(bright music) - [Lorraine] Border security in Cochise County.

The sheriff reacts to the deployment of Arizona's National Guard.

- We had it conquered, we had manageable control and now we don't have it.

- [Lorraine] Plus more funding to support new teachers and students across the state.

- They have learned to adapt and be flexible and still do their jobs and maintain relationships.

- UA students roll up their sleeves to take part in a national COVID vaccine study.

- This is a very important study for all of us in the world.

(upbeat music) - Hello and welcome to Arizona 360, I'm Lorraine Rivera.

Thanks so much for joining us.

Arizona's National Guard will deploy to the border after governor Doug Ducey declared an emergency along the state's border counties.

Ducey for weeks has blamed the Biden administration for creating "crisis" amid a recent uptake in apprehensions specifically the increase in unaccompanied minors taken into custody who were also seeking asylum.

This deployment will involve up to 250 guardsman.

Ducey says they are there to support other law enforcement with tasks that include medical operations in detention centers, maintaining border cameras and analyzing satellite imagery for trends in smuggling corridors.

Early critics of the governor's move include Congressman Raúl Grijalva and Tucson mayor, Regina Romero, who said Ducey is caught playing politics with the National Guard.

Pima County sheriff Chris Nanos called the action unnecessary and said border enforcement should be left to the federal government.

Santa Cruz County sheriff David Hathaway told AZPM there was no migrant crisis in his county and he did not need the National Guard.

But other border sheriffs welcomed the declaration including Cochise county's, Mark Dannels.

Tony Paniagua spoke to the sheriff about his concerns and also reports on how some communities in the county are being impacted.

- [Paniagua] Cochise County's border with Mexico, welcomes commerce and visitors to this binational region.

In recent months, however, this 83 mile boundary between the county and its southern neighbor has also seen a spike in criminal activity according to Sheriff Mark Dannels.

- We're not the same county we were a year ago and I as a sheriff looks at this and go, "Wow, we had it.

We had it conquered, we had manageable control and now we don't have it."

- [Paniagua] These images from his department show people entering the country illegally in remote areas.

Daniel says smugglers have also gotten more brazen.

They're transporting an increasing amount of drugs and people into the country.

- Well, I always look at where we were and where we're at today.

Where we were a year ago, we had just off our virtual system which campuses primarily Cochise County but I also went to Santa Cruz, Pima and Yuma and into New Mexico.

We had three to 400 illegal entries off our camera a year ago.

We're just under 3,400 last month alone.

First of all, whenever you have the cartel that's on the backside of all this smuggling.

We forget that there are a criminal organization that controls himself through fear, violence and greed.

- I know that the governor is declaring or has declared a state of emergency.

What is your reaction to that?

- Well, based on the stats alone it's justified.

- [Paniagua] According to the US Border Patrol, so far this fiscal year encounters in Southern Arizona have increased 139% compared to the same time last year.

Apprehensions of people not from Mexico are up 96%.

And while family units are down 6%, the number of unaccompanied children has risen almost 100%.

(car engine revving) About 45 miles East of Tucson in the City of Benson, this former hotel near was repurposed to house some of those children temporarily while staff looked for their relatives or other appropriate sponsors in the United States.

The operation is run by a company called VisionQuest which started in Tucson nearly 50 years ago.

- And we dealt primarily with juvenile delinquents.

And today we are... Our range is much wider, we deal with the behavioral health, mental health, drug and alcohol, victims of human trafficking, the unaccompanied children, the programs we're talking about today, and most of our business now is in-home, when the kids are in their own home as opposed to in a residential setting.

- [Paniagua] VisionQuest has a three-year contract to run this shelter with the office of refugee resettlement under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

VisionQuest is a for-profit organization that operates in six states with revenues of more than $50 million a year.

The current agreement that this facility is part of a "cost reimbursement contract" without an exact monetary figure according to Contento.

