Amid COVID-19, what will next school year look like at MUSD?

School is officially still in session, but Maricopa Unified School District is deciding how it will start next school year in the wake of COVID-19.

The 2020-21 school year is expected to start July 23. Wednesday, Superintendent Tracey Lopeman told the governing board there are currently three options being weighed, and all will have some baggage attached.

“We’ve been thinking about that since the middle of March,” Lopeman said. “What are we going to do in July? And it’s a head-scratcher, for sure.”

Traditional schooling at the district’s various campuses is the first option and the one most districts have as a goal. To have students back in class would require additional training, safety and cleanliness procedures.

Other options are to continue distance learning or a hybrid of traditional and online. Lopeman said if the district were to continue the distance-learning program it has been using since the end of spring break, it would be a different version.

Currently, most distance learning lacks accountability and feedback from students, she said. It has also limited student advancement, with only high school students able to improve their grades in the final quarter because those grades impact their future advancement.

Middle school parent Jennifer Reyna has not been happy with the limitations.[quote_box_right]CURRENT DISTANCE LEARNING

Students in grades K-8

• Students receive printed materials and a calendar to help pace their activities. Teachers provide consistent instructional support and guidance through email or phone.  
• While no fourth quarter grades will be calculated for K-8 students, teachers will provide regular feedback and document progress to keep scholars academically on-track.

Students in grades 9-11

• Students have the opportunity to improve their semester grade by creating a plan with their teachers to redo assignments from prior to the closure. 

Students in grade 12

• Seniors may choose to improve their semester grade by completing assignments during the school closure which are graded by their teachers.  If seniors choose not to complete assignments during this time, their semester grade will be calculated on work completed prior to the school closure.  

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“Keeping third-quarter grades the same will impact my child,” Reyna said. “She was working so hard to improve her final grade, and now nothing will be counted.”

The district shared with InMaricopa the information it sent to parents to explain why administrators made the decision: “In MUSD, a significant number of students do not have the ability to access and submit assignments through an electronic format. Asking students to physically submit paper documents to be graded and returned places students, their families, and teachers in circumstances that could compromise their health and safety. For this reason and because of disparities in electronic access, we cannot offer a grading system for students in K-8 that is equitable while preserving the safety of families and staff.”

Reyna, whose child is in sixth grade at Maricopa Wells Middle School, said teachers had also expressed frustrations to her about not being able to award credit.

“So just in my daughter’s situation, she had two F’s and two D’s. Even though she will move on to seventh grade, she will have to repeat sixth-grade-level work for the first semester on those four classes,” she said. “But if they were to count the fourth quarter, she would be right on track.”

Lopeman said MUSD is doing the “work, research and collaboration” to find a model that will work best for everyone for the new school year. She said she wants it to better define accountability.

That could include a hybrid of brick-and-mortar class-time and online learning. The hybrid model, which would allow athletic participation like the traditional model, would also require extra athletic sanitization and a modified schedule. Lopeman said she expects to get more guidance from the state by the beginning of June.

Whatever the new school year looks like, it will likely include waiving some state and federal education laws.