(upbeat music) - [Tony] Learning in person during the pandemic, a look at one school's approach.

- It's exhausting, but it's worth it.

- [Tony] Distributing the COVID-19 vaccine on tribal nations.

- I equate this to saving every life by getting them vaccinated.

- [Tony] And one non-profit prepares to aid asylum seekers.

What challenges do leaders anticipate?

- We do need to provide additional shelter space.

(upbeat music) - [Tony] Hello, and welcome to "Arizona 360".

I'm Tony Paniagua, filling in for Loraine Rivera.

Thank you for joining us.

For close to a year now, the pandemic has dramatically altered education in Arizona and in classrooms across the country.

Today, schools continue to grapple with balancing safety and students' needs.

Opting for either all virtual or a mix of in-person and at-home learning.

We visited a school in Tucson where most students have been attending classes in person.

(car engine revving) The International School of Tucson is a private non-profit facility that leases a former elementary school from Tucson Unified School District in Midtown Tucson.

The school is renowned for its immersion programs in Spanish, French, German, or Chinese.

In just a few years, kids can be bilingual.

(boy singing in foreign language) But the school is also garnering attention for remaining open during most of the pandemic since last year.

It started inadvertently, according to Kevin Brown.

He is in his third year at the school.

- There we go, let's check.

(thermometer beeping) You're good.

How about some of me?

I think when COVID took over as like every other school in the area when we were asked to close our doors did so.

We didn't want our kids to get sick.

We didn't want our teachers to get sick.

What happened then was we were approached and asked if we would become an emergency childcare center for first responders.

We're very close here to the Banner Hospital.

We agreed to that and reopened our doors with a bit of trepidation.

Then one of our parents, a man called cliff Martin who works at TMC and is the head of infectious diseases.

He's a parent here and he approached us and said, "Would you like some help in keeping your school open and keeping it clean?"

And we said, "Yes, please."

- [Tony] So the school got busy with an unexpected modern day homework assignment for adults.

They put together a COVID SWAT team.

It's made up of teachers and parent volunteers.

Some are lawyers, scientists, or doctors.

- My name is Ann Juodakis.

I'm a parent of Leila and Kai, two kids here at IST.

And I'm also a pediatric hospitalist at Tucson Medical Center, so I'm a physician.

And I'm one of the members of the, what we call the SWAT team here at IST.

- Good morning.

What do you want today?

- [Tony] The anti COVID measures address masks for adults and children.

There's enhanced ventilation.

Windows are open at all times during the school day.

CO2 monitors check air standards in classrooms and there are occasional breaks outside.

There's also an emphasis on cleaning surfaces.

For example, chairs on top of desks indicate the music room is ready.

And there are policies about keeping potentially sick people or those who may have been exposed to COVID away from school.

- [Megan] It's exhausting, but it's worth it.

Teaching in person is so important for these kids especially the first and second graders.

They need in-person instruction.

(teacher speaking in foreign language) We get to see our kids.

We get to interact with them.

And having that in-person interaction is so, so, so important for their emotional, their social, and their academic development.

- So my kids never really had to quarantine and the school hasn't shut down.

So we really have grown really comfortable with the school protocols, comfortable with the school staying open, even as the community spread was so high here in Tucson.

I think IST has done a really good job and we have a lot of trust in the administration.

- I like the school because everybody is so nice to me.

And because I learned a new language and it's Spanish.

(teacher and students speaking in foreign language) - [Tony] Full reopening started in August to when about 78% of the students began taking classes in person.

- [Kevin] That has steadily improved and increased as we've kept the COVID out of the school.

We're currently on a 95% face to face in class with 5% of children remaining on a blended learning system.

We've had parents who have been infected.

In fact, we've had some staff members who have been infected.

But what is good is because of our policies, we've never had it brought into the school.

And the school has never had any spread of COVID within our students or our staff.

- And we're talking about hundreds of children, right?

- [Kevin] Correct.

We have almost 300 children coming into the school.

- Do you find that amazing that there has not been a spread of COVID on school grounds?

- [Kevin] I have to say, we've always had a say, anyway it's just a question of time.

But so far, it's been a year and we're still okay.