- The costs vary, you know, in ballpark figures it's north of 3 million, but it could go higher than that depending on the number of kids that are involved in the program, because the more kids the more staff, the more staff the higher the salaries and hence the higher the reimbursement - [Paniagua] Contento says the building can accommodate about 50 young people between the ages of 12 and 18 but presently only has about 20.

One of the teens left a facility a few weeks ago and was caught by Benson Police.

As required by the contract, Contento says the teen was handed over to federal agents and not allowed to return to the shelter.

But Contento says the vast majority of the adolescents want to be in the United States and don't cause any problems.

- It's good for kids generally speaking, yes.

- On social media, some Benson residents say they were misled into thinking the facility would provide a place for a homeless youth in the state, not migrant children or teens from other countries.

What words or what terminology did you use as to the people who would be housed in that shelter?

- I don't know.

I was not involved in that process specifically to tell you that, other than we got all the appropriate permits and followed every procedure that we're requested to go through.

- Yes, in our cameras-- - [Paniagua] Back at his office, Sheriff Dannels says migrant children and the other border related issues deserve a lot more scrutiny and planning and he hopes that Washington DC will act accordingly - There's border security and then there's immigration.

Look at your immigration programs and let's modify.

If you want to enhance them, do that, but don't have that fracture our border security mission, we got to keep that intact.

But you can't come across the border illegally and not have consequences.

You have to have consequences.

We need more judicial oversight for immigration, we all know that the big key that we seem to forget.

And we also need to get Congress to unify.

I've said this and I'll say it to you too, it's now whether you're right or wrong anymore, it seems like in this country, it's who you're aligned with politically.

That's a fracture in policing, we gotta fix that.

(bright music) - For teachers beginning their careers in Arizona more help is on the way.

The state superintendent's office will put more than $2 million in federal relief aid toward a mentorship program run by Northern Arizona university's, Arizona K-12 Center.

We spoke to professional learning director Danielle Brown about how the extra funds will allow them to reach more educators.

- We're really excited for this opportunity because it allows us to support more districts and really building a robust induction program.

So, what that looks like is professional development.

It also looks like really intentional instructional mentoring in which beginning teachers are paired with instructional mentors who are veterans to the teaching field, who helped them think collaboratively and think collectively about their practice.

And so, with this infusion we're able to now support more districts than we ever have as a center.

As planned, we were really looking forward to being able to support seven districts.

And though we're located in the valley, we support across the whole state.

This infusion now allows us to support 23 districts.

- COVID-19 really pulled the rug out from underneath educators in general.

I can only imagine how that challenge those first year teachers.

What have been some of the gains that you saw they were able to make as they adapted to the new normal?

- I have been in conversations with first-year teachers as is my job so often.

And the thing that I find the most I think heartwarming and fortifying is the fact that these first year teachers have found a resilience that even probably myself in my first year wouldn't have found.

They have learned to adapt and be flexible and still do their jobs and maintain relationships and try new things all throughout this whole year.

And so, I think that just makes them a stronger candidate for this profession as they continue.

- You mentioned rural Arizona, those can be communities that are challenges because infrastructure, transportation and the list can go on.

New dollars, how do you see them affecting classrooms immediately?

- So really for our work, we're able now to make those travel arrangements ourselves to get out to the rural communities.

Again, I stated we do support the whole state and so we are out and about.

So, being able to bring this work to them, to provide them with the resources that they might need to access training, to access coaching opportunities is really what we're hoping to deal with the impact with the funding that we've received.

- What have you seen is the benefit to the students when those first year teachers get this extra layer of support?

- The first year teachers efficacy goes up, they feel as if they are that true professional in the classroom.

There aren't many opportunities or jobs that you go into, your careers in which your very first year is as if you've been teaching for 20 to 30 years.

And so, really that ability to have collaborative conversations to really think through the intentions that I planned for and the outcomes for students helps that beginning teacher to see themselves as that curious inquisitive and persistent facilitator of learning.

And I think having that guide on the side to really help you talk through your practice allows first year teachers to see that within themselves, because really the goal with instructional mentoring is to support beginning teachers to gain those habits of mind, of reflection and questioning and planning so that when that mentor is maybe no longer there they're still able to carry that out throughout their career.

