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SALT LAKE CITY — The Salt Lake City School District officials on Wednesday defended their decision to continue remote learning after Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox blasted the district during Tuesday night’s gubernatorial debate, calling that decision a “huge mistake.”
The district’s response also came hours after a group of about 40 volunteers set up across the Salt Lake City School District area to distribute 5,000 free masks in their effort to find a solution to get the students back in classes.
“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,” said Salt Lake City School District interim superintendent Larry Madden, in a prepared statement.
“The Salt Lake City School District Board of Education has always acted in the best interest of its students,” his statement continued, in part. “Our goal is to bring students back into the classroom as soon as possible, but we need to make sure we do it safely.”
Salt Lake City School District officials announced Tuesday evening that its schools will continue remote learning through at least Nov. 9. The district is the only one in the state that has remained with distance learning this year, which is how all schools ended the previous school year due to COVID-19. Other school districts have switched to in-person learning or a hybrid of the two due to COVID-19.
The Salt Lake City Board of Education set up metrics before the school year began to make it clear what needed to happen for in-person learning to resume. That included Salt Lake County’s COVID-19 positive test rate was below 5% for seven consecutive days and a rate of 10 new cases per 100,000 Salt Lake City residents or lower.
In a letter Tuesday, the district pointed out that Salt Lake County had a COVID-19 positive test rate of 11.61%, and a rate of 32.1 new cases per 100,000 county residents Monday, which is why they extended remote learning.
Tuesday evening’s gubernatorial debate between Cox and Democratic candidate Chris Peterson featured a question about what candidates would do about schools and churches reopening during the state’s largest spike to date. Both candidates said they favored in-person learning because of the challenges students face while not in the classroom.
“The repercussions can be just as significant and maybe even worse in some cases. In fact, many of our students are being left behind, especially those in low-income areas and with students with disabilities,” Cox said.
He then singled out the Salt Lake City School District’s decision to continue distance learning.
“That’s a huge mistake. It is damaging our kids and that needs to change right now,” Cox said during Tuesday’s debate.
There have been more than 2,000 COVID-19 cases tied to schools since the 2020-2021 school year began, according to Utah Department of Health statistics updated Wednesday. More than 70% of the cases involved students.
Five districts have at least 200 total cases reported at schools this year. Utah County’s Alpine School District had the most with 519 cases. Since the Salt Lake City School District is primarily online, it has among the fewest cases among districts: 17 total cases, six of which are active.
“During a global pandemic that has hit Salt Lake City — and those living within our school district boundaries — 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’s statement continued.
“While several schools across the county have experienced local COVID-19 outbreaks, our students have continued to safely learn online,” he added. “We have been working under the guidance of our local health department on a plan to bring students back into the classroom safely. 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.”
Group hands out free masks in effort to curb cases, get students back in class
Wednesday morning, about three dozen volunteers worked to hand out thousands of free masks in their effort to get COVID-19 cases down, so the district will allow students back in classrooms. Among the volunteers was Mary Catherine Perry, an organizer and parent of three children in district schools.
The organizers say they want students back in classrooms, but they are aware of COVID-19’s risks. They say there are some cases in which remote learning is necessary but that there are also many teachers and students who are eager and want the choice to return to school because remote learning isn’t working for them.
Perry helped hand out masks outside of West High School; however, volunteers went to about two dozen locations to help pass out masks where students and family pick up lunch meals. The masks were purchased with the help of public and private donations.
“We are trying to be the solution to help get these cases down so that our teachers and students can return safely and quickly to our classrooms,” Perry said. “We’re just trying to help make that choice a reality.”
Contributing: Jay Dortzbach, KSL TV
