Town boosts sick leave
New freeway crossing launches
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An edition of the East Valley Tribune
INSIDE
This Week
COMMUNITY......... 14 Gilbert High alum in movie debut.
BUSINESS................. 16 Gilbert pizzeria-owning brothers are grateful.
SPORTS........................ 17
Fiesta Bowl reunites two EV competitors COMMUNITY....................................... 14 BUSINESS............................................. 16
SPORTS........................................17 GETOUT...................................... 18
PUZZLE.......................................20 CLASSIFIED..........................................20
FREE ($1 OUTSIDE OF GILBERT) | GilbertSunNews.com
Sunday, January 10, 2021
GPS keeps classrooms only partly open BY CECILIA CHAN GSN Managing Editor
G
ilbert Public Schools students won’t be returning to classrooms fulltime this week as previously planned but will spend the month in hybrid learning. The Governing Board last week voted 3-2 for K-12 students to keep with hybrid instruction until Jan. 29, though that date could move up if vaccines become available for teachers sooner. The hybrid model is meant to slow the spread of the coronavirus that is pushing up case counts in the community. It involves dividing student bodies into two groups
that alternate between two and three days a week in classrooms. “My goal is to get us back as soon as possible,” said board member Reed Carr, who made the motion. “My understanding is that teachers should start receiving vaccines in approximately a week to two weeks.” Carr added that his personal preference was for fulltime in-person learning but he crafted his motion to be a compromise. The board earlier unanimously rejected board President Charles Santa Cruz’s motion that called for K-6 students doing hybrid for two weeks in the third quarter, followed by virtual learning for the remainder of January and for grades 7-12 to go virtual
Jan. 11-29. During the nearly six-hour meeting last Monday, the board heard from 68 speakers on both sides of the issue. At one point over 3,000 viewers tuned into the live feed of the meeting. Superintendent Shane McCord attended via telephone because he tested positive for the virus. Over half of the speakers urged the board to keep its Dec. 15 decision for students to do one week of hybrid when they returned from winter break on Jan. 5 and then go to in-person learning five days a week.
see SCHOOLS page 4
Coyotes plan tribute to late Gilbert superfan BY NICHOLAS BARKER GSN Contributor
A
s 2020 came to a close, the Arizona Coyotes suffered heartbreak as Leighton Accardo of Gilbert, a 9-year-old Coyotes superfan, died after battling stage four malignant germ cell cancer since May 2019. In 2020, about 606,520 people died of cancer in the United States, but when it takes a life of someone who is so loved and known, it hurts even more. Leighton played youth hockey for the Arizona Kachinas, which is run by the Arizona Coyotes, and signed a one-day contract with the ‘yotes before a game against the Calgary Flames. To honor her life and legacy, the Coyotes will host Skatin’ for Leighton, featuring Lyndsey Fry, the Arizona Kachinas Hockey Association president.
Before she passed away after a valiant battle with cancer last month, 9-year-old Leighton Accardo of Gilbert was a big Arizona Coyotes fan. The team will hold a special memorial to her this year. (Special to GSN)
During the event, Fry will rollerblade across the Valley, stopping at hockey rinks along the way. It’s 96 miles – in honor of the Coyotes coming to the Valley in 1996. “I’m going to start at Phoenix Children’s Hospital, then I’ll be going to AZ Ice Arca-
dia, Ice Den Chandler, AZ Ice Gilbert, Coyotes Community Ice Center, Oceanside in Tempe and then up to the Ice Den in Scottsdale, over to the Peoria rink and ending at Gila River
see LEIGHTON page 7