(Tuesday, Dec. 15)<\/ins> from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the intersection of Kenai Spur Highway and Sterling Highway in Soldotna.<\/p>\nThe Facebook group behind the strike, which is called “Done with DISTANCE, We need your ASSISTANCE!” had 477 members as of Monday evening. The group’s stated objective is to have a date set for when all students in all grade levels will return for in-person classes, five days a week. If a new date is not set by then, supporters will no longer participate in distance learning or Zoom.<\/p>\n
Andie Bock, who is one of the group’s administrators, said Monday that the group was created mostly in response to a feeling among KPBSD parents that their testimony during the Dec. 7 Board of Education meeting fell on “deaf ears.” Bock said parents have made calls and sent emails but have received no response.<\/p>\n
James Baisden, who serves as Borough Mayor Charlie Pierce’s chief of staff, and his wife Rhonda have both been vocal about their support for resuming on-site learning. They started a petition on Change.org that advocates for all students to return to in-person classes, five days a week, as soon as possible. As of Monday evening, the petition had received more than 500 signatures.<\/p>\n
“Parents on the Kenai Peninsula want schools open for all grades, now,” the petition description reads. “The job of KPBSD is to facilitate educating children, not push an agenda forcing our community into a false sense of safety.”<\/p>\n
Additionally, the petition says that teachers, like nurses and firefighters, are essential workers and that waiting to open schools until Jan. 19, 2021 is “unacceptable.”<\/p>\n
“My kids need to be back in school full time! They miss their friends, teachers and a normal routine,” wrote Amanda Munro, who signed the petition Monday. “As a parent working full time through this entire pandemic, I can only do so much to help my kids with their school work. They need their teachers.”<\/p>\n
It is possible for schools to resume on-site learning prior to Jan. 19, if enough cases are lost from different regions’ 14-day case count, which determines a school’s risk level.<\/p>\n
As of Monday, the central peninsula needed to lose 494 cases from their 14-day case count in order to drop back into medium-risk level. The southern peninsula needed to lose 79 cases and the eastern peninsula needed to lose 17 cases.<\/p>\n
In response to the strike, KPBSD Communications Director Pegge Erkeneff said Monday that it is possible for schools to reopen before Jan. 19 if community spread slows.<\/p>\n
“KPBSD looks forward to the option for youth to attend school on-site, sooner than later,” Erkeneff said Monday. “If community transmission of COVID-19 is diminishing in January, it’s very possible schools could open to the on-site learning option sooner than Jan. 19, 2021.”<\/p>\n
Erkeneff also confirmed Monday that the absence of students in school after winter break will not impact the district’s funding, which is based on the 20-day count in October. However, students’ attendance determines their eligibility for participating in ASAA sports, such as Nordic Ski, which is happening now, hockey and basketball. Some club sports have continued independently of schools.<\/p>\n
More information on Tuesday’s protest and strike can be found in the “Done with DISTANCE, We need your ASSISTANCE!” Facebook group.<\/p>\n
Reach reporter Ashlyn O’Hara at ashlyn.ohara@peninsulaclarion.com.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Community opposition mounts to Smart Start revisions <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":677,"featured_media":65979,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[703,760],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-65978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-coronavirus","tag-kenai-peninsula-borough-school-district"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/677"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65978\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65978"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=65978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}