- There has lot said about what this year has done to the ability of students to learn and the challenges that it has presented.

We always talk about the summer slide, I don't know what the term will be for what COVID-19 has done but how will children be received in the classroom in the fall when things are hopefully back to the normal that we once knew?

- I truly believe that children will be received with the same love and care and intention that they would have been received have they just come back from a summer vacation.

Really just understanding that in this space that may seem as an opportunity, there's a lot of opportunity.

And so, as students come back to the classrooms, I encourage educators to continue to bring that same care, that same intentionality and really just work with the students that you have.

- Delivering that much needed boost of confidence.

Okay, Danielle Brown, the professional learning director for the Arizona K-12 Center, thank you.

- Thank you so much.

- Even more federal recovery aid will go toward putting more counselors and social workers on campuses.

The state superintendent's office says $21 million will fund 71 school counselors and 69 social workers for two years, it comes at a critical moment.

Many students are readjusting after months of at-home learning an issue we discuss with Dr. Rebecca Hartzell, an associate professor of practice at the U of A College of Education.

When many districts returned to normal, were students able to sort of re-engage back into what was the norm prior to the pandemic where they were able to be in a classroom with teachers and students again?

- No, I think it's been really difficult to be able to get back into the swing of things.

For the children that I work with, I work with children mostly with autism and behavior difficulties, and those particular children really need social practice, they need communication practice and then they need behavior support.

And we have not really been able to get a good handle on where a lot of those children are at right now.

We don't know where they're at socially.

That's one of the things that we've really been focusing on over the past month or two, is trying to help these children to...

Even typically developing children, we're trying to get them to articulate what's going on, what are they feeling, what is some of the difficulties that they're having?

And we've seen that children have a really difficult time articulating what they're going through right now, which I think is fairly consistent with how adults are feeling.

I think as adults, we're having a hard time articulating what the past year has done to us and we have found that children are even more so having difficulty trying to articulate.

- Across the state, there are not enough counselors in school districts to help meet the needs of students.

Traditionally, what would you like to see counselors fill that gap?

I mean, that some of the issues you just mentioned.

I mean, what could they be doing if there were enough?

- What I would love to see is if we were able to put more focus on individual children and what they might be struggling with.

For example, I've been involved in a few cases over the last couple of weeks where we're taking a child that didn't have identified social anxiety before the pandemic and we're making a plan for them to go to school for just 15 minutes on this first day.

You're just going to go in, you're going to say hi to your friends, you're going to do your check-in and then right after that, you can leave.

I would say the majority of the children that we'd been working on, we now have them at a point where they're able to attend full day, they're able to participate with their peers.

But at the beginning they just really needed a very focused individualized plan on how we were going to transition them back from completely at home learning to seven days or seven hours a day at school.

And so, I think we could really use more counselors or more social workers in the schools to be able to assist with these very individualized treatment plans that we need to give these children so that they can make the transition back into the schools.

- In the short time we have left Dr. Hartzell, anything about this year that you look forward to next year saying, "This gives us some hope and that students will be able to rebound?"

- Yeah, I definitely think there's hope.

I don't mind to in any way communicate that I think that this is just a hopeless situation.

I definitely don't think it is, we have great educators, we have wonderful school districts that have been working so hard.

I have seen like so much... Work from teachers and focus and plans to meet the needs of the children.

I think children are very resilient and I think that children tend to bounce back much quicker than adults sometimes and their ability to manage change and transition.

I think I would just caution everyone to still be very aware of those subtle social, emotional, communicative and behavioral differences that we might see in our children that might indicate that there's a great amount of anxiety or stress underneath all of that.

So, while I think that they'll adapt, I think that they'll be able to come back next year and be resilient and respond well to the changes.

I still want us to be really aware of maybe some of the underlying difficulties that maybe children aren't very good at articulating yet that they might be struggling or going through.

- Okay.

