Running head: SIGNATURE ASSIGNMENT LITERATURE REVIEW

Signature Assignment Literature Review

Avery Huang

Arizona State University

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Literature Review

Part 1

The education issue that my advocacy action plan addresses is how we ensure the health of

children returning to school in Tempe Elementary School District during the ongoing outbreak.

The Tempe Elementary School District consists of 22 schools and is located in the heart of

Phoenix. They are committed to developing an inclusive, diverse educational environment that

addresses the unique needs of young students.

According to the CDC (2021), children and adolescents can be infected with SARS-CoV-2

and carry COVID-19 to others. Although the study stated that school reopenings for in-person

learning had no effect on COVID-19 hospitalization rates, the CDC emphasized that

SARS-CoV-2 infection occurs if schools do not implement or comply with prevention strategies.

Therefore, taking the necessary measures and giving parents timely information and COVID-19

resources is crucial in protecting children and everyone's safety in our community.

In an effort to control the spread of the virus in the school district, they are advocating that

"Face coverings will continue to be required for all students, staff and visitors while indoors.

Face coverings are not required while outdoors" (Driscoll, 2021). They will monitor the situation

and inform parents of any changes. Moreover, in order to better guide parents to protect their

children's back-to-school health, they created a separate Return to School 2021-22 School Year

page (Tempe Elementary School District, n.d.) to share helpful resources for parents, such as the

COVID-19 Dashboard, Mask Update, COVID-19 Resources, Cleaning and disinfection, and

most importantly, the mitigation plan updated on August 16, 2021, that was designed to help

students and staff return campuses safely.

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Other organizations that are doing actions ensuring the maximum protection of children's

back-to-school health in Arizona include the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS),

Arizona Department of Child Safety, and Phoenix Children's Hospital. Arizona Department of

Health Services (n.d.) is offering free COVID-19 pooled screening testing to K-12 schools in

Arizona. They used a video to explain to the public how the testing program works to advocate

parents or legal guardians to give consent for their children to participate and support pooled

testing for children to learn in-person safely.

Arizona Department of Child Safety advocates for children and families in Arizona to keep

up with the influx of information while facing the outbreak by releasing all DCS-related

COVID-19 updates to the public. Nine sections were included in their COVID-19 Information

and Resources page: Guidance Documents, Youth Vaccine Information, Parent Information,

Court Guidance, Tech Support for Virtual Visits, Community and Contracted Providers

Information, Healthcare Provider Information, Caregiver Information, and Other Resources

(DCS, 2021).

Phoenix Children's Hospital (n.d.) provides virtual care for patients. They can access

primary and specialty care through telehealth visits via Zoom Cloud to strengthen children's

health safety during the outbreak and reassure parents. Furthermore, they have released plans of

enhanced cleaning measures on their official website to reduce patient contact with COVID-19.

Part 2

My major in Educational Study helped me develop my empathy and self-awareness in my

leadership style. Empathy can help me think from the perspective of people in the community in
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need to identify their needs so that I can better find the most appropriate solutions for my

community. Self-awareness allows me to understand my strengths and weaknesses and how my

actions can affect my community, which can help me constantly self-reflect on my advocacy

behavior initiatives to achieve higher quality. Both skills are essential skills for servant

leadership. According to the Faces and Voices of Recovery, Servant leadership with these two

skills provide “some ways we can better serve our community also include admitting when we’re

wrong, sharing wins, being wise enough to know when we don’t have the answer, and never

being too busy to hear what others have to say” (Pennelle, 2019).

In Neale’s (2020) opinion, Servant leadership demonstrates the advantages of its leadership

style focused on serving others in fields that are vital in this global pandemic, such as health care

and school systems. Neale (2020) said in the article, “These days, people are looking for

certainty and safety.” Servant leadership would give me the ability to help others understand

confusing dilemmas, that is, to provide comfort and find solutions to parents and teachers who

are confused about how children should protect their health and safety at school.

To apply my servant leadership to my advocacy action plan, I will create a system for

communication. As Marcano (2020) recommended in his article, communication with

stakeholders does not have to be fancy; weekly team meetings, one-on-ones, a WhatsApp or

Slack group can do the trick, and I need to be consistent on the talks. What is more, he argues

that we should make decisions based on empathy by emphasizing on how decisions affect others

to let everyone win (Marcano, 2020). To achieve this, I will try to meet and discuss plans with

my stakeholders other than email and guide the interviews in the process of collecting

information about my community in more innovative ways like using open-ended questions to
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open interviewees’ minds. Besides, to make sure I can make decisions based on empathy, I will

experience the issue by visiting a school of Tempe Elementary School District and understand

the current situation regarding COVID-19 preventions in schools.

Summary

We cannot ignore children's back-to-school health and must implement COVID-19

prevention strategies and guidelines in school districts because children can get sick with

COVID-19 and spread it to the surrounding people, and they can also infect SARS-CoV-2. In

Arizona, many organizations develop COVID-19 responses to help parents and school districts

jointly protect the health and safety of children returning to school, including Arizona

Department of Health Services (ADHS), Arizona Department of Child Safety, Phoenix

Children's Hospital, and Tempe Elementary School District. They have initiated different

advocacy plans to address the issue in this area. Finally, I will use my servant leadership style to

assist me in effective communication with my stakeholders and understand parents' concerns and

needs about children's back-to-school health to develop my advocacy action plan.

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Reference

AZDHS. (n.d.). K-12 COVID-19 Pooled Testing - Information For Parents. Retrieved from

https://www.azdhs.gov/covid19/index.php#k-12-testing-parents

CDC. (2021, July 9). Science Brief: Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in K-12 Schools and Early

Care and Education Programs – Updated. Retrieved from

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/science/science-briefs/transmission_k_12_s

chools.html

DCS. (2021, September 9). COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Information and Resources. Retrieved

from https://dcs.az.gov/covid19

Driscoll, J. (2021, September 28). Mask Update - August 16, 2021 | Tempe Elementary School

District No3. Retrieved from

https://www.tempeschools.org/parents/return-to-school-2021-22-school-year/mask-updat

e-august-16-2021

Marcano, M. (2020, January 20). 5 Ways To Apply Servant Leadership To Your Management

Style. Retrieved from

https://medium.com/the-helm/5-ways-to-apply-servant-leadership-to-your-management-s

tyle-98945a5fccdf

Neale, P., PhD. (2020, May 26). Why Servant Leadership Is More Important Than Ever.

Retrieved from

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2020/05/26/why-servant-leadership-i

s-more-important-than-ever/?sh=5591740c2861

Pennelle, O. (2019, October 25). Servant leadership. Retrieved from

https://facesandvoicesofrecovery.org/blog/2019/10/25/servant-leadership/
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Phoenix Children’s Hospital. (n.d.). What You Need to Know. Retrieved from

https://phoenixchildrens.org/COVID-19-Resource-Center

Tempe Elementary School District. (n.d.). Return to School 2021–22 School Year. Retrieved

from https://www.tempeschools.org/parents/return-to-school-2021-22-school-year