SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox took aim at the Salt Lake City School District’s decision to solely offer remote learning to start the school year during Tuesday’s gubernatorial debate with Democratic challenger Chris Peterson.
Cox called it “a huge mistake. It is damaging our kids and that needs to change right now.” He warned that the impacts of remote learning could be worse in some cases than the virus itself.
“There are other things at play here that are damaging to our children besides the coronavirus. The coronavirus is absolutely important and we are taking it very seriously. But the repercussions of not having kids in school can be just as significant and maybe even worse in some cases,” Cox said.
Many students are being left behind, particularly low-income students and children with disabilities, he said.
“We are working very closely with school districts and there is amazing innovation happening with our teachers. When we start to see outbreaks, we can pivot. We can go to a hybrid model,” Cox said.
Interim Superintendent Larry Madden said the Salt Lake City School District is following a model from state leaders who have said local leaders should make the decisions that are best for their communities.
Madden said Cox’s remarks were the first time the district has heard from him or about his impressions of the instructional model approved by the locally elected school board.
“State leaders have chosen not to issue statewide mandates to guide our state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Touting a belief in local control, they have instead left crucial parts of Utah‘s public response up to locally elected government leaders, including locally elected school boards.
“The Salt Lake City School District Board of Education has always acted in the best interest of its students. Our goal is to bring students back into the classroom as soon as possible, but we need to make sure we do it safely,” Madden said in a statement issued Wednesday.
The global pandemic has hit Salt Lake City particularly hard. “It was important to our local school board and school district leaders to take into the account the important balance between the health and safety of our students and employees and the ongoing quest to provide students with the best educational opportunities,” Madden said.
“While several schools across the county have experienced local COVID-19 outbreaks, our students have continued to safely learn online.”
Madden said the school district has been working with the local health department on a plan to safely return students to schools.
“We will continue to let local conditions and local data guide decisions made in the best interest of students in the Salt Lake City School District,” he said.
Meanwhile, a parent group distributed 5,000 masks at 22 Salt Lake City schools Wednesday as part of an effort organizers said was intended to help control community spread of COVID-19 and support the safe and immediate return of students and teachers to in-person instruction.
As families arrived at schools for daily drive-thru school meal distributions, parent volunteers also offered them masks.
Mary Catherine Perry, a parent of three children in Salt Lake schools, said the parent group understands some students and educators need online learning to keep themselves and their families safe during the pandemic.
“But there are also students and teachers who want and need a return to the classroom in a safe way and we want to help be part of that solution,” she said.
The mask distribution comes a day after Salt Lake City School District officials announced its schools will remain in remote learning mode until at least Nov. 9.
“As we approach the first midterm checkpoint, Salt Lake City has not met the metrics the board selected to return to in-person learning. Therefore, we will continue in remote learning through the end of the first quarter, which ends on Nov. 9,” Madden wrote in a letter to families sent Tuesday.
Prior to the start of the school year, the Salt Lake City Board of Education established the metrics to allow students to return to some form of in-person learning provided that Salt Lake County’s COVID-19 positive test rate was below 5% for seven consecutive days, and there was a COVID-19 positive case count of less than 10 per 100,000 residents of Salt Lake County.
“Over the last seven days, Salt Lake County has had a COVID-19 positive test rate of 11.61%, and a COVID-19 positive case count of 32.1 per 100,000 residents of Salt Lake County,” the letter states. Thus, the district will continue with online teaching and learning.
“The priority of the Salt Lake City School District is the health and safety of our students, families, and employees,” the letter says.
Perry said families are divided, with some strongly in favor of returning to classrooms and others wanting to remain on distance learning.
Parents have been further frustrated because there has been no way to directly address the Salt Lake City Board of Education during its meetings, which have been conducted online since spring, she said.
“The coronavirus is absolutely important and we are taking it very seriously. But the repercussions of not having kids in school can be just as significant and maybe even worse in some cases.” — Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox, Republican candidate for Utah governor
The school board plans to discuss plans for the second quarter at its meetings Oct. 6, Oct. 20 and Nov. 3.
Madden will report to the board next week regarding a recent meeting with school district leaders and the Salt Lake County Health Department. Both parties continue to work toward a safe return to in-person learning.
“As the COVID-19 situation improves, our first planning focus will be on returning younger grades to in-person learning in phases and expanding flexibility for small group instruction for classes that require in-person skill development,” Madden’s letter to parents states.
Families are being surveyed on their experiences with online learning the first few weeks of school.
“We will continue to let local conditions and local data guide decisions made in the best interest of students in the Salt Lake City School District.” — Larry Madden, Interim Superintendent of the Salt Lake City School District
The parent group distributing masks claims some students have still not received laptops to do their online learning. A press release from the group says 13% of students have left the school district.
District spokeswoman Yándary Zavala Chatwin said the school district has distributed devices to schools where they were requested but it is unclear whether families have picked them up.
As for enrollment impacts, “we won’t have updated attendance numbers until the Oct. 1 count. The last count had us down about 1,000 students from last year.”
In Salt Lake City schools, students attend class online during regular school hours and follow a standard school schedule. Educators teach “live” with students using video conferencing technology such as Zoom and Teams. Students learn online at the same time and, depending on their level in school, self-direct some of their learning.
Although students are learning online, the district’s high schools are taking part in extracurricular activities.
Contributing: Lisa Riley Roche