Sedona-Oak Creek School District students should plan to show up with a parent for part of the available time slot shown pertaining to their category in order to receive Chromebooks, class schedules, pay student fees, turn in lunch applications, determine bus routes and fill out other important forms.

Sedona Red Rock Junior/Senior High School

• 11th and 12th grade: Monday, July 27, from 8:30 a.m. to noon and 1 to 3:30 p.m.
• 9th and 10th grade: Tuesday, July 28, from 8:30 a.m. to noon and 1 to 3:30 p.m.
• 7th and 8th grade: Wednesday, July 29, from 8:30 a.m. to noon and 1 to 3:30 p.m.

West Sedona School

• Last names A-H: Monday, July 27, from 8:30 a.m. to noon and 1 to 3:30 p.m.
• Last names I-P: Tuesday, July 28, from 8:30 a.m. to noon and 1 to 3:30 p.m.
• Last names Q-Z: Wednesday, July 29, from 8:30 a.m. to noon and 1 to 3:30 p.m.

Any plans to start the school year off in-person were dashed on June 29, when Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey mandated that, due to a recent increase of Arizona COVID-19 cases, in-person instruction couldn’t commence until at least Monday, Aug. 17.

However, online instruc­tion can start before that, and the Sedona-Oak Creek School District opted to keep its planned first day of school on Wednesday, Aug. 5, and hold the first eight days of school virtually before returning to in-person instruction on Aug. 17.

“It’s overwhelming when we think about it,” SOCSD Superintendent and Sedona Red Rock High School Principal Dennis Dearden said in the July 7 school board meeting conducted over video conference. “Every day we come back and we find out something new … but our best hope is Aug. 17 that we’re back in school live.”

Dearden and the district had originally planned for in-person instruction to return Aug. 5, along with an option for students and teachers to wear masks if they chose to do so, not as a requirement. However, the city of Sedona’s June 23 decision to make masks a requirement for everyone age 5 or older within city limits means any student in Kindergarten and up will all have to have a mask on hand. All incoming preschoolers will be under 5 and not required to have one.

One benefit of Sedona schools having a smaller enrollment than other districts is that there will be more space in classrooms. Though masks are required if six feet of space between persons is not possible, the district has made it a priority to move extra furniture and clutter out of the class­rooms to make them more spacious, with small enough class sizes that desks can be spaced six feet apart.

“Once we move to Structure 1, the live struc­ture, our emphasis there was to create a schedule at both campuses that really worked hard at reducing class sizes,” SOCSD Assistant Superintendent Deana DeWitt said at the board meeting. “We want to adhere to the mayor’s proclamation for mask-wearing but we also want to create as many opportunities as possible to maintain social distancing, especially during class times, so that we could, safely, perhaps not have to wear masks, if the class sizes are small enough and we are able to effectively create that space between students and teachers.”

The SOCSD mask requirements were one of two changes made to the district’s reopening plan, which was passed with a 5-0 vote by the school board during the meeting. The other change was that during a Structure 3 reopening, the 100% virtual opening that the district will be starting with, teachers will conduct scheduled meetings with their entire class.

“That was overwhelm­ingly one of the number one suggestions both from staff members as well as families … having that expected regular time to meet as a class,” DeWitt said, adding that SRRHS students now have virtual schedules as well as their live schedules. “Not every class is going to meet every day; you may have every other day meet­ings, and those meetings will be no longer than 30 to 45 minutes per class…. We know that it’s not a reason­able expectation to have students or teachers glued to a computer for six straight hours per day.”

Changes that were passed for when Structure 1 [in-person learning] or Structure 2 [an in-person/virtual hybrid] resumes include a new bell schedule with slightly shorter school days but no weekly half-days, and three lunch periods instead of two, with more options to eat outside and assigned seating and masks required on the bus. In addition, the library, computer labs and playground equipment will be off-limits upon returning. Classrooms will be cleaned and disinfected daily, with a hand sanitizer station avail­able in every classroom where the students are old enough to use it safely.

CARES grant

The district was the recipient of a $132,000 grant as part of the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, which can be used retroactively to pay for any additional funds that were incurred or will occur because of COVID-19, starting from March 13 of this year. The money can be spent through Sept. 30, 2022, on a reimbursement basis.

Heather Shaw-Burton, the SOCSD human resources and finances coordinator, said the district will use the money primarily to pay for COVID-19 sanitation materials and technology resources for at-home learning.

Money has already been allocated for Fiscal Year 2021. There is a plan to hire a new night custodian for $42,000, including salary and benefits, while a total of $33,000 has been allocated for cleaning and sanitation supplies, as well as related equipment and PPE for staff and teachers. As far as enhanced technology, $50,000 is planned to be set aside for a new director of online instruction, with half of the director’s salary being funded by the CARES grant.

“This person we saw as being important in the coordination of our online delivery model of instruc­tion,” Shaw-Burton said of the new hire that will be taking over some respon­sibilities that former Red Rock Academy director Brenda Cady will be leaving behind. “Being able to offer all of our students, whether it’s remote learning or a curriculum, like a Red Rock Academy curriculum, we know that this is the time to do that.”

Every student, preschool to 12th grade, will receive a Chromebook during the district’s Back to School Kickoff event taking place from Monday, July 27 to Wednesday, July 29 at both SRRHS and West Sedona School. Each student will be assigned to the Chromebook for the entire school year and can bring it home with them for virtual learning.

Dearden said that the district is working with the other Verde Valley superin­tendents to find a way to help out families that may not have internet access readily available, whether working to get hotspots to them or some other agreement with a local internet company.

Alexandra Wittenberg can be reached at 282-7795 ext 126 or at awittenberg@larsonnewspapers.com