Arizona schools were closed by Arizona Governor Doug Ducey and Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman on March 16, initially declared a temporary enclosure to last through March 27.
On March 30, Ducey and Hoffman made that temporary closure permanent for the rest of the school year.
On March 30, Ducey signed House Bill 2910, which had been passed unanimously by both houses of the Arizona State Legislature.
The bill ensured school letter grades were held harmless, suspended statewide testing requireÂments, ensured school days are not extended into the summer, required learning opportunities for students to continue via online and ensured teachers and staff see no disruption in pay as a result of the governor’s decision to close schools, citing COVID-19 concerns.
The declaration and the bill effectively ended the 2019-20 school year two months ahead of schedule.
Fortunately for students who are on track to graduate, the missing two months will not affect them academically, i.e., they do not have to return to school to finish those two missing months of classroom instruction nor take many of the end-of-the-year tests and exams.
Districts have laid out plans for how teachers will post their final grades, what counts and what doesn’t and how the grades may fluctuate with most districts erring on the side of the students.
Although students have been participating in online schooling in many districts around the state that have the capabilities and funding to teach students via computer, unfortunately the early closure also means graduating seniors were denied traditional rites of passage. Prom, senior plays and concerts and on-campus graduation festivities have been denied outright by closures while graduation itself in front of the community in caps and gowns has been moved online or adapted to the current environment.
The Sedona-Oak Creek School District itself will be holding a virtual graduation, which involves bringing in students one by one, videotaping them receiving their diploma, which they will then splice together into a full video, which airing around the time of the traditional graduation date this month.
We tip our hat to Jeremy Hawkes, a former instructor at the defunct Zaki Gordon Institute for Independent Filmmaking and current staffer with the Sedona International Film Festival, who is working with the district and Sedona students to put this video together.
We will print our annual graduation pages and photos of all the graduating seniors and matricuÂlating eighth-graders.
Fortunately, with students off campus, adminÂistrators at all of the Verde Valley’s public school districts have been very quick in providing us with photos and names of all of their graduating and matriculating students.
Any individuals, organizations or businesses who would like to honor graduates with an ad can contact us at 282-7795 ext 114.
Working with SOCSD, we put out a call to seniors to answer some questions that we plan to publish this month and next honoring the students who cannot be honored in person.
We continue to urge students to contact us, specifically reporter Alexandra Wittenberg at AWittenberg@LarsonNewspapers.com or 282- 7795 ext 126.
If any members of the community, nonprofit organizations or businesses would like to somehow honor our students with policy or program, event or donation, please contact us and we will see what we can do to get the word out.
These are odd and uncertain times for us all, but we can work together to do our best to honor the next generation of adults as they move from high school and into the bigger world.
Christopher Fox Graham
Managing Editor