- Has anybody from Washington contacted you (laughing) asking for your suggestions of what's going on?

- No.

To me, I'm English.

So to me, a lot of UK schools were open for a long time.

And if you look at the transmission rates in the younger children, there's no real reason not to have these schools open with measures in place.

(teacher speaking in in foreign language) - [Tony] The results have been positive.

But staff and others admit this school has advantages compared to other settings.

It is in one location, for example.

Not a sprawling school district with different administrators and thousands of students over many neighborhoods and demographics.

As a relatively small private school, people here are also close knit and engaged.

- [Megan] Yes, we have parents that are highly educated, but we also offer a lot of scholarships.

So we still get a lot of range in far as education and parents that make different amounts of money.

So there's a good range of students at the school.

We kind of get that full spectrum.

But for the most part, I think it's more of the relationship that we have with them that it's just this long-term relationship.

That we can trust them and they can trust us.

- It's like the Academy of Pediatrics says that it's like layers on top of layers of protection.

And you do the most that you can and the best you can with the circumstances you have.

And the vaccine is another layer of protection, I think, for the teachers.

- [Kevin] We would have thought that in a year of a pandemic that the numbers of people wanting to come to the school would have dropped.

But in fact, we already have a 24% increase on our numbers ready to come back in August.

Which for us, is the biggest jump we've ever had.

(men and woman speaking in foreign language) - During our time at the International School of Tucson we also met a 14 year old student.

Her name is Nanan Drame.

And she joins us now to share what it's like to learn during the pandemic.

Nanan, thank you so much for being here with us.

- Thank you for having me.

- All right, so let's ask you this.

How long have you been attending this school and what has it been like over the last year with this pandemic going on?

- I've been attending this school ever since preschool.

I even went to the old building of the International School of Tucson.

And school during corona has been different than it was before.

But everyone's adjusting and it's been going nicely.

- And of course, that's the reason we're talking to you because you have been one of those students who has been able to attend in person.

As an older student there at the International School, how has it been for you personally?

- It's been great.

My experience at the International School of Tucson has been magnificent.

Some people are online, some people are in school.

But the teachers still found a way to make a balance.

So we're still able to interact with the kids online as well as they're able to be in class with us.

- And you are actually getting up everyday, getting ready from home, leaving the house... - Yes.

- And attending classes.

You mentioned that that is something that's really important to you.

Can you tell us... - [Nanan] Yes.

- [Tony] About that, please?

- [Nanan] Well, I love being around people.

When I'm around people, it makes me wanna be better, like a better person.

So if I'm sitting around people in the same classroom and we're all learning the same things, it encourages me to try harder and be my best self.

- So tell us about attending in person.

Some people in the community are very fearful of taking a chance, if you will, to do something like that.

Have you felt safe all along?

How have you felt?

- I have felt very safe.

Because even when corona wasn't there, we had cleaners who would clean our school constantly.

So when corona was here, it was just like cleaning even more.

And because none of us have had corona yet, our school hasn't closed.

So it's been very nice to be able to come to school everyday and see the teachers.

Say hi from a distance, of course.

But, yeah.

- Okay.

And right now you're getting ready for high school.

You're applying to different high schools.

Are you looking forward to the moment when you can put all of this pandemic behind you?

- Yes, but also, no.

I like the fact that everybody's social distancing and everything's being more sanitized.

Everything's being sanitized.

And social distancing is nice because sometimes you just need a little bit of space.

- [Tony] (chuckles) Okay.

- (chuckles) Yeah.

But I'm also looking forward to it being over so I can touch my friends and go out and travel and go to stores and stuff.

- All right.

Nanan Drame, thank you so much for joining us and good luck to you in the future.

- Thank you.

- Arizona School chief, Kathy Hoffman, said this week, she wants to see a return to in-person learning.

She's also encouraging people to get vaccinated when they can to reduce community spread.

Hoffman also notes that some schools need more time to get mitigation strategies in place.

Here's Pima County School superintendent, Dustin Williams, for his take on where things stand.

- Right now in Pima County, we have some great momentum going forward.

We're seeing the cases in Pima County finally dip under that 500, 300 mark consecutively for days.

