Highland runner makes history
Cat feeder pleads guilty
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An edition of the East Valley Tribune
INSIDE
This Week
NEWS................................ 4 End of quarantine led to rush on Gilbert parks.
COMMUNITY..........12 Higley High student slates drive for Native Americans.
BUSINESS..................15 Trampoline Park hopping for joy.
COMMUNITY........................................12 BUSINESS..............................................15 SPORTS....................................... 16 PUZZLE....................................... 19
CLASSIFIED..........................................20
FREE ($1 OUTSIDE OF GILBERT) | GilbertSunNews.com
Sunday, June 14, 2020
Most GPS teachers, parents want campuses reopened BY CECILIA CHAN GSN Managing Editor
A
n overwhelming number of parents and teachers favor students returning to Gilbert Public Schools’ classrooms in the fall despite the lingering threat of COVID-19, according to district surveys. The district’s task force will take the feedback into consideration as it develops a reopening plan that is expected to be presented to the Governing Board June 30. “We’re very impressed with the responses that we received,” said Barbara Newman, executive director of teaching and learning at the Governing Board’s work study, last week. “We know obviously it’s so important we listen to our community with regards to
making some decisions and that really goes along with what our guiding principles are.” Surveys were emailed to district employees May 31 and to parents on June 1. Of the 4,398 employees who received the survey, 77.76 percent or 3,420 responded, according to Dawn Antestenis, district communications and marketing director in her presentation. Of the 41,000 parents who received a survey, there were 22,405 responses received. Parents were asked to complete one survey per student in their household. The teacher survey showed 53.4 percent of respondents worked at an elementary school, 11.8 percent at a junior high and 24.3 percent at a high school. The rest worked in a district building.
Nearly 2,000 of the employee respondents wanted students to attend school in person full time, followed by fewer than a 1,000 who favored a combination of in-person and online learning, according to the survey. The least favorite option for employees was online instruction. The survey also gauged employees’ with returning to campuses and offices: 30 percent said they had no concern, 45 percent were moderately concerned and 25 percent were very concerned. They were given eight measures to rank for the district to take as part of returning to work, such as mandatory masks for all staff and re-arranged shared-work areas and
see SCHOOL page 8
As GPS ponders reopening, athletes roll
BY ZACH ALVIRA GSN Sports Editor
W
hile Gilbert Public Schools ponders reopening campuses, its football teams aren’t waiting. They’re entering the second phase of a return-to-play plan that was among the first rolled out in the Valley. Two weeks after starting summer workouts, teams across the district this week will enter that plan’s second Players on the Gilbert High School football team practiced at Discovery Park this past week, running phase by practicing in larger hills before the team transitions into the second phase of the district’s return-to-play plan. (Pablo Robles/GSN Staff) groups and sharing equipment on a limited basis. that means having the ability to throw For all five high school football programs, the ball around for the first time in three
months. “It allows us to just be out on the field,” Gilbert High football coach Derek Zellner said. “It’s important for us to be able to touch the ball and maybe pass it around a little bit to start seeing who can do what. It’s kind of like being reacclimated to those movements.” Like most programs, Zellner helped navigate his team carefully through the first phase of the plan, which called for no more than 30 players at a time and group sized limited to 10 or less. They were unable to share
see FOOTBALL page 7