By L. Parsons The Winslow Unified School District Governing Board met last week and heard from Superintendent Connie Gover regarding allowing visitors and volunteers at the school sites due to rising COVID-19 case numbers. Gover began, “Navajo County is in the red, as far as our transmission rate so we are at a high rate. We want to keep our students and our staff safe, so we will not be allowing any outside visitors or volunteers at least for this semester. We will also not be allowing parents to bring students outside food for lunch or anything like that. It is about the safety of our students and staff.” That said, face coverings remain optional for all students, faculty and staff in accordance with a recent executive order by Governor Doug Ducey. A first read of new policies presented during the meeting also mentioned that COVID-19 immunizations will not be required for students or staff, also as a result of an executive order from the Governor. During the superintendent’s report, Gover brought forth Jefferson Elementary School Principal Amber Martinez to present the district strategic plan. Martinez said, “We have been working on this plan since January and are in the final stages of that. What we wanted to do was outline our four overarching goals and the mission of our district.” The mission statement, according to Martinez is “To empower all students, all families and all staff every day.” Goals include aligning curriculum district wide and providing targeted intervention and enrichment programs to increase student achievement. Within the strategic plan, there are action steps that will be implemented to help achieve those goals including increasing teacher support and training as well as specific training for paraprofessionals, substitutes and volunteers. The strategic plan is available in its entirety on the district website, at www.wusd1.org. The issue of transportation remains on the agenda for the governing board. A number of parents have expressed concerns to the board in the past regarding overcrowding, with a concerned parent addressing the board during call to the public at this meeting. Theresa Attakai said, “The busses are overcrowded. We have the delta variant now and we have lost a lot of people on the reservation to COVID and the bus situation makes me scared. Not only are they overcrowded, but they are on the bus for so long during the day and they are always late.” Gover commented that the district is still in the process of recruiting additional bus drivers and finding other ways to help mitigate transportation concerns. Applications for bus drivers are available on the district website. In other business, the governing board: * Approved a pay increase of $500 per school year for teachers serving in the high needs/special education capacity in the district. Gover explained the extra responsibilities required of high needs instructors that can include diaper changes and feeding issues. * Approved a contract with Consulting Psychologists of Northern Arizona, a Flagstaff company, to provide counseling services for high needs students. The amount of the contract and scope of work were not provided as of press time. * Ratified vouchers in a routine procedure allowing the board to submit vouchers to the County Superintendent between meetings. * Approved the following donations: $1,614 from the Arizona Department of Corrections to each school site; and $9.30 to Washington Elementary school from Box Tops for Education. * Heard for first reading of 30 Arizona School Board Association Policy Advisories. Notably, changes in policy regarding the requirement of face coverings for students, faculty, staff and visitors to school sites, which was required last year and is optional for this year. * Approved the hiring of Bonnita Batala, high needs special education teacher; James Sumpter, Jr., Cheryl Daly and Nicole Guzman, each as substitute teachers; Jared Jones and Alexa Gilbert, both as paraprofessionals; and Anthony Reynoso as an eighth grade assistant football coach. * Approved Megan Lymer, Chloe Wilcox, Brooke Williams and Michael Dugger, each as coaching volunteers at Winslow Junior High School. * Approved the resignation of Winona Gilmer, a bus driver. * Approved the cancellation of the Oct. 6 governing board meeting as it falls during the fall recess. The next meeting of the Winslow Unified School District Governing Board will be held at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 18, in the meeting room, located at 800 N. Apache Ave.