Which opens the windows for schools to open in some capacity, mainly in-person and hybrid.

You'll also have some remote, of course.

But it's good to see that schools are starting to get some momentum and going forward.

- And when do you believe that most of the schools, at least to USC Sunnyside Amphitheater, will be in school, a traditional brick and mortar learning?

- We'll have everybody back into some sort of capacity by the end of March.

Now, does that mean everybody's back all in person, all schools?

No.

But does that mean that the capacity is there and people are starting to be in-person?

Yes.

So we're excited to see that happen at the end of March with the whole family back in Pima County.

- And I would imagine you speak to superintendents in other counties here in the State of Arizona.

How do we compare, let's say to Maricopa, Pinal, and others?

- I'd say Pima County is a little bit more conservative on the side of safety and just kind of a little more reserved.

But we like that here.

We like to take our time a little bit more.

Phoenix is a touch more aggressive, especially in the Maricopa area.

So I like what our chances are here in Pima County and I like what we're doing.

- And there is a lot of concern about the long-term impact that not attending school will have on children.

What is your take on that?

- Yeah, I agree with that.

We have two concerned areas.

One obviously is the cognitive and the learning approach, but the second is that social, emotional.

And that's a really hard piece to judge because they're not in our view.

So that's why we really wanna get 'em back on campus in some sort of capacity.

We know that kids flourish when they work together and they have a teacher that's in front of their face.

- Earlier this month, Governor Doug Ducey signed a bill that will exempt schools in the State of Arizona from being letter graded.

What is your take on that?

- I like that policy that Governor Ducey did.

I think right now letter grades is a time to step back and reevaluate the whole system.

I'm also very concerned with the letter A through F grading system when you attach dollars to a test.

- Governor Doug Ducey is also asking some experts to gather data on the extent of the learning loss that has occurred over the past year.

- [Dustin] We do know that we have some gaps.

But we've also seen some growth in the remote areas of learning.

So I think a study session is a fantastic idea.

It will give schools a way to kind of look at the students.

And then we can bring in interventions to help those students.

- What do you foresee happening in the next year?

If you could do anything, what would it be to try to get kids back into the classroom?

- Right now, I would just ask the communities, continue your efforts and your mitigation strategies.

What you're doing is lowering the cases of COVID.

When those numbers are lower for COVID cases, schools have a better chance of opening.

What I think we'll see is some robust summer sessions at schools, and then hopefully you'll see a large majority of in-person starting in August with some hybrid.

And then probably a small percentage of remote.

- All right, Dustin Williams, Pima County superintendent of schools.

Thank you very much for joining us.

- Thank you for having me.

(upbeat music) - Many of Arizona's tribal nations are overseeing their own vaccine distribution.

That includes the Gila River Indian Community which is vaccinating members 18 and up.

The tribe gets its supply from the federal government through Indian Health Services and has administered about 10,000 shots so far.

At a recent event at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park, 600 people got their first dose.

Organizers were prepared to give up to 2,000 shots.

Loraine Rivera was there and learned more about their efforts from Gila River Indian Community governor, Steven Roe Lewis.

- This is historic.

This is something that I saw as a vision early on when we saw that vaccines were gonna be available.

But I wanted to vaccinate as many of my community members as possible.

- You have about 11,000 members in the community currently.

The first vaccination event drew about 1,000, this one easily over 2,000.

How have you had to address skepticism or have you had to?

- Well, yes.

And I think it's due in a large part to the history of the attitudes of Western medicine especially towards minority groups.

For Native Americans, there's been that history there as well.

There's a history of us being studied.

And these studies not really coming back and benefiting us as tribes.

Whether it has to do with the healthcare, the maladies of us as Native Americans.

And for the Gila River Indian Community we've had that similar history that we've had to work, especially during a pandemic.

Where we've had to really educate and to reach out to our community members, our elders, especially.

To really educate them on the vaccine being safe.

And also, just on how important it is to get vaccinated as well.

- And the message has been received well.

- The message has been received very positively.

Of course, we still have a few that are hesitant, that are on the fence, so to speak.

Because of all the different types of information on the internet, on TV, et cetera.

