A protest in support of schools reopening in-person classes for the upcoming school year amid the COVID-19 pandemic drew around 100 people Tuesday evening at the state Capitol.
The protest is called "AZ Open Our Schools Rally" and was organized for families and educators who want in-person learning options at Arizona schools.
Attendees wore green to the demonstration at the state Capitol because "Green means GO for education!" according to the rally's Facebook page. Several speakers talked about school reopening plans.
“We don’t want to force people to do things they don’t want to do but we also don’t want to be forced to do things we don’t want to do, for example, online school,” a woman said to cheers from the crowd.
Organizer: It's about choice
"It's not about not caring for people, it's about giving people choices," said Laura Crandell, one of the organizers for the event, earlier in the day.
The gathering comes after Gov. Doug Ducey ordered the Arizona Department of Health Services to create a metric for reopening schools based on health data by Aug. 7.
The targeted date is past the start date of many Arizona schools, including Mesa Public Schools, the district that Crandell is in.
Crandell is a mother of two, and she said families and educators who are comfortable with being in the classroom this fall should have the option of in-person or online classes because some students learn better when they are in the classroom, she said.
She added that she believes there are enough safety-precautions put in place at schools to keep children safe.
At the rally, Daniel McCarthy, who is running against U.S. Sen. Martha McSally in the Republican primary in August, said Gov. Doug Ducey doesn’t have the authority to close businesses and that people need to take their country back.
"We need to open our schools now," he said to cheers.
Other speakers included a woman who said she was a nurse who works 12-hour shifts and can't homeschool her son, as well as a mother of five who called on Ducey to reopen schools and remove the mask mandate, saying masks can’t protect kids from depression, obesity and other issues that aren’t contagious.
Arizona's COVID-19 outbreak may be moderating
Arizona reported more than 2,100 new confirmed COVID-19 cases and 104 deaths on Tuesday. Hospital numbers slightly decreased on Monday, including inpatient hospitalizations, ICU beds in use and emergency visits from suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients, according to hospital data reported to the state.
But hospitals still remain under pressure with COVID-19 patients.
The Republic previously reported that testing hasn't kept up with the spread of the virus. In the past three weeks, cases increased by 58% and tests increased by 42% — 12% of the tests from last week came back positive.
Contact the reporter at helena.wegner@arizonarepublic.com or on Twitter @WegnerHelena. Reach the reporter Perry Vandell at 602-444-2474 or perry.vandell@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @PerryVandell.
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Protesters gather at Capitol to support reopening in-person classes at schools - AZCentral
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