By L. Parsons The Winslow Unified School District Governing Board held a special meeting last week. On the agenda was a discussion regarding the student count for the district, both online and in person. Superintendent Kathryn Zanin said, “So far, the high school has registered 362 students of their 631. One hundred and sixty of those students are going to be in-person and 202 online.” Registration for Winslow High School was completed earlier in the week and vouchers were given for students to redeem for a laptop to be supplied by the district. “We have identified 272 computers that will be going out at this time.” Zanin continued, “At the junior high, they have had 36 seventh graders and 36 eighth graders that have committed to coming in person. Eighty of the parents are unsure, leaving about 200 students that I think also still need to register or might also. Because I don’t believe 200 students are online.” At the time of the meeting, the elementary schools had not completed registrations, so their student counts were unknown. Also, during the meeting, Board President Sharon Greenwood read questions from concerned parents in the call to the public portion. Greenwood began with a question from Val Joe. “The President of the United States stated that if teachers have co-morbidities, they should stay home. How many teachers in our district have underlying health issues? How many students? Is this something the board is taking into consideration?” The next question was also from Val Joe. “What kind of policies have you put into place to protect staff? Have the safety measures been put in to place and if not, when? Is there a policy for quarantine if a student or staff member tests positive?” Because of board policy, neither the superintendent nor the board were allowed to address the questions from Joe but did say the concern will appear on the agenda for the next meeting. An intergovernmental agreement with the Flagstaff Unified School District was also on the agenda. The IGA would allow students west of the Navajo County line to attend Winslow schools, according to the agenda. However, Zanin said, “The attorneys from Flagstaff have not yet completed this IGA, so I have nothing to present.” In her report, Zanin said, “(A) very busy week again. We are starting to ramp up with registration across the district and preparing our computers. We should have more than enough computers to give one to each person who is requesting one. We are still waiting on 1,000 computers that will be in probably by the first part of August. “I have been responding to a variety of different calls from parents in regard to class offerings as well as the controversy of a waiver that went out this week that should not have gone out. What was supposed to have gone out was a parental acknowledgement disclosure.” Zannin explained that the district’s insurance company sent out four letters for the leadership team to look at and decide which one was best. “We chose the acknowledgement disclosure and I’m not sure exactly how the other one is what ended up going out.” Distribution of the waiver in question did cease after Zanin was made aware of it. It garnered many questions and concerns from parents on social media due to its language. The waiver was an agreement to “release and discharge any and all claims, causes of action, damages and rights of any kind against the school, the district, its insurers, governing board, respective employees arising from or relating in any way to any damage, injury, trauma, illness, loss or death that may occur to my child, me or my household members as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.” Parents are not required to sign the waiver, and those who did receive it are asked to ignore the first page. The next pages outline the procedures that will take place on each Winslow campus and ask for parental acknowledgement. Those include temperatures being taken, as well as hand washing and face coverings being required. The governing board approved a meeting time change from the first and third Thursdays each month, to the first and third Wednesdays, with each meeting beginning at 6 p.m. and to be held in the Performing Arts Center (PAC), located at 600 E. Cherry St. The new meeting schedule will begin Aug. 19. In other business, the governing board approved the hiring of Brian Wilcox as a high needs paraprofessional at Winslow High School and Tara Wilcox as a paraprofessional at Jefferson Elementary School. Also approved was the resignation of Dodie Flores, Emma Kloor and Serena Stewart as paraprofessionals; the transfer of Todd Hunt from substitute to special education teacher, and Therese Kolomitz from special education paraprofessional to paraprofessional. In addition, Todd Turley, the architecture and drafting teacher at WHS, will retire effective immediately. Turley has taught for 35 years in the district. The next meeting of the Winslow Unified School District governing board will be at 6 p.m. on Aug. 19 in the PAC.