Dr. Rebecca Hartzell from the University of Arizona College of Education, thank you for your insights.

- Yeah, thank you for having me.

Have a good day.

(bright music) - As of this week, anyone 16 and up who wants the COVID-19 vaccine can register but some college students are intentionally delaying their turn.

They're part of a nationwide study involving more than 20 universities, including the U of A.

While some are randomly assigned to get the Moderna vaccine others will wait four months.

And in the meantime, researchers will see whether or not those vaccinated can still transmit the virus as asymptomatic carriers.

We heard from some of those participants and learn more about what the study aims to accomplish from its co-leader Dr. Elizabeth Connick.

- This is a very important study for all of us in the world to learn how effective the vaccine is in preventing transmission.

And currently the CDC recommends that even if you've been vaccinated, you should continue to mask and socially distance because we don't know if the virus can still be infecting people and trends and they...

If they can transmit the virus to other people even if they've been vaccinated.

So, this is the key to our freedom.

This is the key to opening up universities, opening up businesses, being able to fly places.

What I hope is that we'll find... Is that asymptomatic infection is decreased but we don't know that yet and we need to know that before we can safely, you know, relinquish these very inconvenient things like social distancing and masking.

- What's the motivation for students to launch into a four month study when they could get the vaccine today if they wanted to?

And many will wait and say, I want to do this for science, I guess.

- Yes.

We've really been impressed by the altruism of many of the participants in this study.

Of course, they have a 50% chance of being randomized to get the vaccine, but those who haven't been randomized to that arm have been very calm about it and said, "I really want to know the answers to these questions too," and they want to play a part.

I should note, however, that if somebody changes their mind and feels like they really do need to get the vaccine after having been randomized to the deferred arm, they are still able to go out and get the vaccine and we will still continue to follow them in the study.

- Thank you so much.

All right.

One second, I'm going to fill out some of this stuff and I'll ask you some questions.

- [Lorraine] At a recent vaccination event for the study, students Avonna Reynolds, Blake Gherkin and Becca Bargo share why they signed up to participate.

- Yeah, I feel fine.

I'm happy I did it.

I think it's a good thing that people should get.

I mean, it's at your own discretion, but I think it's a good thing.

- (mumbles) questions, okay?

- Okay.

- Are you feeling sick today?

- No.

I know there's a lot of questions and not a lot of answers.

And participating in the study is a great way to find answers and better understand how transmission once you're vaccinated works.

- Okay, do you have a weakened immune system from any medicines or conditions?

You know, it can help so many people.

So, it's just really important that we learn everything we can about it.

(students chattering) - [Lorraine] Back in the studio I asked Dr. Connick what she hopes students take away from the experience.

- I hope that they get a sense of fulfillment for having done their part to help the country in terms of getting out of this terrible pandemic that we're in.

They do get some payment for participating in the study, but they do a lot of work too.

They are supposed to swap their noses every day and they keep an eDiary.

And we feel that the compensation is appropriate for the amount of effort that they're going to participate.

- You study public health, you know, how a virus can mutate.

Is there a risk associated with doing this?

I imagine that there isn't any study, correct?

- So all studies have risks, even the vaccine has risks as we know.

So, we are recruiting healthy students between the ages of 18 and 26.

Certainly, they're at risk of getting COVID if they don't get the vaccine, but the risk of COVID in very healthy young people is quite low.

- Once the study finishes, when do you anticipate seeing results?

- I think that we will have results of this study before the end of the year, which is great.

- Dr. Liz Connick from the College of Medicine at the University of Arizona, thank you.

- Thank you very much.

(bright music) - After nearly a year long pause the Pima County Superior Court is so many jurors again, but their time in the courtroom will look different.

We heard more about those changes from presiding judge, Kyle Bryson.

There's an emotional component to being inside of a courtroom for everyone, from the plaintiffs, the jury, obviously the defendant.

Can you give us a sense of how that's shifted over the last year?

- First and foremost, coming to a courthouse can be a daunting intimidating prospect, and we have always recognized that and have always understood that.

