QUEEN CREEK, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) - One day after the Queen Creek Unified School District board voted to proceed with in-person learning, some teachers vowed to stay home on the first day of class, while others submitted letters of resignation.
"I'll be honest with you. I won't be there Monday morning," said Brad Charles, who teaches chemistry and biology.
The district has a protocol for mask-wearing, but some parents don't think their measures are enough to stop community spread.
Charles says he has Type 2 diabetes, which puts him at a higher risk of developing serious complications if he becomes infected with COVID-19. He says he resigned from the district, but is still required to teach until the district finds a replacement.
On Tuesday night, the school board voted 4-1 to begin in-person learning on Monday for students who wish to come to school. Others still have an online option. But that means teachers will be required to preside over the classes in-person.
On Thursday, Gov. Doug Ducey sat down with top officials from the Arizona Dept. of Health Services to look at what it would take for kids to make a safe return to in-person learning in our state.
"We all want to go back. You know, this is what we've chosen to do. But if we go back the wrong way, like we are planning to do Monday, it's going to be a disaster," said Jacob Frantz, who is a chemistry teacher and the president of the Queen Creek Education Association.
Frantz says 43 teachers have resigned since the beginning of the summer, more than a dozen of them in just the past week. He says other teachers are planning to stay home on Monday and says the result will be chaos.
School districts in the Phoenix-area are starting to alter in-person learning plans as COVID-19 cases grow in Maricopa County.
"I know a lot of people won't show up and that's not a matter of us telling people not to show up. It's a matter of safety and people are going to be making that choice for their safety and their families' safety," said Frantz.