But I think when you have your tribal leaders, when you have those elders, those that our community looks to for positive truth and for direction, that is very important.

Especially to tribal communities, to communities such as ours.

So we've looked at those champions that have gotten the vaccine to message that to our community as well.

So we've looked at very different ways in how we were trying to message and encourage our community members.

- Ready?

One, two, three.

- [Loraine] Governor Lewis says to pull off an event of this size, the tribe brought in its own healthcare personnel along with staff at the Motorsports Park who are already experienced in running large events.

The tribe also leveraged its relationship with the federal government and the Arizona National Guard.

Colonel Tom Leeper says Arizona's National Guard was the first in the country to vaccinate civilians.

We spoke about its partnership with the Gila River Indian Community.

- So it's a wonderful opportunity that we were asked in by the tribe to provide vaccinators and then also some logistical help from our other task force, our sister task force.

But we're here just putting needles in arms and making sure that we get people immunized - Have you had to handle skepticism from members who might say, I'm not so sure about this?

- So some of the tribal members have expressed concern when they drive up and they see a bunch of people in this uniform there.

So they're kind of surprised.

I think the surprise is what they're voicing.

But we explain to them that we were invited in by the tribe to help out with this vaccination effort.

And they're good with it.

- So you're a physician, obviously, you want to encourage people to get vaccinated.

But for people who are a part of this community, or throughout this state who might be skeptical, what do you say to them?

- So I think that my first message is that the vaccines are safe.

So as far as that type of skepticism goes, it doesn't really fly.

So get the vaccine because it's safe.

But also if you feel a little under the weather after you get the vaccine, that means it's doing its job.

And that's what we're kind of looking for.

So that is way better than actually getting COVID.

- This is the largest scale operation this far.

- At one of the tribal communities, yes.

And we're really pleased with how it's going.

- [Loraine] As the country races to vaccinate people as quickly as possible, events like this one are the result of extensive collaboration that could serve as a valuable blueprint for other communities.

- No, sir, I've been given... - You've also said you've heard from other tribal leaders throughout the state who are wondering should they make this partnership.

What do you tell them?

- Right.

I hear from my tribal leaders, both in this state as well as across Indian Country nationally as well.

And so what we're hoping to do here, not only to vaccinate our community members, but also to show just how collaboratively we've done this with our state, federal, and tribal partners together to be a best practice for other tribes across Indian Country.

And not just for other tribes, but also for other jurisdictions statewide as well, or even nationally.

To show that this type of an event can be done in a very safe fashion, very efficiently.

This drive-through, the site planning that we did, the stages that were all really carefully planned out.

We're seeing tremendous success already.

It's about shots in the arms.

It's about getting our community members vaccinated.

And I equate this to saving every life by getting them vaccinated.

(upbeat music) - As we've been reporting on "Arizona 360", President Biden's approach to immigration issues has involved rolling back the Trump administration's policies.

This includes suspending the migrant protection protocols or remain in Mexico.

The program forced asylum seekers to stay in Mexico border towns while they waited for US immigration court hearings.

Now a plan to begin processing some of those cases and allow them to enter the United States is facing pushback from Arizona.

Customs and border protection has enrolled nearly 70,000 people in the Migrant Protection Protocols program or MPP for short over about two years.

Since then, immigration judges have weighed in on 65% of their cases.

The Biden administration is not enrolling new MPP cases.

But it estimates about 25,000 people who are still in the program have active court cases.

The department of Homeland Security recently announced those people can apply online to gain entry into the US.

The San Ysidro port of entry in San Diego became the first site to process those approved with ports in El Paso and Brownsville, Texas expected to follow soon.

While it is not clear when or if ports in Arizona will join that list, Governor Doug Ducey called the shift in policy a "unnecessarily hasty action" in a letter to DHS secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas.

Ducey's letter says numerous mayors, sheriffs, and non-governmental organizations across the state contacted his office with concerns about safety and funding.

For people with active MPP cases, the state department says on its website that they are tested for COVID-19 before they can enter the country.

And those testing positive must recover in Mexico.

DHS says, immigrants admitted back into the US should arrange for their own transportation to their next destination.

But non-governmental organizations can offer support and they've done so before.

