had been exposed to someone with the virus.
The letter, dated Oct. 22, said the district was seeing an increase in COVID-19 infections and quarantines โdue to children coming to school sick, athletic events, and spreading events outside of school.โ
The letter asked parents to not send their children to school if they were sick with COVID-19 or any other illness or had close contact with someone who had the virus. The letter also encouraged everyone to wear masks while indoors on district campuses.
In Tuesdayโs email, Rietz requested that parents report any additional COVID-19 infections to school nurses to continue contact-tracing efforts.