And I think that the pandemic just has added a layer of concern for those folks who are already concerned about coming to the building.

We work very hard to make sure that it's obvious to those who come into the building that it is a safe environment.

We take measures over what we're doing as very obvious and very visual so that people know that when they come into the building, that it is safe as possible it possibly could be.

- So, you have had virtual events.

I mean, trials have been conducted via the internet, is that correct?

- Well, we've had hearings conducted via Teams.

We use the Office 365 version of Teams and we found that that's a very helpful, useful tool for a variety of types of clearance that we're able to conduct now.

We have not done any trials, we have via virtual presence or platform.

- When we talk about trials then I imagine that means there's a backlog since you've essentially lost maybe a year's worth of work.

- Well, you know, I've asked our bench presiding judges who have a lot of responsibility and autonomy to keep an eye on what I call their inventory of cases.

And what they tell me is that there isn't a huge avalanche of cases coming our way.

We've been able to manage our case flow through this virtual platform, through the cooperation of a lot of our stakeholders in the legal community and in the community.

And so, when you talk about a trial backlog, I'm really...

I don't think there is a huge tsunami coming our way.

Bear in mind too that traditionally in the last generation or two here, we haven't tried as many cases as perhaps societally we did three or four generations ago.

Our trial rate at about about a year and a half ago on the criminal bench was about 4% and our civil trial rate was under 1%.

So, we continue to try to resolve as many cases as we can through alternative dispute resolution.

- You are attempting to regain some normalcy and bring people back into the building.

So, describe to us what will be different this time around.

- Well, you know, we knew a year ago going into the pandemic that someday at some point in time we'd be back to normal.

And so, we instituted a back to operations task force.

And that group worked diligently and very hard to get us to where we are now.

And that is to say we are using social distancing, we have panels up all over the courtrooms, we're making sure that folks are not in a position where they're too close to one another.

And in doing that, we had to really think outside the proverbial box.

For example, historically jurors sat together and squished together, if you will, on a jury box.

What we've done, especially here in this larger ceremony court room that I'm in right now, is we've removed the first two couple of rows of seating so that we can place jurors in alternate places.

So, in that jurors kind of spread out in the courtroom, we moved the attorneys off to the side to accommodate social distancing requirements.

That's just one of our examples.

- If a juror is uncomfortable with being back in a public venue such as a courtroom, will they have the opportunity to opt out?

- Sure.

Yeah, what we've told people all along is if you're uncomfortable just let us know and we will reschedule you for jury duty.

We didn't really know even going into that part of the process how that would be received.

Some thought that perhaps we would have nobody say I'll be a juror of stand up in the future.

And then others opine quite the opposite.

What we have found is that folks feel very strongly about serving the community and serving on a jury.

And while we have had a number of folks say they're just not quite comfortable yet and we've gladly put them back into the mix for a later day, we've had really good, really strong turnout from our jurors.

I might also add, we continue to have grand juries and panel grand juries during this time.

And again, the feedback we've gotten from them has been positive.

- As you move forward, what metrics will you be looking at to potentially make a decision about scaling back or ramping up?

- Well, we're going to work closely with the chief justice and we're going to look at the data, keep an eye on the science, we have a good partnership with the County Health Department, with County Administration.

I will tell you from from day one, the chief justice has been very involved in ensuring as best he can that the courts again are safe while keeping the doors open for business.

And he has maintained a custom of having a biweekly pandemic zoom meeting, we continue to do that.

We've done that here locally too internally.

And again, we've maintained close contact with the health department.

So, we're looking at all the data, all the science and that's what we'll use to decide when it's time to move forward.

- Judge Kyle Bryson, the presiding court judge at Pima County Superior Court, thank you for your insight.

- Thank you, my pleasure.

Have a nice day - And that's all for now.

Thanks for joining us.

To get in touch visit us on social media or send an email to arizona360@azpm.org and let us know what you think.

We'll see you next week.

(upbeat music) (bright music)