That's where groups like Catholic Community Services comes in.

It runs Casa Alitas in Tucson, a short-term shelter for migrants in transit through Tucson.

At the height of the surge in asylum seekers, it aided hundreds of families.

Some brought in from other states where resources were stretched thin.

We discuss how changes to MPP could impact operations with Director Teresa Cavendish.

Can you please tell us about the protocols that you have had over the past year because of the pandemic that's been going on?

- So as Casa Alitas has continued to receive individuals being released out of ICE or border patrol or CBP custody, we've had to be very cautious about making sure those folks don't integrate back out into the communities without being tested for COVID or quarantining, if necessary.

So everyone who has come to us has received a COVID test.

And then if they were negative, they were able to travel forth to their sponsors and family in the US.

If not, they remained with the Casa Alitas Welcome Center staff in quarantine and received medical oversight and any type of assistance they needed until they tested negative.

And then we provided the same assistance to move them forward.

- And how did MPP and other Trump policies meant to restrict asylum seekers have an impact on your numbers, the numbers of people that you saw and your operations?

- It definitely had an impact on us.

We did not see MPP become fully implemented in the Tucson sector until about January of 2020.

Which was very shortly before the pandemic really took hold of all of our communities.

We saw the number of folks coming to us drop from 25 to 40 folks a day at that point down into very, very few numbers.

At the same time, there were folks who were continuing to be released from immigration detention centers in our state.

Who had been highly COVID exposed and would have integrated directly into the communities or into public transportation systems if they did not have the opportunity to come to Casa Alitas and go through testing and quarantine as necessary.

- You recently put out a call for volunteers.

What are you expecting in the next few weeks or months?

- We are expecting a significant uptake in the number of individuals who will be allowed entry into the US.

As we've already seen, MPP has started to roll back in certain ports of entry within the US.

That has not happened in Arizona.

Though it's certainly a possibility that will occur.

We have been in very close contact with ICE and border patrol and CBP as they are engaging more proactively with the communities and the border shelters.

Making us aware of the upcoming increase, the numbers that they know will be admitted.

- Teresa, you mentioned more communication with ICE and the border patrol.

Back in 2018 and 2019, they were dropping migrants off at Greyhound stations in places like Phoenix and Tucson.

And then later, they started taking them to places like Casa Alitas.

What do you think is going to be happening here in the near future?

Have they told you, the federal government officials, told you what they plan to do next?

- Yes, they definitely are communicating the parameters under which they are operating and trying to assess literally on a daily basis.

They are trying to assess what our capacity is to respond to their need to drop folks off, to remove folks from their custody into the community itself.

So within Tucson, we have had a much better communication with ICE and border patrol and CBP.

Then in some other communities, even as such as Phoenix - What do you need most?

Is it just the hands on deck?

Is it people making donations?

Is it money?

In order for you to get your mission accomplished, what would you like to see coming in?

- We certainly appreciate having volunteers join us and support this work and become a part of the community effort.

We do need to provide additional shelter space and that will require financial resources.

We also need to support transportation.

In very few cases, that's helping folks move, the migrants move from the City of Tucson out to their homes.

But in some cases, we might be required to help transport folks from out in the rural communities into Tucson in order to receive shelter services here.

- And Teresa, whether you agree with Trump's policies or not, millions of people did support his tough stand on illegal immigration.

And the fact that he was trying to keep more asylum seekers from entering this nation.

What would you say to them, to those people who supported Trump's policies?

When they say we don't even have enough resources for people in this country, let alone allowing tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of people into this country.

- The way that I've always had to think about it, I get overwhelmed by the numbers.

So when I think about 60,000, 400,000, whatever number of folks that is that approach our borders every year looking for asylum, I get overwhelmed just as much as anyone else does.

And think that it's just not possible to respond to those type of numbers.

Instead, I focus on the individuals, the people themselves who come to you.

And when you are responding directly to a mom who is trying to protect her two little children and has fled a life-threatening situation in her home country.

And the only hope that she has for their health and safety is the United States, you respond differently.

- Teresa Cavendish, thank you very much for joining us.

- Thank you, Tony.

- 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.

Loraine Rivera will be back.

(upbeat music)